The other day, a pastor from a local church asked if he could come to at St. Louis Atheist Meetup. Being the friendly bunch of heathens we are, we told him he was absolutely encouraged to come and see what we were all about.
Pastor Keith hung back for the most part during our meetup, eventually getting wind of the Faith Infiltration project. He told us he would love it if we infiltrated his church – coming in to do our thing, and writing up an un-sugarcoated review.
As it turns out, Keith is pastor at
Copper Creek Christian Church, located in Maryville, IL – Flimsy’s old stomping grounds.
Flimsy and I are avid GPS users, so when we’re planning an outing to a church, we tend to simply plug the address into the GPS and let it lead us. As we got closer to the church, Flimsy noted that it was in the same area as the church building he had attended at a child. Then, he realized it was on the same road as said church. Then, he realized that it WAS the same church building, now owned by a different congregation. This was a fascinating coincidence, as this church building is the subject of many rather entertaining stories.
Upon entering the building we were greeted by several friendly people. The previous service had not ended yet, but when it did, people poured out of the sanctuary. We spotted Keith and approached to say hello.
We introduced ourselves to some congregants, letting them know that we were atheists who went to different churches each week. A curious thing happened – the congregants reacted with a sort of familiar surprise, the way someone might react when you introduce them to someone whom they have not met, but whom you have been telling stories about. Said congregants told us that they knew the pastor blogged with atheists. They mentioned things like wanting to find common ground between believers and non-believers, or wanting to figure out how to not be afraid to approach religion with non-believers at work. I couldn’t help but think that a few sessions with us might help people get over their anxiety toward talking to non-believers about Christianity. I like to think that we’re stubborn but approachable atheists.
The sanctuary of this church was contemporary, having an auditorium-like feel to it. There were cushy chairs instead of pews, and a long row of stained glass windows near the front at the top. In the center of this row was a stained glass depiction of Jesus, very reminiscent of a third grade color-by-numbers coloring book.
(sort of like this, only Jesus:)
Grossly oversized and clearly hand-constructed art supplies decorated the stage. These were apparently from an art camp being held at the church. An understated band (or worship leader group) assembled on stage with a keyboardist, percussionist, guitarist, and several female singers. They sung an uplifting song about how their god saves.
Above the stage, a video began playing over a large projection screen. It was a remarkably sugarcoated film about honoring fathers during fathers day, forgiving fathers who are absent or have failed at appropriately raising their children, and honoring people who act as father-figures. It even included a scene where a father and son are eating breakfast, the son accidentally spills his milk. Rather than get angry, the father simply smiles, shrugs, and intentionally tips over his milk too. At the end of the video, a worship leader told his congregation that his god the father knows you and so on fathers day, one should also honor their god. Following this, there was another uplifting song about how god knows everyone such that he hears everyone and knows every thought.
The song ended, and the sermon began. The pastor explained that in Christianity, there are ‘tutors’ – people who ramp up guilt and repentance in order to convert someone to Christianity as soon as possible. These individuals are essentially in the business of saving as many souls as quickly as possible.
He compared these ‘tutors’ to ‘fathers’, and said that ‘fathers’, especially those he is in contact with, do not want to convert their children as quickly as possible into Christianity. Instead they want their children to wait until they are old enough and possess the mental capacities to really accept Christianity not blindly or out of fear, but out of genuine conviction. As he spoke, it was clear that ‘fathering’ was ultimately superior to ‘tutoring’ as ‘fathering’ would me more likely to lead to lifelong Christians, rather than to individuals abandoning their faith as they age due to being indoctrinated and frightened into belief.
I find this way of thinking to be highly ethical, especially coming from a pastor. I have heard other pastors actually lift up indoctrination of children in sermons a la Francis Xavier, “Give me the children until they are seven and anyone may have them afterwards”. Like many other atheists/secularists, think it is immoral to indoctrinate children into a faith or a belief system they do not understand. We would consider it wrong to refer to a child as a “communist child” or a “Marxist child” because we are applying systems of belief to children who cannot understand this belief. It is much better to teach children skills – critical thinking, the ability to reason and problem-solve, rather than to teach them facts. I do not know if Keith meant anything like this, so I’d really like to explore that with him.
The pastor went on to say that Paul is a ‘father’, not a ‘tutor’, and referenced
1 Corinthians 4:6-16, which I shall reprint here from the ESV.
6I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 7For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?
8Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! 9For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. 10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. 11To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, 12and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.
14I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church. 18Some are arrogant, as though I were not coming to you. 19But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. 20For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21What do you wish? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Keith told a story about how the congregants of the
Church of Corinth were being spiritually immature, causing a lack of unity among the congregation by doing things such as suing each other over personal disagreements or taking arguments from within the church outside the church. Paul came to the church of Corinth and told the congregants to stop being petty and instead do as he does.
Christians, Keith said, should behave as Paul behaves – Christians will be slandered, their beliefs will be misrepresented, they will feel attacked and persecuted – and they should not react by attempting to take away the rights of others.
I should repeat this, because this is one of the best things I have heard a pastor say to his congregation: If you feel misrepresented, slandered, persecuted or attacked, you should not react by attempting to take away the rights of others.
Keith went on to tell his congregation, literally, that “Christians should stop whining about being mistreated and instead find common ground”. This, he said is the difference between tutors and fathers. As you can imagine, I absolutely agree.
One of the things that Christians try to do is own permission. That is, they try to prevent individuals from doing supposedly immoral behavior X. The pastor told his congregation that Jesus set people free, so that in effect they could do whatever they want. I think what he means by this is that under the Old Covenant (in the Old Testament) there were 600+ rules given to the people by god that one had to follow; otherwise they would face their god’s terrible wrath. Jesus moseyed on down to earth and set humanity free from these rules. Yet, all that is allowed is not necessarily beneficial – your god might allow you to cheat on your wife, but cheating on your wife might not be beneficial.
Keith stopped here and said something along the lines of, “But wait! People say, ‘if you say you can do whatever you want, people will go and do whatever they want’. This is not true. People don’t work this way, and this is obvious, because not everything is beneficial”.
Holy Father of Science, dude. One of the biggest arguments against atheism made by theists is that atheism opens the doors to bad behavior – if there is no god watching you over your shoulder, inside your head listening to your every thought – then you can do whatever you want and not be held accountable for your actions. I’ve blogged about this so many times that I could probably link to each word in this paragraph with a separate blog post on the subject. He was effectively saying that this argument against atheism is crap.
Alas, I have to wonder. How do we know what is beneficial? The answer to this is unclear. For example, I think it is perfectly permissible and beneficial to engage in safe, sane and consensual sex outside of marriage or partnership. I have no problem at all with non-monogamy so long as all parties included are open and honest with each other, topped off with an intense commitment to never violate the trust of your partner. Keith may very well disagree with me; I on the grounds of secular humanist ethics, he on biblical ethics. We may disagree on gay marriage, stem cell research, or any number of things. But, he is saying we should not take these disagreements to the political level by actively attempting to infringe on the rights of others by taking away their right to engage in a permissible but nonbeneficial behavior.
Keith also told his congregation that they have the right to be as expressive as possible regarding their own beliefs, but not to such an extent that is distracts their neighbors – meaning, I assume, that one should not infringe upon the rights of others while expressing their religious views.
Changing subjects, Pastor Keith moved on to talk about some changes to healthcare funding being made in Illinois on July 1st. Apparently on July 1st, funding for health-related services to serve people who are victims of abuse, with mental illnesses and/or other disabilities are being cut to the extent that many people will lose housing, food, health, and other essential services. He urged his congregation to respond to this at the government level, asking to increase local taxes by a marginal amount so that these services would not need to be cut. He also urged them to help out at a local outreach center, so that his congregation could continue to use their resources for good and transparency.
This pastor is not admonishing his congregants to write to their government officials concerning the Ten Commandments being taken down from the front of a government building. He is not telling them to vote against civil rights for homosexuals. He is not telling people to work at the local outreach center in order to prosthelytize as a primary goal, and feed the hungry as a secondary goal. This church seems to really be concerned for things that really matter, like a society’s ability to care for its less fortunate members.
Here is a pastor that understands and actively engages the “other side”, and seeks to break down the “us” and “them” mentality – absolutely rejecting attempts to vilify people who are not Christian. His top priority seems to be seeking to make the world a better place in the here and now, rather than winning souls for the hereafter (though I am sure this is a goal as well). As it turns out, this Faith Infiltration needs no sugarcoating.
Labels: atheism, culture, faith infiltration, local, morality, politics
