Part # 1
The Rebirth of Religion for the 21st Century
By: Billy Rojas
Cultural Renewal for America
.
.
What kind of shared culture should America seek for the future?
To answer the question we must first be clear about how we use
words like art and values and culture. And it is crucial to look beyond
whatever is going on at the moment. In other words, we need both
the perspective of history and the outlook of futures research.
.
Culture means many things but it certainly includes the arts. It also
includes
our values and the judgments we make about the arts. But most of all it
means
religion and religious phenomena. We are living through a time of religious
bewilderment; millions of people have no idea what to think about a culture
they identify with and that has provided the foundation for American life
but that is currently under attack almost wherever you look Yet other
millions
are seeking to find a place for themselves in American society without
anything at all that can serve as a guidebook. It is crucial to address
these
questions and to think deeply about what our alternatives really are.
.
.
The present, while it is reality, isn't the only reality. We are in no
position
to judge today if we only compare it with today; it is just as important
to think about all that has gone before and, as much as we can, to
exercise
forethought, whatever is relevant, about the future that it is possible
for us
to comprehend in the present. What is directly in front of us may be
illusion:
"Maya" is the term that Buddhists use, and means the tricks that our
senses
may play on us. We need to cultivate "right mindfulness" -another
Buddhist
concept- to become able to see through illusion to what actually exists.
Or what will one day come to pass and exist in the future.
.
What is it that we see when looking at examples of modern art that, to be
candid, are unappealing, maybe even ugly, or grotesque. And a good deal
of modern art is -from my perspective and the perspective of many others-
worthless, meaningless, and an insult to our intelligence. But is this all
we can
expect from artists in the decades ahead of us in the 21st century?
.
Why should it be? It is the nature of art styles to flourish for a time
and then be replaced by something else. Even one course in art history
will tell you that. Art history has special value and really deserves to be
made part of one's education because we always live in a visual culture.
In the era of television and mass advertising and web design and graphic
art
and industrial design and fashion design and interior design and much
else,
we cannot even define "culture" unless we know how to make informed
judgements about the visual arts of a people or nation -or civilization.
.
Will today's mostly valueless 'modernist' art survive into the future?
What has not survived, or only persists in haute couture backwaters,
is Post Modern art. It is gone, defunct, ker-plooey. Hence such articles
as "No mo' Po Mo," a book review by Douglas Groothuis published
in The Philosophers' Magazine in 2004. The heyday of Post Modernism
during the 1980s and 1990s ran its course, most artists finally could see
its weaknesses for what they were and sought other forms of visual
expression while the public at large, never wholly convinced of the
value of Post Modernism to begin with, quickly gravitated to
new styles in art and design and did so through the purchasing
decisions they made.
.
Not that there are no lasting effects of Po Mo; there are. What it did was
to bring about new appreciation for historic art genres and renewed
appreciation for Surrealism, dormant since it, too, took the art world
by storm in the Eisenhower and Kennedy eras before fading away.
Surrealism was effectively dead as far as the public was concerned
except among Dali aficionados and a few others. But Post Modern styles
are often Surrealistic in appearance and this led to a revival of interest
in the creations of Salvador Dali and his peers.
.
After that came Op Art and Psychedelic Art and Neo Deco and so forth,
until the Post Modern movement came along like an ocean tide.
But that tide has reversed and is now receding into the sea.
What bothers many people in our time is public sculpture. News flash:
This has been true for several decades. In 1983 an article of mine
on the subject of 'crap sculpture' was published in the New Mexico
Independent newspaper, complaining about the uselessness and
unattractiveness of most then-contemporary public sculpture.
"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose," as they say.
.
The message does not get across. Why not? Because of the interest
on the part of the wealthy and the foundations they support in being
hip, chic, au courant, and snooty about their tastes, viz, tastes
usually uninformed by anything except the art values of their monied
peers, certainly not by a study of art history.
Maybe the point has been made. But we do not need to resign ourselves
to more of the same. What will it take to change the situation? The answer
is simple and easy to understand: Educated leadership. Which is to say
leadership that is completely unlike what we have endured through all
the years of William Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Hussein Obama
and, of course, long before that. We do not need to elect cultural
illiterates
decade after decade. And, after all, there are exceptions to the rule,
notably JFK and Teddy Roosevelt in the 20th century, or, if you want
an even better case study, Thomas Jefferson.
.
