Musings on the Need for More Faith and Less Religion in a Violent World

By Rudy  Barnes, Jr., May  4, 2024

           Faith and religion are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings.  Faith is what we believe to be sacred, and has been described as “…being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)  Religion is a prepackaged and  man-made faith; and while religion requires faith; faith does not require religion.  

            Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all Abrahamic religions that accept Jesus as a 1st century Jewish prophet, who taught that sharing God’s transforming love was the standard of righteousness, not obedience to Mosaic Law.  That radical teaching made Jesus a pariah among most Jewish religious leaders, and ultimately led to his crucifixion.

Most Jews, Christians and Muslims begin their journey of faith in their traditional religions and later begin to question their religion with their personal knowledge, experience and reason.  In his Wesleyan Quadrilateral, John Wesley asserted that the theological task of all believers on their journey of faith should be based on scripture, tradition, experience and reason. 

Religious beliefs are defined by doctrines and dogmas based on scripture and religious tradition, but personal experience and reason can challenge those religious boundaries on our journey of faith.  That’s common in libertarian cultures with the freedoms of religion and speech, but it’s rare in more authoritarian cultures.

        Jesus was a maverick Jewish rabbi who never taught that he was divine or advocated the need for a new religion.  The altruistic and universal teachings of Jesus are summarized in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors, including those of other races and religions, as we love ourselves.

The greatest commandment  was taken from the Hebrew Bible, taught by Jesus and accepted by Islamic scholars as a common word of faith; but its universal moral imperative of religious reconciliation based on God’s altruistic love remains elusive.  That’s most evident in Gaza, where Israel has killed over 34,000 Palestinians during the Israeli-Hamas war.

The Jewish Passover should remind Netanyahu that it was God’s will to liberate Jews from Egyption oppression, and remind Christians that the last supper of Jesus and his disciples was a Passover meal.  Instead, President Bidern assured Netanyahu that he is a fellow Zionist who supports Israel’s war against Hamas and the oppression of Palestinians in Gaza.

The Abrahamic religions have become nationalistic and ignored the moral imperative of the greatest commandment in Ukraine and Israel.  Putin has justified his unprovoked aggression in Ukraine on restoring the ancient Russian empire of Peter the Great, while Netanyahu justifies Israeli violence in Gaza with Zionist nationalism.  Religions have failed to promote peace.  It will take people of altruistic and universalist faith, not nationalist religions, to bring peace on earth.

Notes:

On The Greatest Commandment: A Common Word of Faith, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.

(6/25/22): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Church and the Greatest Commandment, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/06/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-church.html.

On Love over Law: A Principle at the Heart of Legitimacy, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/love-over-law-principle-at-heart-of.html.

On Christian nationalism, see ‘Demolishing democracy’: how much danger does Christian nationalism pose?  Documentary Bad Faith looks at the history of a group trying to affect and corrupt politics under the guise of religion, by Adrian Horton, The Guardian, 4/27/24, at https://www.theguardian.com/film/2024/apr/27/bad-faith-documentary-christian-nationalism.  See also,

See also, Christian Nationalism, Again, By Carl Krieg, Progressive Christianity. 4 /29/24 at https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/christian-nationalism-again/.

On Christian nationalism, see 

(3/29/15): God and Country: Resolving Conflicting Concepts of Sovereignty

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/03/god-and-country-resolving-conflicting.html

(5/6/17): Loyalty and Duty in Politics, the Military and Religion

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/05/loyalty-and-duty-in-politics-military.html

(4/12/19): Musings on Religion, Nationalism and Libertarian Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/04/musings-on-religion-nationalism-and.html.

(7/13/19): Musings on Sovereignty and Conflicting Loyalties to God and Country

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/07/musings-on-sovereignty-and-conflicting.html.  

(8/10/19): Musings on Christian Nationalism: A Plague on the Church and Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/08/musings-on-christian-nationalism-plague.html.

(8/31/19): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Politics of Christian Zionism

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

(3/26/22): Musings on Civil Religion, Christian Nationalism, and Cancel Culture

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/03/musings-on-civil-religion-christian.html.

(4/30/22): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Obsolescence of Christianity in Politics

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/04/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

(11/5/22): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Jesus, the Church and Christian Nationalism

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/11/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-jesus.html.

(11/12/22): Musings on the Need for a Civil Religion in America’s Dysfunctional Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/11/musings-on-need-for-civil-religion-in.html.

(3/11/23): Musings of a Maverick  Methodist on the Future of Christianity and Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/03/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-future.html.

(4/15/23): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christian Nationalism and Democracy

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/04/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

(9/23/23): Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Christian Nationalism

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/09/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on_23.html.

On Zionism as Jewish nationalism,see  

(10/28/23): Musings on Zionism, and What It Means to Netanyahu and Biden

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/10/musings-on-zionism-and-what-it-means-to.html.

(1/6/24): Musings on Nationalism and Universalism in Religion, Legitimacy and Politics

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/01/musings-on-nationalism-and-universalism.html.

See #45 (10/4/15): Faith and Religion: The Same but Different, at

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/10/faith-and-religion-same-but-different.html

Musings on Going Back to the Future in the Evolution of Christianity

By Rudy Barnes, Jr., April 27, 2024

Religions provide institutional systems of faith, and most of us begin to doubt the certainty of religious doctrines as we age.  Our journey of faith is based on changing understandings of scripture, tradition, reason and experience; and the Wesleyan Quadrilateral describes that evolution of faith as our theological task.

  

Reason and experience should create doubt in exclusivist church doctrines that limit salvation to Christians.  The gospel accounts describe Jesus as a maverick Jewish rabbi who never promoted any religion, not even his own.  Jesus was a universalist who emphasized that our salvation was based on sharing God’s transforming love with others.  

The universalist teachings of Jesus are summarized in the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors, including those of other races and religions, as we love ourselves.  That’s a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims that promotes religious reconciliation in a world of increasing religious diversity and competition.

In the 4th century Constantine institutionalized the church by making it part of the Roman Empire.  The altruistic and universal teachings of Jesus were subordinated to exclusivist Christian beliefs never taught by Jesus, but that became popular as a form of cheap grace that enabled Christianity to become the world’s most popular religion.

Since then the church has made belief in Jesus Christ as the Trinitarian alter ego of God the only means of salvation.  They knew that the altruistic teachings of Jesus on sacrificial love would never be popular, but that making exclusivist beliefs in the divinity of Jesus as the only means of salvation could be the foundation of the world’s most popular and powerful religion.

Martin Luther’s Reformation doctrine of sola fide (faith alone) affirmed the priority of faith over works of altruistic love, and modern Christian creeds continue to emphasize exclusivist man-made Christian doctrines.  Even so, the teachings of Jesus remained moral imperatives of Christianity until they were displaced by white evangelicals in the election of 2016.

In the 20th century most Christians believed that following the teachings of Jesus as the word of God was the first priority of Christian faith.  Today promoting exclusivist beliefs in Jesus as a surrogate Christian god is the first priority of the church.  I have kept faith in discipleship and reject exclusivist Christian beliefs, and have continued to grow in faith; and I’m not alone.

Today the  church is shrinking, with an increasing number of “nones” leaving a church that lacks a moral compass.  It’s past time for the church to abandon its exclusivist beliefs and to go back to the future by giving primacy to the teachings of Jesus as the universal word of God.  The alternative is for the church to be relegated to the dustbin of history.          

  

Notes:

The four components of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral—scripture, tradition, experience and reason—are described in Our Theological Task in The Book of Discipline of the United Methodist Church, 2012 (The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville Tennessee) at pages 78-91. See https://www.cokesbury.com/forms/DynamicContent.aspx?id=87&pageid=920.  It should be noted that reason includes critical biblical scholarship that relates to interpretations of scripture that are part of tradition, illustrating how the four components are interrelated. 

Thomas Jefferson once opined that “the teachings of Jeus were the most sublime moral code ever designed by man,” and he detested exclusivist church doctrines.  In 1831 Alexis DeTocqueville toured America and  observed that its many Christian sects shared a “Christian morality” that produced common standards of legitimacy that defined what is right, and imbued American politics with its moral authority.  On the views of Thomas Jefferson and Alexis deTocqueville on the moral values of religion in American politics, see Religion, Moral Authority and Conflicting Concepts of Legitimacy (July 1, 2017) at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/07/religion-moral-authority-and.html. See also Musings of a Maverick Methodist on a Universal and Altruistic Jesus, August 19, 2023, at http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

Universalism can reconcile progressive Christians, Jews and Muslims.  While universalists are a minority among Jews, Christians and Muslims, they can be a reconciling voice promoting a common word of faith in those competing religions.  On universalism, see Universalism: A theology for the 21st century, by Forrest Church, November 5, 2001, at http://www.uuworld.org/articles/universalism-theology-the-21st-century.  

On the few remaining universalist Christians, see https://christianuniversalist.org/.

Robin Meyers is the author of Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus (HarperCollins Publishers, 2009), and the title of his book says it all.  Meyers spoke at the Barnes Symposium at the University of South Carolina on April 12, 2019 on From Galilean Sage to Supernatural Savior (or, How I Became a Heretic with Help from Jesus). While Meyers is critical of the church, he has been pastor of Mayflower Church, a large UCC congregation in Oklahoma City, for over 30 years.

On Musings of a Maverick Methodist on Losing Religion and Finding Faith, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/09/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-losing.html.

On why an increasing number of American “nones” don’t identify with a religion, a Pew Research Center survey found that 60% question religious teachings, and 49% oppose positions taken by churches on social and political issues.  See http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/08/why-americas-nones-dont-identify-with-a-religion/?utm_source=Pew+Research+Center&utm_campaign=a709783228-RELIGION_WEEKLY_2018_08_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3e953b9b70-a709783228-399971105.

On Losing Faith: Why South Carolina is abandoning its churches, see https://www.thestate.com/news/local/article215014375.html#wgt=trending.

