Shared with Arise Campus Ministry October 2014 (1 of 2)

1. diagnosing and treating
CRIS* in yourself and others
(conflicted religious identity syndrome)

2. new epidemics often go
unnoticed until a high-profile
figure is stricken.
2

5. 2010

6. Anne has concluded that she will never
truly belong to the “quarrelsome, hostile,
disputatious, and deservedly infamous
group” known as Christians unless she
becomes “anti-gay … anti-feminist …
anti–artificial birth control … anti-
Democrat … anti–secular humanism …
anti-science … anti-life.”

7. Tell that much of the story, and you have the
sort of thing the news media love to report—
another celebrity break-up, if you will. But this
time, the celebrity is divorcing God.
But that’s not the whole story. Really, it’s not
the story at all. Anne explains that, “My faith in
Christ is central to my life.” She is still “an
optimistic believer in a universe created and
sustained by a loving God.” “But,” she says,
“following Christ does not mean following His
followers. Christ is infinitely more important
than Christianity and always will be, no matter
what Christianity is, has been or might become.”

8. And so, she concludes, “In the name of
Christ… I quit Christianity and being
Christian.”

9. Just this week, Israeli intellectual
Shlomo Sand ... “I resign from being
Jewish.”

11. Last Fall:
a graduate of an
Evangelical
Christian college

12. Last Fall:
“We’re dropping
out because we
don’t want to
belong to a
religion that
requires us to be
hostile.”

13. Today: how many of
us?
Tomorrow: same?
worse? better?

14. Do you have
CRIS?
Conflicted
Religious
Identity
Syndrome

15. SELF-MEDICATION: ADJECTIVES
__conservative ___liberal
___Evangelical ___progressive
___emergent ___moderate ___a new
kind of ___mainline ___ not THAT
kind of

16. Why I am a missional,
evangelical, post/protestant,
liberal/conservative,
mystical/poetic, biblical,
charismatic/contemplative,
fundamentalist/calvinist,
anabaptist/anglican,
methodist, catholic, green,
incarnational, depressed-yet-
hopeful, emergent,
unfinished Christian.
2005

17. 1972

18. Kelley spoke the then-shocking truth that
“Mainline” Protestantism, which had
historically been the main form of
Christianity in the United States, was fast
becoming “old line” as it declined in
numbers.

19. ML/OL was losing ground to a “new
line” of conservative churches
characterized by seriousness and
strictness.
serious about meaning
strict regarding their
norms of belief and behavior.
This ... made them socially strong, and
this social strength made them grow – as
their adherents enthusiastically recruited
others.

20. SERIOUS
+
STRICT
=
STRONG

21. lukewarm
+
lenient
=
weak

22. According to Kelley, strict, serious, and
growing groups ...
are not ‘reasonable,’ they are not ‘tolerant,’
they are not ecumenical, they are not
‘relevant.’ They often refuse to recognize
the validity of other Christian churches’
teachings, ordinations, sacraments. They
observe unusual rituals … they [persist] in
irrational behavior … They try to impose
uniformity of belief and practice among
members by censorship, heresy trials, and
the like. (26).

23. The Paradox:
There is about any serious meaning venture
a certain irreducible fierceness, asperity,
insistence, exclusiveness, rigor – a
fanaticism that brushes everything else
aside. Yet that very single-mindedness
renders it objectionable to those who value
balance, brotherhood, respect for individual
diversity, mutual forbearance and self-restraint,
civic peace, pluralism ... (164)

24. Chapter 6:
Why Not a Strong,
Ecumencial
Religion?

25. “But why must there be any conflict? Are
not freedom, justice, respect for others
essential parts of the Christian faith? Ideally
they should be, if rightly understood. One
can conceive of a high-demand religious
movement devoted to justice, freedom,
beauty, respect for others, and so on, which
could effectively explain life to [humankind]
without fanaticism, absolutism, intolerance,
or judgmental moralism. That is what –
ideally – Christianity ought to be.”

26. “Yet where is such a phenomenon
to be found?”
-- Dean Kelley, 1972
In the 40 years since ...