The basic problem concerns education. School curricula have been gutted
from coast to coast at every level from K-12 through colleges of almost
every description. History has been reduced to multi-cultural studies
where there are no standards of right and wrong and the arts are
often eliminated altogether as a "frill." What we need, so we are told
again and again, are more STEM courses, as if all our problems,
including major malfunctions in society, have nothing to do with values
or culture or morality and are completely a function of science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics.
.
Religion can correct the problem but often does no such thing.
.
To be sure, religious faith needs to make the well being of communicants
its first priority. This means everything from concern for salvation to
vital interest in the community of believers as responsible members
of society. Sacred texts need to be learned, moral principles need
to be inculcated, and a sense of purpose in life has to be emphasized
so that people make good choices about what, exactly, their purpose
in life should be.
.
However, there has been an educational dimension in nearly all religions
from their beginnings. This is certainly the case for Biblical faiths
but you can find something similar in Buddhism, Hinduism, Chinese religious
traditions, and various "new religions" that have arisen in the last half
of the
20th century. Which is not commentary about respective truth claims
but an observation about the importance of education within a large
number of religious faiths. You can see the historic results: In nearly
all countries where their religions emphasize education you also see
economic success, or at least some success, that is unrelated
to mineral wealth.
.
Aren't Muslim countries economically successful? The question is
almost an absurdity except where oil money in the billions of dollars
change the equation, or in places where Arabs or others have basically
left Islam in the past, which can more-or-less be said for mineral poor
Tunisia, or where Islam has mostly been a veneer over other religions
like Buddhism and Hinduism and Christianity in the more modern parts
of Indonesia. Elsewhere within Dart al-Islam, certainly for the most
part,
the results are massive squalor, entrenched poverty, and publics that
are incredibly bigoted, narrow minded, and violent -viz. Pakistan,
Bangla Desh,Yemen, Libya, Sudan, and northern Nigeria. Turkiye is
a special case because of its Ataturk heritage, and you can say something
similar for maybe half of Egypt, but otherwise the generalization
is painfully true.
.
Islam does not promote learning, it never has, and the much ballyhooed
Abbasid era wasn't an exception inasmuch as it was a Muslim minority
empire during the years of its successes, with Christians and sometimes
Zoroastrians making the most of education while very few Muslims
followed suit. Islam qua Islam promotes such dubious practices as
memorization of the Koran, a book that is inferior to the Bible or
the Sutras, etc., across the board, or preaches jihad and obedience
to Shariah law, the most oppressive and malfunctional law code
in the history of mankind. If this isn't obvious to you then you
simply have never studied Islam critically.
.
An observation made by Bernard Lewis puts it all into perspective.
Namely, that there are more books translated into Spanish in Spain
in one year than into Arabic in the entire Muslim world in
the past century. You could also have said much the same thing
about Turkish -until the rise of Ataturk in the 1920s.
.
And if you want a really stark comparison, the number of foreign language
books translated into English in one year compared to Dar al-Islam
(for all of its existence) would probably be on the order of 1000: 1.
This kind of result would be less dramatic for Japan but it would
be similar; the Japanese are also highly education centered.
.
Of course, if a nation is largely illiterate there isn't much of a market
for books.
Here is a short comparison of literacy rates in, hopefully, a
representative
sample of five Christian, five Buddhist, and five Muslim countries,
excluding mineral rich nations:
.
Christian
Latvia...............99. 9 %
Armenia............99. 8 %
Costa Rica........98 %
Philippines.........96 %
Ethiopia.............49 %
.
Buddhist
Taiwan..............99 %
Mongolia...........98 %
Thailand.............97 %
Burma................93 %
Bhutan...............65 %
.
Muslim
Jordan.................97 %
Egypt...................75%
Pakistan...............56 %
Afghanistan..........38 %
Niger...................19%
.
.
And Islam is anti science. This point is muted by the fact that there are
Christians who are anti-science, too, but you should be aware that
the Christian minority who are so disposed are in contrast to the
anti-science Muslim majority.
.
You might bring up Muslim art; I will gladly concede that some art of
Islam
is superlative. There isn't the least doubt about it. The problem for
Muslim
apologists is that -to use two of the best known styles of Islamic design
as examples- the fabulous arts of Iran derive almost entirely from
Sassanid
(Zoroastrian) traditions and such mosques as the Dome of the Rock not only
borrowed Byzantine (Christian) styles but, in the case of the Jerusalem
shrine,
the building was designed and constructed by Christians pressed into
service
by Muslim warlords.
And we are supposed to regard Islam as "equal" to Christianity -or
Buddhism?
