Worshipers are borrowing from Eastern religions and New Age
beliefs. Open-mindedness or a dilution of faith traditions?
Chicago —
Because she attends Catholic mass every Sunday and observes all
the religious holidays of her faith, Angela Bowman may well exemplify
the Latin root of the word “religion,†which is “to bind.â€
But the Chicagoan also meditates several times each day and
practices yoga every other week. She knows Catholicism, Hinduism, and
Buddhism have contradictory elements but is unfazed by her multiple
observances because, to her, “it’s all pretty much the same
thing.â€
“The biggest part of praying is opening yourself up to a
connection with God, and I perceive clearing your mind in meditation as
another form of receptivity,†says the 30-something textbook editor.
Although she is a devoted Roman Catholic, she says she doesn’t
“believe it’s the one true path and anything else is flirting with
the devil.â€
Ms. Bowman’s attitude tracks with those in a study released last
month, which found that large numbers of America’s faithful do not
neatly conform to the expectations or beliefs of their prescribed
religions, but instead freely borrow principles of Eastern religions or
endorse common supernatural beliefs.
The intermingling of faiths is not new, but some Christian leaders
worry that its apparent increase in America distracts worshipers from
the true path and dilutes Christian doctrine. But others say mixing and
matching elements of different faiths is inevitable, given exposure to
other parts of the world made possible by today’s technology, and
actually creates more opportunities to address people’s yearning for
spiritual growth. If the global marketplace divvies up the production,
distribution, and marketing of goods among different continents, they
say, why shouldn’t religions be shared the same way?
Among the findings of the survey, by the Pew Forum on Religion
& Public Life:
•Almost 1 in 4 American adults say they sometimes attend
religious services of a faith different from their own.
•Twenty-four percent of the public say they believe in reincarnation,
and 23 percent believe in yoga as a spiritual practice.
•Twenty-five percent of the overall public (and 23 percent of
Christians) believe in astrology.
•Fifteen percent of the public acknowledges having consulted a
psychic or a fortuneteller.
The results refute the notion that faith in the United States is
monochromic and instead show religious practice to be as diverse as the
number of faiths in society, says Greg Smith, senior researcher with
the project. The data reveal “a remarkable openness†among
followers, many of whom participate in rituals or practices that
contradict their professed faith, he says.
“There are lots of people who are Christians, who may be
Protestant or may be Catholic and who may be quite committed to their
practice, but who nevertheless have practiced ... tenets of experience
that tend to come [from] outside of Christianity,†says Mr. Smith.
Religion scholars say the cafeteria-style picking and choosing of
philosophies dates back centuries. What’s notable about this current
surge is the ease with which seekers can learn about other religious
traditions, courtesy of the Internet and widespread mobility, says
Richard Rosengarten, dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School.
“People have access to a tremendous range of information about a
tremendous range of religions,†he says. Although “the search for
the divine is authentically religious and is always honored,†he
says, rampant straying from a particular dogma can be threatening to
church leaders who feel a responsibility to keep their community of
worshipers intact.
The challenge at the top, says Dr. Rosengarten, is to figure out
how “best to encourage the widest possible range of _expression_ of
that search while maintaining the identity and truth of that
tradition.â€
Other church leaders are less interested in encouraging outside
exploration, including Pope Benedict XVI, who in 1989, as Joseph
Cardinal Ratzinger, warned in a statement that the practice of yoga
among Catholics can “degenerate into a cult of the body.†He also
warned Catholics not to mistake yoga’s “pleasing sensations†for
“spiritual well-being.â€
Such statements point to a desire by some church leaders to keep
the flock’s experimentation to a minimum.
Eastern religions gained US adherents in the 1960s, when a
generation of Christians discovered alternatives to the “highly
rational†traditions they were brought up with – and perceived them
as better equipped to address the civil, racial, and sexual upheaval of
that time, says Irwin Kula of The National Jewish Center for Learning
and Leadership, in New York. Hinduism, Buddhism, and other non-Western
religions addressed “the yearning for transcendence†that
nonmystical religions did not, he says.
