The Roman Catholic Bishops: Are They Killing Their Church?

Question:

I’m a gay man and family physician who has often quoted you and said, “Jack Spong is exactly where I am as a Christian.”  My husband and I have met you personally and attend every opportunity we have to listen to your scholarly lectures.

I’m having some doubts after reading Richard Dawkins’ “The God Delusion.” At the same time I’m re-reading his 30^th anniversary edition of “The Selfish Gene” Richard has almost convinced me that there is no God.  I still think I see God and what is holy in many people, especially in you and in my relationship with the love of my life, Brian.  I am a scientist after all, and Dawkins’ arguments make perfect sense to me.  Yet we worship at our progressive UMC on Sundays and I’m constantly noting stupid stuff a scientist should reject out of hand.  We enjoy the fellowship but I wonder why I am still going.  Can you help me find my way?  I look forward to your next several essays on “thinking differently and accepting uncertainty.”

Answer:

Dear George,

I am glad you have read Richard Dawkins’ books, “The God Delusion” and “The Selfish Gene.” I enjoyed both books and find Richard Dawkins to be an insightful thinker and a clear writer.  He is a pleasure to read.

We are living in a time of rising consciousness and new ways of understanding reality.  Richard Dawkins is one of the authors who is forcing us to recognize that the old ways of thinking are simply not working any longer.  The problem is that most of our churches are so deep in the clutches of these old ways of thinking that their message is no longer able to be heard.  When we examine the prayers said in church we discover that they are all generally addressed to the God above the sky who began to disappear with the work of Copernicus in the 16^th century and who then died when we became space age people.  We see old and dated thinking when we continue to define human life as fallen from an original perfection and thus identifying ourselves as the victims of “original sin.”  These ideas died with the work of Charles Darwin, who taught us that human life was never perfect, but that we evolved from single cells into self-conscious, complex creatures.  Now look for a moment at what Darwin’s insight means to the common religious language of our day.  If there was not original perfection, there could have been no fall from perfection into sin.  If there was no fall, there would have been no need to be saved from a fall that never happened.  This means that the whole idea that “Jesus died for my sins” is absurd.  I could go on and on but the fact is that many churches today appear to be caught in a time warp.  Their destiny is thus either to turn into being clever propaganda institutions of fundamentalism that avoid the issues or they become quickly irrelevant and begin to manifest rigor mortis. The future of Christianity lies, I believe, in breaking out of these patterns and finding new ways to articulate the meaning of life and the God who infuses new life.

So wrestle with Dawkins, but recognize that there are people in the Christian Church who can read and even appreciate Dawkins and still be drawn into the worship of God and a Christian understanding of life.

Live well!

~John Shelby Spong

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