27. a search for a cure for
CRIS
Conflicted
Religious
Identity
Syndrome

28. We know how to have
a STRONG-HOSTILE
CHRISTIAN IDENTITY.

29. We have the only way.
You are going to hell.
We are God’s chosen.
You worship false gods.
resistance if futile.
you will be assimilated - or
eliminated.
we possess absolute truth.
STRONG-HOSTILE

30. We know how to have
a weak-benign
CHRISTIAN IDENTITY.

31. it doesn’t matter what you believe.
all religions are the same.
all roads lead to god.
only sincerity matters.
doctrines divide.
keep religion private.
Mind/Matter: I don’t, it doesn’t.
weak-benign

32. strong-hostile
OR
weak-benign?

33. where did our
strong-hostile
identity come
from?

34. From Follow the Sacredness, by Jonathan Haidt
http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/17/forget-the-money-follow-the-sacredness/
Despite what you might have learned in
Economics 101, people aren’t always
selfish. In politics, they’re more often
groupish. When people feel that a group
they value — be it racial, religious,
regional or ideological — is under
attack, they rally to its defense, even at
some cost to themselves. We evolved to
be tribal...

35. ... The key to understanding tribal behavior
is ... sacredness. The great trick that humans
developed at some point in the last few
hundred thousand years is the ability to circle
around a tree, rock, ancestor, flag, book or god,
and then treat that thing as sacred. People who
worship the same idol can trust one another,
work as a team and prevail over less cohesive
groups. So if you want to understand politics,
and especially our divisive culture wars, you
must follow the sacredness.

36. Religions united our ancestors around
a sacred object or idol ... and that
unity gave some tribes survival
advantage over others.

38. But it’s not just the idol in the
center that unites us: it’s also the
“other” outside the circle.
"Historically, the amity, or
goodwill, within the group has
often depended on enmity, or
hatred, between groups.”
(Robert Wright, Nonzero: The Logic Of Human
Destiny, quoted in Evolutionaries by Carter Phipps)

39. Give people a common enemy, and you will
give them a common identity. Deprive them
of an enemy and you will deprive them of
the crutch by which they know who they are.
- James Alison

40. unity
via
hostility

41. Misconception:
Our religious differences
keep us apart.

42. Actuality:
It is not our religious
differences that keep us apart,
but rather a haunting religious
similarity ... that we build
strong identities through
hostility.

43. Can Christians today re-build our
identity and ethos without
hostility to the other?

44. We have the only way.
You are going to hell.
We are God’s chosen.
You worship false gods.
resistance if futile.
you will be assimilated - or
eliminated.
STRONG-HOSTILE

45. it doesn’t matter what you believe.
all religions are the same.
all roads lead to god.
only sincerity matters.
doctrines divide.
keep religion private.
weak-benign

46. Because I Follow Jesus, I love you.
I move toward “the other.”
I break down walls of hostility.
i stand with you in solidarity.
you are made in God’s image.
i am your servant.
I practice human-kindness.
strong-benevolent

47. Can there be
A strong and benevolent
Christian identity centered on
Jesus and his story (good news)
of the kingdom/commonwealth of
God?

48. 6 When he came to Nazareth,
where he had been brought up,
he went to the synagogue on the
sabbath day, as was his custom.
He stood up to read, 17and the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was
given to him. He unrolled the
scroll and found the place where
it was written:

49. 18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release
to the captives
and recovery of sight to the
blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favour.’

50. 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the attendant, and sat
down. The eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him.
21Then he began to say to them,
‘Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.’

51. 22All spoke well of him and were
amazed at the gracious words that
came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is
not this Joseph’s son?’
23He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will
quote to me this proverb, “Doctor,
cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do
here also in your home town the
things that we have heard you did at
Capernaum.” ’

52. 24And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet
is accepted in the prophet’s home town.
25But the truth is, there were many widows
in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the
heaven was shut up for three years and six
months, and there was a severe famine
over all the land; 26yet Elijah was sent to
none of them except to a widow at
Zarephath in Sidon. 27There were also
many lepers* in Israel in the time of the
prophet Elisha, and none of them was
cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’

53. When they heard this, all ... were
filled with rage. They got up, drove
him out of the town, and led him to
the brow of the hill on which their
town was built, so that they might
hurl him off the cliff. 30But he passed
through the midst of them and went
on his way.