I really don't think so, not even to count the fact that Muslim social
values
are as retrograde as it is possible to find on Earth.
.
Education and religion can go together and often do. Let us not forget
that some of America's most prestigious universities started as schools
intended to train ministers of the Gospel, viz, Harvard, Princeton,
Vanderbilt, etc. There are, of course, a good number of modern day
Christian universities that are quality academic institutions, Notre Dame,
Emory, Baylor, De Paul, Loyola of Chicago, Seton Hall, Wake Forest,
Fordham, TCU, Georgetown, University of San Diego, Gonzaga, SMU,
Brigham Young University, NCU, Concordia, Villanova, Valparaiso,
George Fox University, Loyola Marymount, to list some of the best known.
.
Evangelicals did not begin to stress academics -with some exceptions
like Wheaton College- until well into the 20th century, but they are
trying
to make up for lost ground, with Liberty University being the prime example
of the process.
.
And we should mention Jewish universities in this context: Brandeis,
Hebrew Union, Touro College, and American Jewish University,
most notably.
.
The point of these examples is that religion could become a major force for
education -again, as it was in the 19th century and even before. Long
before
if we consider Europe and such venerable institutions as Cambridge, Oxford,
and the Sorbonne.
.
What is missing, however, is excellence in the arts -or the liberal arts
and humanities. The question isn't whether graduates can find jobs in
business or industry but whether American culture can be won over
from today's culture makers, people who mostly operate on a system
of values that is unhealthy for all concerned -think Hollywood movies,
TV entertainment, popular music, visual arts, and so forth.
.
It can be done; it has been done. But is it possible without a religious
revolution?
That is the question that matters the most.
.
Think of religion-inspired art. This means far more than Chartres Cathedral
or
even Schuller's Crystal Cathedral -now a Catholic church. Even without a
religious movement there are fascinating things happening in the world
of Christian art. But you would not know of any of this unless you
had an interest is the visual arts and took the time, at least now and
then,
to look for examples of new religious art.
.
Consider the bold and colorful paintings of Chinese-American artist He Qi,
who does his work in Minnesota. Or consider the reinterpretations of
historic Christian art produced by DreamsTime, such as their version
of Christ preaching from a boat in the Sea of Galilee. There are also
the stunning stained glass windows created by the monks of Buckfast Abbey,
located in Devon, England. Or think about the beautiful mola designs
designed by the Cuna Indians of Panama, a tribe that is known for
mola art of many kinds, a good number of which are based directly
on Christian themes. But if you have no background in the visual arts
how would you know about the Cuna Indians or know what
mola art -fabric designs in a distinctive style- actually is?
.
There also are forms of art that could easily be adapted for Christian
purposes.
One kind of example can be found in the African-American murals which
are promoted by Corey Barksdale Fine Art Gallery. There are many types
of Mexican or Mexican-American murals also, and special mention should
be made of the glass art of Leonard French of Australia; his 1978
creation,
The Four Seasons at La Trobe University Sculpture Park in Melbourne,
is a tour de force of this genre, a design that looks very much like a
Greek cross, but unlike any traditional Greek cross you have ever seen.
.
There are also Christian-theme murals available from Kerala Mural Paintings
in India, with "Christ Triumphant" being especially eye-catching.
For "art glass" you can hardly do better than Csaba Markus,
probably eastern European, particularly his "Imperial Glass Bowl,"
which can be taken as an interpretation of the globe and the
people of the world in that future time when something like
the millennium will have arrived; take my word, the composition
is utterly beautiful. But there also is light-hearted Christian art
of professional quality, like a design published by the
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, "Sacrificed for me," showing Jesus
but in the same kind of format as the Starbucks logo.
.
Christian art can be created by people who, while they may be Christians,
seldom use religious themes in their work. An example is Gerard Boersma's
"Yellow Christ, Painting of man enjoying painting by Paul Gauguin." It
shows
the back of a man looking at a large painting of Jesus on the cross, with
Christ's skin color rendered in yellow hues. It is very effective and
communicates something of the experience of looking at art, in this
case Christian art, and thinking about what it actually means.
.
Much Christian art in Ethiopia is innovative. Paintings by Simachew Mesfin
of Lalibela are in this category, one which combines geometric design and
faces of angels -with their wings- being especially catching. But
traditional
America folk art offers many possibilities also. This is certainly true
for Pennsylvania Dutch "Hex Sign" art. Many hex signs lend themselves
for use as 'modules" in a composition, the modules can be combined
in a variety of ways to form crosses with different configurations
to express a Christian message
.
