One of my difficulties with religion in general and with Christianity in particular, especially Protestantism, is the scholastic dimension. In the wake of Martin Luther, parishioners were encouraged to have no priest intercede between God and their soul. This was followed by mass production of 'The Bible', translated into native tongues, to allow each person to read, pray, and commune with the Almighty. “Next to theology I give music the highest place of honor,” writes Luther. This sentiment conveys the sense of experiencing God through faith and without instruction. Righteousness is what you feel it to be, and no one can deny your own understanding of God's plan for you.
But if this religion by personal revelation dominates behavior, then scholasticism, (the derivation of meaning through study, logic, interpretation, debate, etc.) is relegated to the point of irrelevance. In this confusion, I think many people default to a rather primitive 'theology' of self. The simple logic is that
1) I am a human being entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by my Declaration of Independence.
2) All policies that interfere with my progress towards my definition of 1) are to be opposed, irrespective of society as a whole.
3) While I accept that the government is necessary and is dictated by our Constitution, I should continue to grouse and otherwise fight towards maximizing my outcome with respect to item 1).
Sadly, my own philosophy is also conflicted. That is, I can understand intellectually that individuals are at once discrete and part of a whole. I can only understand my own experience (and even that understanding has limits), so I cannot dictate how others should behave. Yet I believe we should feel some collective responsibility, especially for community health, defense, and commerce. Without agreements on community matters, we are all imperiled and especially vulnerable to circumstances of birth and other random cruelties. I can have empathy for the helpless, and I can advocate for a society that strives to eliminate senseless suffering. Indeed, I can sacrifice towards this ideal, in the spirit of Matthew 25:40
"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."But this is my personal religion. I cannot force others to accept that they should have empathy and concern for the less fortunate. I cannot force others to imagine that their own existence is advanced when their fellow citizens are free from hunger, homelessness, ignorance, and disease. I cannot make anyone accept that a threat to anyone's freedom is a threat to their own.
Returning to the theme of this essay, the crisis in religion in America is a crisis inherent in the reformation, wherein each person becomes their own priest. Such an arrangement in the context of a religion makes each person an author of their own religion! There is nothing quite like self-righteousness as granted by the Creator of the Universe to empower selfishness, bigotry, and blind pursuit of personal wealth and advantage. But is a society better served having citizenry in a zombie-like state of adherence to strong leaders telling them what to do and how to think? Perhaps today's crisis is a stage towards a more just, stable, and peaceful world, where each person appreciates our dual responsibilities to ourselves and our community.
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