Journal # 8: Religion in North American Society

(This rather pessimistic analysis of religion [in North America] was written in 1993. Since then there have been significant developments. Nevertheless, vast sectors of the Christian population of North America still remain mired in this worldview. In a second installment, I will speak of what needs to happen – and is already happening in circles throughout the continent.)

Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral, Photo: Geoff Pugh, The Telegraph

Christian religion has played an important part in the creation of counter-values as a basic cultural underpinning in the development of Western civilization in both capitalist and socialist forms). The obvious achievements of science were received with skepticism by the Church throughout the last 500 years. As medieval cosmology was gradually dismantled by Copernicus, Newton, Galileo, Descartes, Darwin and then Marx, the church resisted with rigid authoritarian condemnations and a turn toward a withdrawal from the world that left religion without a voice. Science was left free reign to present itself as the new answer to all questions, the new panacea for all life’s problems. And since the advance of science did offer prodigious results, the population became entranced with it. The Earth was no longer viewed, as in ancient cosmologies, as a living being moved by living forces with whom we are called to live in harmony. It became rather a lifeless machine, driven without purpose by atomistic and gravitational laws. History was no longer a cycle of return that invites us to humility but by rather a linear progress towards perfection. Even the social order was no longer guided by interpersonal relations but rather by mechanistic laws of historical determinism. Our whole perspective of the universe, our place in it and the values that guide our journey through it have been subverted by the rise of the modern scientific, technological society of the 19^th and 2-0^th century.

We must also look at the role of religion in consumer society. Religion historically has been the principal bearer of meaning and value for our civilization. It has been where our place in the universe has been defined and the values that guide us in our relationships have been determined. In recent decades the whole institution of Church has taken its direction from contexts of consumer affluence, whether in the Global North or the Global South. The parish was eminently vulnerable to this attack by consumerism given the traditional role of Church as a place of “withdrawal from the world” and as a buttress of the political and economic status quo. On the one hand churches borrowed their whole operational structure from the corporation; on the other hand, they attempted to “market their message” along the lines of advertising. The message itself was designed to be one that would gain the approval of the moneyed and powerful class on whom they believed themselves increasingly dependent. Michael Novak and his like were logical products of a Church that has sold its allegiance to corporate interests.

Today, parishes are almost always run on a business or corporate model. There is a staff which operates programs our of a plant. Clients come for services. Even in very poor areas, there is a large overflow of this model. It usually provides a place where members can “withdraw) from ordinary concerns and activities to “rest” for a while and be comforted and refreshed in preparation for their return to the “normal” flow of daily activities. That normal flow is inevitably at the service of the industrial and business interests of the modern scientific and technological society of “growth and progress.”

Religion as preached in the majority of Roman Catholic parishes in North America (and their corresponding affluence Global South sectors) has become a screen for supporting competitive consumer values. The image of God is patriarchal. The universe is viewed as a hierarchy with a male God at the top governing it. Men follows in his image, followed by women and then the rest of the universe (all gobbed together). Creation is usually understood as something God did back at the beginning of history and then left to men (sic) to do with as they pleased so long as they obeyed certain laws: the Ten Commandments and the Laws of the Church, not one of which gives recognition to any responsibility humans have for the Earth. All that is not human (plants, animals, water, air, minerals) are seen exclusively as “resources” whose value derives from their “usefulness” in satisfying human interests. The official texts of liturgy seldom give any recognition or value to the Earth or its elements (air, water, soil, plants, animals) except in reference to their value for humans. The only exceptions might be most of the paslms, but these are used sparingly in parish celebrations, perhaps more sparingly in the contemporary Church than at any time in its history.

The relationship between humans and God is increasingly considered a private affair to be dealt with in the realm of personal prayer. We are to ask God for what we need (frequently quite ego-centric and consumer-oriented needs), and we are to hope we will go to heaven when we die (i.e. leave this world). If there is an increased interest in community prayer in contemporary Church settings, it is usually centred around a prayer for humans in need. There is little reference to the needs of the planet or gratitude for Earth’s gifts. The implied conviction is that only people count. At best it is a set of “resources” and at worst it is a threat to our salvation and to be kept at arm’s length.

This view, promoted by modern (18-20^th century) Christianity, is preached in most parishes.It is hierarchical, competitive, authoritarian and oppressive of the Earth. There is a storng emphasis on man’s (sic) mission to dominate the earth and subdue it. Woman is seen a subject to man as the head of society and the family. The very insistence on the exclusively male presence in the clergy only served to underline the secondary character of half of humanity. The b iblical images of violence serve to justify military resolution of conflict. Repressive dictatorial political regimes are buttressed by biblical texts that press Christians to obey authority.