All of which says that we are not limited to thinking about whatever is
available locally, only where you live. Through the Internet it is
ridiculously
easy to access examples of some of the best new Christian art in the world
and then to use such art for your own inspiration. We do not need to
pay attention to worthless art, so-called art, simply because it is trendy
in Greenwhich Village or Soho. In fact, uninspiring 'art' can be wilfully
ignored precisely because it is worthless to anyone with decent values.
.
The point of art, after all, isn't to make a lot of money, it is to be true
to one's deepest values. Which is not to say that money is an evil,
but is to say that -to an actual Christian, or actual Buddhist or Jew,
etc.-
"my soul is not for sale." The only people who don't get the idea
are Wall Street finance capitalists, Hollywood filmmakers,
and libertarians. And self-centered materialists.
.
The point is that if you are serious about winning back the culture you
need to be willing to pay the price. This is not about career success
or riches; it is about lasting values. What we are offered now, again
and again, are sick values that injure everyone who looks at sick art
and is influenced by the sick ideas of the so-called artists who
produce such travesties.
.
The same principle applies to music.
.
What has been a problem all along, however, has been a serious shortcoming
on the part of religious art consumers of all faiths, a strong tendency to
value kitsch. That is, to value only obvious and hackneyed expressions
of one's religion. How many "plastic Jesus" statuettes do we really need?
How many formulaic paintings of the Virgin Mary are enough? How many
depictions of Moses and the tablets of the Ten Commandments?
How many images of Buddha seated in motionless contemplation?
.
Yes, these kinds of visual creations are iconic, they leave no question
about
what it is they represent. And sometimes such a picture or sculpture is
exactly "what the doctor ordered." But isn't it long past the time when
Christian or other religious artists left most spiritual stereotypes
in the past?
.
In music, to use Christian examples because these are what I am most
familiar with, the question to ask is: How many times do we need to hear
the exact same sentiments expressed over and over, with no new insights
of any kind?
.
Yes, the Christian message is timeless and, for the faithful, it is
essential.
But is that the only way to think about faith? Why should it be?
.
And even when it seems important to focus on what is most essential,
is there some reason why it cannot be expressed in unique new ways?
Which helps explain the popularity of vibrant Pentecostal music created
in Mexican churches; there is an equivalent among Mexican Catholics
who are Charismatics. But allow me to use an example from among
white Evangelicals in America.
.
The music is now a 'classic,' it dates to the Reagan era, but there is
nothing better in terms of modern religious music. And many Christians
have heard the music and appreciate it. But when they seek to reproduce
the songs, as many have done, the result often misses the point altogether,
sometimes reducing it to an unpleasant caricature of what it once was.
Or, technically maybe a contemporary choir gets the words right
and instrumentalists play the right notes, but it all means nothing
unless the spirit and enthusiasm of the original is recaptured.
.
This is in reference to a 1986 performance produced by Kent Henry
for Integrity Music, Inc., Glorify thy Name, available on CD.
However, you can hear the whole album by using Google and
typing in Youtube, then pasting in "Glorify thy Name," "Kent Henry,"
and "1986." You should be impressed. The music -which is
100% Evangelical- is beautiful and spell binding to listen to.
.
At least if you click a site which does not interrupt the recording with
some kind of advertisement with musical background that completely
spoils everything, a characteristic of Youtube. Which is to say that
various mindless geeks who make decisions at Youtube don't know
what they are doing and don't care who they alienate
as long as there are short term profits.
.
To return to the theme of this essay, the question is: Where is there
other Evangelical music that measures up to the quality of this recording?
To judge from my admittedly limited knowledge there are other examples
but there is a problem. And, to judge from other recordings in the
"Praise Worship" series of which this is a part, none of which measure up
to 'Glorify,' these other examples are scarce. Evangelicals are not tone
deaf
to music but they can be tone deaf theology; they sometimes
just don't see the problem.
.
Which is why I generally don't listen to contemporary "Christian pop."
Vocalists who sing rapturously about how much they love Jesus,
songs sounding like boy / girl love ballads, and there are many
such creations "out there," make me ill. My urge is to say to someone
like that, "get a life."
.
Yes, there are many Christians who love the Lord, but those who are
mentally healthy don't pretend that Jesus is their (quasi-) sexual love
partner.
They give their all to others, they show their love through dedication and
sharing, not through romantic pretense.
.