54. a 5-part treatment plan for
CRIS
Conflicted
Religious
Identity
Syndrome

55. The historical
challenge

56. Jesus - we killed the prophets, God
loves the other ...
Stephen - our violent past
Paul - I was a violent man
Emperor Constantine
Colonizers and Conquistadors
“Biblical” racism and apartheidt

57. The Doctrinal
Challenge

58. Trinity - litmus test for persecution
Election - justification for genocide
Original sin - God as hostile
Doctrine - divisive teachings
Trinity - image of one-anotherness
Election - chosen for the benefit of all
Original sin - original violence
Doctrine - healing teachings

59. The Liturgical
Challenge

60. Baptism - reinforcing clean/unclean?
Eucharist - an altar of sacrifice
Baptism - repentance = rethinking!
Eucharist - a table of reconciliation!

61. The Missional
Challenge

62. the old colonial “evangelism” - you
give us your resources & labor in this
life; we’ll give you heaven after
death.
the old liberal “development” - you
give us your resources & labor in this
life; we’ll give you western medicine,
technology, government, economics.

63. words from vincent
donovan

64. “‘…do not try to call them back to where
they were, and do not try to call them to
where you are, as beautiful as that place
might seem to you. You must have the
courage to go with them to a place that
neither you nor they have ever been
before.’ Good missionary advice, and a
beautiful description of the unpredictable
process of evangelization, a process
leading to that new place where none of us
has ever been before.” - Vincent Donovan

65. The Spiritual
Challenge

66. in/out - WE are IN; THEY are OUT
membership - status
simplicity - dualism
complexity - pragmatism
perplexity - relativism/pluralism
harmony - transcending, integrating
love

67. a 5-part treatment plan for
CRIS
historical
doctrinal
liturgical
missional
spiritual

68. From Catherine Maresca (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd)
-
Finally, [Maria] Cavalletti emphasizes the
importance of being specific. You can’t teach
children language without teaching children a
language. She writes, “Wishing to stay on a
vague level without any specific content is
the same as wanting a child to talk without
using any particular language.” Some parents
say they don’t want their children to learn a
particular religion because they want them to
be free to choose their own. But these
children are missing the opportunity to
become spiritually literate.

69. To be initiated into the signs of their
religious tradition creates the possibility
of grasping the signs of many traditions,
and of respecting the integrity of each of
those traditions. So we need to be
religious in a particular way, true to the
faith we affirm for ourselves, in order to
foster the spiritual and religious literacy
of our children. world this is a service to
our children. We have to be specific.

70. While we don’t reject other traditions, a
particular religion has to be our starting point. To
say, “I’m spiritual but not religious” is like
saying, “I’m linguistic but don’t speak any
particular language.” Everyone has innate
linguistic capacity that gets activated as one
learns a particular language or languages.
Likewise, everyone has spiritual capacity that
gets activated and mobilized through becoming
religious in a particular way. Becoming religious
in a particular way is foundational for relating to
the religious other.

71. Children who have learned their native language well
are poised to learn new languages with greater ease.
Children who learned the language of their religious
tradition are likewise poised to grasp the sacred signs
of another tradition. As we nurture the spiritual life of
young children with sacred signs, we simultaneously
build the foundation of respect and understanding for
others’ beliefs. With spiritual literacy, faith and
interfaith formation work hand in hand, promoting in
turn a more peaceful world.
Children, Signs, and Spiritual
Literacy: An Interfaith Experience
By Catherine Maresca

72. Graciously holding a strong & benevolent identity.
What does it look like?
Sound like?
Feel like?

73. The Anonymous Member Approach:
“You are really one of us - you just don’t know it.”
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

74. The Incarnational Approach:
“I am really one of you - you just don’t know it.”
Strengths:
Weaknesses:

75. The Common Ground Approach:
“We’re talking about the same thing ...
using different words ...
or different imagery ...
reflecting our different cultures.”
Deen = Tao = Torah = Kingdom of God
Satyagraha = Holy Spirit
Mindfulness = mind of Christ
Trinity = nonduality

76. The Common Ground Approach:
Strengths
Weaknesses

77. The Incommensurable Approach:
“We’re not saying the same thing about the same
thing ...
Nor are we saying different things about the same
thing ...
We are saying different things about different things.
We are asking different questions, solving different
problems, engaged in different research.”

