Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Why I Still Talk to Jesus -- In Spite of Everything

Home
Politics and Religion
There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions

There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions

Last updated on: June 15, 2015 at 5:26 am by Frank Schaeffer

There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions 2015-06-15T05:26:45-06:00 Frank Schaeffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

My way of trying to encounter God within a church community may well be poison for others. We all bring our backgrounds with us. We’re all running from something. For instance, I know several people raised in the Orthodox Church who have fled to evangelical communities and found God there, or at least found a happier version of themselves. I know other people who share my sort of religious background and they can only find spiritual solace in gatherings of atheists. More power to them! We are all recovering from what we’ve experienced in captivity to ourselves.

When I first joined the Greek Orthodox Church in 1990 I argued the finer points of theology and church history with my long-suffering evangelical mother and sisters. (Dad was spared, having died in 1984.) I argued as if any church I happened to join was ipso-facto the gatekeeper to heaven. I argued in a way that implied that a human could find THE TRUTH and judge others by it. I argued in a way that denied that our brains process what we hear and see and touch and, therefore, all information is just another story. I even wrote a book (Dancing Alone) about all that is theologically and historically wrong with the Protestant Reformed tradition I’d fled. I laced my book with the zealous spirit of proselytizing certainty typical of the fundamentalist born-again religion I thought I’d escaped.

Eventually, I had to admit that I didn’t join the Orthodox Church for theological or even religious reasons. I joined it for a psychological reason. My new church wasn’t my childhood faith and I needed a change.

When I began to go to an Orthodox church, I wanted to find a way to escape my past, my culture and myself. Eventually, I came to see that a little honesty is in order. First off, I hadn’t become anything. I hadn’t gotten “saved.” The Orthodox view of salvation is that it’s not a series of magical steps, akin to the one-time born-again experience, but a journey. According to the Orthodox tradition, a person never becomes saved, because we are always becoming.

To the extent I was becoming Orthodox, it was mostly for aesthetic reasons. I couldn’t stand the American evangelical experience any longer for the same sort of reasons that I prefer swimming in the ocean to a swimming pool.

Where we go to church, or whether we go, isn’t the point. The point is who are we becoming? Does church help you to become the sort of person you’d pick to be stuck on a desert island with? Good! Go! Does it hurt your chances of becoming that person? Run!

Flee from exclusionary certainty. As the bumper sticker says, “Mean People Suck!” And that goes especially for people who are mean in the name of love.

There is only one defense against the rising, worldwide, fear-filled fundamentalist tide engulfing all religions (including the intolerant religion of the New Atheists) which once engulfed me: the embrace of paradox and uncertainty as the virtuoso expression of love. … You’ve just read an excerpt from my book. WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace please buy a copy and keep reading…

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace

Available now on Amazon

Follow Frank on Twitter www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer See Frank’s paintings http://www.frankschaefferart.com/ Follow Frank on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/frank.schaeffer.16 Contact Frank at http://www.frankschaeffer.com/

Previous Post

June 14, 2015

Put it this way: church may be a son-of-a-bitch, but it’s my son-of-a-bitch!

Next Post

June 16, 2015 Watch! Enjoy! I've been singing this all day!

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Art children Christmas family parenting political humor politics religion sex Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz