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http://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/op-ed/its-ok-

call-yourself-christian

Eh, I agree with parts of it, namely the importance of

spiritual or religious community, and the selective

portrayal of Christian beliefs in popular media. All that

being said, she falls back on some tired stereotypes

herself: namely that any solitary religious practice is

going to fall into spiritual consumerism or self-serving

ideas, and that denominational division justifies the

mentality of the "not my church" defense.

One of my major problems with (elements of) politically

liberal christianity is that there is this underlying

assumption that the general public is already literate with

all the theological differences between the various

churches and denominations out there, or that the general

public is somehow required to know them, or even care for

that matter. I think Christianity has been an establishment

religion in America for so long it has developed a bit of a

privileged mindset in regards to how it gets

"stereotyped". Its may be my own observation, but when a

group feels impugned or stereotyped against the proper

course of action should be to advocate for oneself, not

wait for the critics to get with the program. That whole

"i'm not apologizing for another Church" line to me reeked

of a complacent mindset of "I'm not responsible for

speaking to or addressing what others do in the name of

my religion". That whole attitude is a lot of the reason whyALL christianity is getting the flack it is these days.

I suppose one could argue that by writing this article, she

is tangentially addressing the "extremist fringes" who are

apparently the cause for all this criticism, and since I have

http://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/op-ed/its-ok-call-yourself-christianhttp://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/op-ed/its-ok-call-yourself-christianhttp://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/op-ed/its-ok-call-yourself-christianhttp://www.relevantmagazine.com/current/op-ed/its-ok-call-yourself-christian

7/29/2019 Liberal Christianity Rant

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not read any of her other articles or sermons, maybe she

is more proactive in her approach to addressing the nutty

things other Christian groups do. Within the scope of this

article though, it seems to create a mindset of "us and

them" where what "they" do shouldn't be her problema

view which I don't find constructive or realistic.

To the "spiritual cafeteria" point, she doesn't provide any

evidence for her assertion outside of a vague appeal to a

"culture of narcissism". It seems to rest on the assumption

that anyone trying to understand Jesus outside of Church

is going to go from earnest seeker to victim of their own

confirmation bias in 2 seconds flat. Excuse me for being

skeptical, but what does that say about the great mystics

and ascetics of our faith and others? Are we really going

to rely on the assumption that information culture has

somehow caused everyone to become self-interested

spiritual automatons hopelessly lost without the influence

of Church? Are we going to ignore the wealth of

thoughtful scholarship out there? To me this is pretty

flimsy reasoning to deny someone the legitimacy of their

spiritual position.

I think this whole notion of a "spiritual cafeteria" is an

elitist way of claiming a (partial) monopoly on truth in an

era where we are all supposed to at least paying lip

service to the ideas of religious pluralism, and a way of

discouraging the potential for religious freethinking.

Instead of condescending to and assuming individuals'motivations for independent practice, why don't we

thoughtfully engage with them and try and find a common

bridge? Why does church need to cater to a specific group

and honestly why do we care what "they" call themselves?

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I would much rather articles like this ask the hardquestions on what other models of spiritual communityare out there right now, and how the church can or can'trelate to them, and more importantly whether or not the

church really can engage with communities andindependent people outside of its own congregations in ameaningful way. Instead of getting on the defensive aboutlabels, maybe we need to stop resisting a changing andexpanding religious vocabulary. I think instead ofcondescending to those on the outside, why not strike upa meaningful conversation, and acknowledge them theright of self-identification? Until Christianity as a wholecan do that, I think we will be continually looked at aseither crypto-elitist ivory tower jerks, or rabid bible-

thumping bigots by the rest of my generation.