78. The Incommensurable Approach:
West: Rights of the few/one versus the rights of the
many.
East: Rights of the dead versus the rights of the living
Indigenous: Rights of the living versus the rights of the
not-yet-living

79. The Incommensurable Approach:
Buddhism: personal enlightenment before
death/solving problem of desire/attachment/suffering
Conservative Christianity; personal salvation after
death/solving problem of original sin
Prophetic Judaism/Progressive Christianity: being a
just person and a just people to make a more just
world/solving problem of personal and systemic
injustice

80. From E. Stanley Jones (1884-1973)
The Christ of the Indian Road

81. Pentecost Sermon (Paul Nuechterlein)
For me, another clear sign of hope comes through the
irony of God raising up a faithful disciple of Jesus
Christ who was a Hindu and remained a Hindu. I'm
talking about Mahatma Gandhi, who said this, among
many other things, about Jesus:
“Jesus expressed, as no other could, the spirit and will
of God. It is in this sense that I see him and recognize
him as the Son of God. And because the life of Jesus
has the significance and the transcendency to which I
have alluded, I believe that he belongs not solely to
Christianity, but to the entire world, to all races and
people.”

82. We might ask, So why didn't Gandhi simply convert to Christianity?
But I think the better Pentecost question would be, Why should he
have to convert? Why should he have to change religions? Why
should he have to play into religion into the negative ways that
bring division? Did Jesus come to offer us a new religion to add to
our ways of dividing into differing cultures and languages -- the
Tower of Babel reality? Or did he come to help each of us within
our own religions and cultures to find the one true God of unity? I
think that Pentecost shows us the latter. We can welcome, as many
Christians are coming to do, the diversity of religious practices that
help lead to the experience of our oneness in God. Christians are
learning from Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and indigenous
religions the effective religious practices of how to become closer to
the God of Jesus Christ. That's the Pentecost pouring out of the
Holy Spirit on all peoples, so that their experience of oneness
transcends their many languages and cultures.

83. Finally, the greatest sign of hope to me is how Gandhi helped
deepen our understanding of the Spirit of Truth, the Advocate. He
had his own name for it in Sanskrit: Satyagraha, he called it, which
translates as Truth Force. Satyagraha moved him and many millions
of people over the last century to learn Jesus' way to peace through
loving, nonviolent resistance to evil. Like Jesus on the cross, in this
way to peace we risk taking that old way of sin, righteousness, and
judgment on ourselves in order to reveal its futility, its wrongness,
and offering instead God's way of grace and forgiveness. Pentecost
is Satyagraha poured out on us so that we may bring peace to our
lives as family members, co-workers, neighbors, citizens, and, yes,
as both Jesus and Gandhi compelled us to do, as children of God --
all of humanity, children of God. Amen
Rev. Paul J. Nuechterlein
Delivered at Prince of Peace Lutheran, Portage, MI, May 27, 2012

85. As the child of missionary in India,
who was the child of a missionary in India,
who was the child of a missionary in India,
I have
a lot of India
in my soul/marrow/terra forma.
I breathed
the ancient heritage of India
when I was three.
I learned Marathi.
I ate jalebes.
I sucked the delicious juice of the sugar cane.
I played in the dust of our school-for-orphans-yard
with Machinder

86. . . . and, then I got older
and went south
to Tamil Nadu
and Kodaikanal
to boarding school near Madurai.
I visited,
as a child,
the caves of Ellora.
I didn't know what to make of them,
then.
As an adult
i visited them
again . . .

87. Hindus and Sikhs and Buddhists and Jains . .
all carving caves
next to
each other
in ancient times . . .
side by side.

88. The Anonymous Member Approach
The Incarnational Approach
The Common Ground Approach
The Incommensurable Approach
The Neighborly/Common Good Approach ...
We are different families with different traditions
bound together by the past, present, and future ...
and we must figure out how to work together
for the common good,
for the alternatives to conviviality are unacceptable.”

89. What do good neighbors do?
They love one another as they love themselves.

90. wanted:
people in recovery from CRIS
to help others get the healing
they need.
Every sermon
Every song
Every prayer
Every interaction
Every week

93. diagnosing and treating
CRIS* in yourself and others
(conflicted religious identity syndrome)

94. a prayer for disciples

95. O God, whose love
makes us one family -
May your unspeakable
Name be revered.

96. Here on earth may your
commonwealth come …
on earth as in heaven may your
dreams come true.

97. Give us today our
bread for today.
Forgive us our wrongs
as we forgive.

98. Lead us away from the
perilous trial,
Liberate us from the evil.

99. For the kingdom is yours and yours alone,
the power is yours and yours alone,
the glory is yours and yours alone,
now and forever. Amen.
(Hallelujah … Amen)

101. spiritual
but not
religious:
a cliche?
boring?
not enough?

102. we may
be bored
but they
SBNR’s
are not to
be
ignored.