That shift forced religious leaders to face up to the fact that,
for young people especially, traditional religious institutions were
perceived as too authoritarian and as lacking relevance, says Rabbi
Kula. “A lot of these religions are run like General Motors,†he
says. “It’s a leadership challenge.â€
But won’t a seeker traveling so many religious paths in fact get
nowhere?
“The only way to become a true believer is to follow one
faith,†concurs Kula. But the realization that “some people have a
psychological disposition to taste more foods†can be an opportunity
for leaders of religious institutions to engage with many more
individuals.
Others, though, argue that religious purity is a non sequitur.
“The thing that is forgotten in these discussions is that any
single religious tradition is itself already a composite,†says
Harvey Cox, a professor at the Harvard Divinity School whose 1965 book,
“The Secular City,†is considered a theology classic. He considers
the idea of isolated religious traditions to be “a big myth.â€
“What we have are streams that have been fed by other streams
and have fed other streams all along,†he says. “Even what is
advertised by clerical leaders as the kind of ‘pure package’ is
already the result of the collage.â€
Meditation is what Matthew Goodemote, founder of a wellness center
in Gloversville, N.Y., says gave him answers that his upbringing in a
strict Presbyterian household could not.
“It became a gigantic, transforming thing in my life,†says
Mr. Goodemote, allowing him the humility to “try to do God’s will
over your own.â€
Anxiety after his grandmother’s death caused him to start
looking outside his religion, Goodemote says. She had been the
spiritual rock in his family, but he felt his religion could not
explain why a drunken driver could end her life – a death he saw as
meaningless.
Reading authors such as mythologist Joseph Campbell, Christian
writer Karen Armstrong, and New Age writer Eckhart Tolle helped him
connect, he says, to a model of Christ that he sees as more inclusive
of people outside Presbyterianism.
“We believe in God’s omnipresence, which means He is
everywhere.... So how can you say one person is not in God’s
favor?†he asks.
While bestselling authors such as Mr. Tolle and Deepak Chopra are
to be commended for speaking to the contemporary hunger to connect
different faiths, they have yet to establish the staying power of their
teachings, says the University of Chicago’s Rosengarten. Throughout
history, that happens when communities are formed – by religious
institutions.
“To perpetuate [spiritual teachings], you have to establish a
community around it, and that is the complicated thing,†he says.
“At the end of the day, to be part of a religious community means you
punch the clock on a regular basis.… I don’t think they’ve
created the community in the same way that mainline Protestants have.â€
Some Roman Catholic leaders say their followers do not need to
look outside the church to find what they’re looking for.
“A lot of young adults who are attracted to the beauty of
meditation techniques are very unaware of the contemplative and
mystical tradition of their own faith,†says the Rev. Donald Senior,
president of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Father Senior says the church respects other teachings but gets
concerned if followers engage with other religions “from an empty
chair.†“You have to be rooted in your own tradition to be able to
properly engage with other religions,†he says. “If it’s strong,
then sure, someone can practice yoga as a form of exercise and not buy
what may be part of another religious system, which may not be evil but
is not in line with their own faith tradition.â€
If people are straying from the church, he says, it’s the
church’s fault for not doing a “better job.â€
“There’s a lot to be done to make worship more vibrant and to
make the preaching more relevant for people,†he says. “Religion is
not just ideas, it’s the bonds of community, and if you get so
[insular] that you don’t hold people, you have a problem.â€
That’s why Kula interprets the Pew survey as an opportunity for
religious leaders to stop being “in the fear mode†and to take a
hard look at whether their practices give people the spiritual wisdom
they need in their lives.
“My job is not to preserve something,†he says. “My job is
to make sure something works and is actually worthy of being
preserved.â€