On Back to the Future: A 21st Century Pentecost for the Church, see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/06/back-to-future-21st-century-pentecost.html.

Musings on Moral and Political Issues in the Middle East Crisis

By Rudy Barnes, Jr. April 20, 2024

Thomas Friedman is an authority on Middle East politics.  His recent article on how to clean up the Middle East mess is hopeful, even if it seems like wishful thinking; but I have one major disagreement with Friedman’s assessment of the Middle East mess.  He gave President Biden “high marks” for his support of Netanyahu’s policies.  I don’t.

Biden should never have given Netanyahu America’s “ironclad” support for his military strikes that violated international humanitarian law, killing over 33,000 Palestinians.  Friedman acknowledged “the toxic image of Israel in America and other Western capitals” caused by Netanyahu’s Zionist policies, and that it cannot be remedied “as long as Netanyahu is in power.”  

Adversaries in the Middle East are Palestinian Muslims and Israeli Jews, but their conflict is based more on political, moral, and cultural issues rather than religious issues.  It’s similar to racial conflict in the U.S. that’s based on racial, cultural and partisan issues rather than competing religions; but both conflicts reflect a lack of moral standards in religion and politics. 

The MIddle East Crisis reflects a need for Jews, Christians and Muslims to promote universal standards of altruistic morality and reconciliation that promote the common good. Promoting the altruistic common good in diverse democracies is a challenge for all religions,  since most religions subordinate moral standards to exclusivist beliefs.

There is a common word of faith for Jews, Christians and Muslims that emphasizes altruism, reconciliation and promoting the common good.  It’s the greatest commandment to love God and our neighbors of other races and religions as we love ourselves. It was taken from the Hebrew Bible, taught by Jesus and accepted by Islamic scholars as a common word of faith.

There has been a reluctance for Jews, Christians and Muslims to extend the moral standards of their faith to their politics.  Moral standards should be the top priority of religion and politics, with standards of  political legitimacy in democracy its most important context.  The failure of the Abrahamic religions to promote morality in politics is their  greatest failure.

It’s ironic that the lack of morality in politics should be so evident in Israel, the ancient Holy Land that produced so many Jewish prophets, including Jesus, whose teachings are summarized in the greatest commandment, but where Netanyahu is now Israel’s radical Zionist prime minister whose policies promote ethnic hostility and violence; and he’s not alone.

As Thomas Friedman has pointed out--and the world has witnessed--violence has become the world’s political norm despite democracy being the most popular form of government, enabling people to become the masters of their political destiny.  That’s a sad irony, but it should remind us that God is full of surprises in a world of ironic human depravity.

Notes:

On Thomas Friedman’s article on How to be Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Israeli and Pro-Iranian, see https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/16/opinion/israel-iran-gaza.html.

On The greatest commandment as a common word of faith, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2015/01/the-greatest-commandment-common-word-of.html.

On Who Is My Neighbor?  See

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/who-is-my-neighbor.html

OnThe Politics of Loving Our Neighbors as Ourselves, see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2016/01/the-politics-of-loving-our-neighbors-as.html.

On Altruism: The Missing Ingredient in American Christianity and Democracy, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/03/altruism-missing-ingredient-in-american.html.

On  Musings on a Common Word of Faith and Politics for Christians and Muslims, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2018/10/musings-on-common-word-of-faith-and.html.

On The Universal Family of God: Where Inclusivity Trumps Exclusivity, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/06/the-universal-family-of-god-where.html.

On Musings on a Politics of Reconciliation: An Impossible Dream? see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/06/musings-on-politics-of-reconciliation.html.

On Musings on Diversity in Democracy: Who Are Our Neighbors?, see 

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/07/musings-on-diversity-in-democracy-who.html.

On Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Politics of Christian Zionism, see

http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/08/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.

On Musings on DEI, Democracy, Demagoguery and Providing for the Common Good, see 

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/04/musings-on-dei-democracy-demagoguery.html.

On  Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Most Fundamental Value of Democracy, see 

https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/04/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-most.html.  

On the diversity of people in America, and how most foreign-born in America live in four states, see https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/half-foreign-born-people-us-live-just-4-states-rcna147111.

On How Trump fills a void a void in an increasingly secular America, see https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/05/trump-religion-secularism-authoritarian-populism//

On How church attendance has declined in most religious groups, see https://news.gallup.com/poll/642548/church-attendance-declined-religious-groups.aspx. 

Oh Yes, we’re divided. But a new AP poll shows Americans still agree on most core American values, see https://apnews.com/article/ap-poll-democracy-rights-freedoms-election-b1047da72551e13554a3959487e5181a.

On How a nonconforming minority can defeat Christian nationalism, see https://sojo.net/articles/nonconforming-minority-can-defeat-christian-nationalism.

On Religious change in America, see  https://www.prri.org/research/religious-change-in-america/#page-section-0.

On Democracy as a Christian value, see https://progressivechristianity.org/resource/democracy-is-a-christian-value/.