Conservatism can gradually give way to tolerance
Wednesday’s issue of The State newspaper ran a guest column from Rev. Neal Jones, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia, entitled “The Jesus of Christianity, or of stingrays.” He points to the dominant framework of Christian America and how it has fundamentally forgotten the core messages of Jesus seen in the gospels — to love one another, to give generously and to not judge.
He paints a bleak picture, one I have joined him in pointing out in the past: The higher rates of teen pregnancy, low social mobility and higher rates of crime currently present in the Bible Belt all continue to be troubling problems, because, as he writes, “Christianity in America has divorced itself from the compassion of Jesus.”
When I was a Christian and looked at the extremely conservative, anti-socialist policies pushed by the religious right, I could not reconcile the Jesus of the Bible with a Christianity of capitalism and money over social welfare. After all, wasn’t the early church of Acts known for selling everything it had, giving to the disciples and redistributing the wealth?
One fundamental problem for religion in general is the inevitable disagreement between culture and religion, whether abortion or wealth redistribution. The solution has been, and will continue to be, to “fit” theology to rationalize the cultural preconception. Such has occurred with the religious right’s co-opting of moral code enforcement and cutthroat capitalism, at the expense of “love your neighbor” and “sell everything.” Simultaneously, this new culture values different verses than did James Dobson or Jerry Falwell.
For that reason, I take issue with Jones’ assessment that it will take a massive reimagining of Christianity to transform the Bible Belt. I see a culture rising that no longer tolerates the intolerance of my parents’ generation. Bigotry and homophobia are gradually dying off in culture at large and, with them, a new evolutionary incarnation of religion is replacing the religious right’s version of Christianity.
The Christians I surround myself with are infinitely more tolerant and socially aware than the Christ-followers of the previous generation, and many of them are keenly aware of the irreconcilability of the religious right and the gospels’ original message. They recognize the validity and benefit of evidence-based skepticism, and even recognize their own confirmation bias in their theological convictions — all the while holding steadfastly to the miraculous aspects of their faith.
It is an evolutionary benefit to religion that such doublethink occurs. It allows survival and propagation in an otherwise hostile culture: It allows adherents to disbelieve evolution while taking evolution-based antibiotics, or for believers to pray inside a hospital. Such a memetic evolution is beautiful and has been part of Christianity’s success through the past 2,000 years. There is no need for religion to shed its mythical aspects to move forward; it need only take a hint from nature and evolve.
