C
CutlerB
Guest
I have had two experiences of something I’d call “religious relativism” recently. You can call it “religious indifference” if you like.
The first one was talking to someone from our Anglican parish, who is Roman Catholic. He said it’s still registered with the state that way, but he would probably have been excommunicated automatically, he says. So, what was it that would prompt me to say it was “relativistic”? Well, the guy “recommended” I shouldn’t join the Catholics but stay Anglican (He doesn’t know that I am actually going to convert). He says the Pope’s theology was “out-of-date” and “platonic”, which sounded as if he meant "it’s just not fitting anymore. He went on to say that the Church should change its stance on homosexuality, and that he knows many gay Catholics, and that priests in Germany were actually very liberal and didn’t follow Rome.
My response was something along the lines of: “It is not the Church who has to run after the people if they don’t agree with Her teachings. It’s society that has drifted off and the Church is not there to accommodate every ‘zeitgeist’”. The reply on his part was basically: “Well, that’s what all traditionalists say. The Church is the people in her as well.”
There was not really any getting through to him on the inability to change the stance on homosexuality or other teachings.
Experience no.2 was with a good friend of mine who is somewhat Lutheran. I say somewhat because it’s really just the parish she attends but her personal faith can’t really be categorised. She told me that she had been to London and attended Evensong in St Paul’s Cathedral, which I had recommended to her, and that she went to sleep because the music was so tiring and not fitting the theme of the Evensong: The Resurrection. All of the “fancy stuff” like robes, ritual and so forth, she said, was just unnecessary and faith is about personal experience. She said that God is about happiness and not about wearing fancy robes and singing old-fashioned songs. All of the “ritual” around it was just there to create respect for the people “enforcing” religious dogma, she thinks. Among the things named were also these: Bible reading in languages the people don’t understand, smells and bells, “trance-like chant”, vestments, gold,… all of the beautiful stuff.
Now here’s my question: How do we counter such attitudes? One, disregarding Church authority, and two the “feel-good” attitude?
Thanks, please feel free to ask for clarification or comment on anything!
The first one was talking to someone from our Anglican parish, who is Roman Catholic. He said it’s still registered with the state that way, but he would probably have been excommunicated automatically, he says. So, what was it that would prompt me to say it was “relativistic”? Well, the guy “recommended” I shouldn’t join the Catholics but stay Anglican (He doesn’t know that I am actually going to convert). He says the Pope’s theology was “out-of-date” and “platonic”, which sounded as if he meant "it’s just not fitting anymore. He went on to say that the Church should change its stance on homosexuality, and that he knows many gay Catholics, and that priests in Germany were actually very liberal and didn’t follow Rome.
My response was something along the lines of: “It is not the Church who has to run after the people if they don’t agree with Her teachings. It’s society that has drifted off and the Church is not there to accommodate every ‘zeitgeist’”. The reply on his part was basically: “Well, that’s what all traditionalists say. The Church is the people in her as well.”
There was not really any getting through to him on the inability to change the stance on homosexuality or other teachings.
Experience no.2 was with a good friend of mine who is somewhat Lutheran. I say somewhat because it’s really just the parish she attends but her personal faith can’t really be categorised. She told me that she had been to London and attended Evensong in St Paul’s Cathedral, which I had recommended to her, and that she went to sleep because the music was so tiring and not fitting the theme of the Evensong: The Resurrection. All of the “fancy stuff” like robes, ritual and so forth, she said, was just unnecessary and faith is about personal experience. She said that God is about happiness and not about wearing fancy robes and singing old-fashioned songs. All of the “ritual” around it was just there to create respect for the people “enforcing” religious dogma, she thinks. Among the things named were also these: Bible reading in languages the people don’t understand, smells and bells, “trance-like chant”, vestments, gold,… all of the beautiful stuff.
Now here’s my question: How do we counter such attitudes? One, disregarding Church authority, and two the “feel-good” attitude?
Thanks, please feel free to ask for clarification or comment on anything!
It’s just so frustrating to have people claim all sorts of things and use so complicated explanations for why they should not follow what Jesus commanded, just to avoid having an authority over their own. Really, it is.