Regardless of emotionally cringeworthy productions here is an example
of what can be done, "Glorify thy Name," and it is amazing.
.
Where there is an embarrassment of musical riches is the genre of
"Gospel music" sung by African-Americans for whom the style is natural,
learned from grade school years onward. Which Caucasians can learn,
by the way, and more should do so. The music is powerful, that seems
to be the best word for it, it drives home the Christian message while
at the same time its rhythms and harmonies and melodies move you
in your heart. Which can also be true -speaking of an altogether
different form of composition, Appalachian religious hymnody,
none of which is remotely similar to conventional suburban white
Christian music about which too much simply does not have potential
to convince non-believers of anything at all.
.
By the way, you can say something similar for Tibetan Buddhist music.
I once had an LP album, unfortunately stolen from me by a mentally
disturbed
and conscienceless loser (to put it in plain English), who then destroyed
it
as compensation for his failed life. In any case, the album featured
Tibetan
children singing really spirited and melodic -wonderful- songs, even if
I may never be able to hear them again. But at least I know that such music
exists and can be created by Asian performers. Which is far better than
often monotonous Buddhist chanting that inspires no-one that I can think
of,
in any way.
.
There is also enchanting Hindu music to rave about. Which is far more than
a reference to sitar music -which can be a delight to listen to in its
own right.
But this is especially to discuss a performer named Jaya Lakshmi, a devotee
of Radha and Krishna and Hindu spirituality generally. She is American
and a talented singer and instrumentalist. Which is mentioned because
there are other women musicians with the same name.
.
Her best know album is entitled "Ocean of Mercy" and was produced in 2003.
Unfortunately it is not available online except piecemeal, with short
excerpts,
but it is worth purchasing the recording -in a sense it is priceless.
Still, you can hear her for yourself regardlessly, just not this album.
Two examples are Jaya Lakshmi ~ Radha Pranam and the song
Bolo Shri Krishna; and there is more available via Youtube.
.
What is notable about her -besides her superlative talents as a
songstress-
is the fact that she has brought her kind of spiritual music to the
American
public. Jaya Lakshmi has performed at Christian churches and at outdoor
venues, as she did, along with her lover or boyfriend or maybe husband
at a County Fair at Mt. Isa, Arkansas, in 2013, at "Front Porch Stage."
.
If you search the Web you may be able to find a few other tracks from
her music, and I would personally recommend Gypsy Krishna -her take
on the "Hare Krishna" song, or Tulasi Maharani, both found on
Ocean of Mercy.
.
Sequoia Records features a description of Jaya Lakshmi's style that
can't really be improved on. She blends "Sanskrit chant, harmonium,
flamenco guitar, sarod and ambient grooves" As the write-up continues,
"Jaya Lakshmi's singing is absolutely phenomenal. The passion and grace
in her voice really stirs the soul...... The beauty in her music is
completely
absorbing, and inspiring!" This may seem over-the-top plaudits intended
to sell CDs, but these are my sentiments exactly.
.
Some Christians who read this may regard these comments as 'heretical.'
That isn't a problem, being called a heretic is sort of a badge of honor to
me,
but that isn't the intent. In each and every case where it isn't something
that seems to be absolutely necessary for strong -usually scholarly-
reasons, my goal is to be as 'orthodox' as possible. Why shouldn't it be?
.
There are two observations to make, actually many others but two ought
to suffice. One concerns a verse from the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament.
There are additional passages in the Bible that say much the same thing
(Deuteronomy 32: 8-9, Psalms 33: 13-15, Acts 10: 35, etc.), but
Malachi 1: 11 is especially clear and cogent. The translation used here
is found in the New English Bible which , like other scholarly Bibles,
and the Tanakh, uses present tense because that is what the
Hebrew original actually says; this is the situation when Malachi wrote,
not a description of what is to happen in the future:
"From furthest east to furthest west my name is great among the nations.
Everywhere fragrant sacrifice and pure gifts are offered in my name;
for my name is great among the nations, says the LORD of Hosts."
.
This says that around the world are many people who's faith is acceptable
to the Lord even if their particular beliefs and customs are different than
what one finds in Western religious traditions. That is, whatever some
doctrines may insist, the testimony of the Bible itself can be radically
ecumenical, open to a variety of spiritual insights from many different
cultures. There is no command to build walls around the Bible
as if all other faiths are wrong and cursed.
.
This is anything but license to accept anything and everything. You are
supposed to use your best judgement and only accept what can
reasonably be regarded as consistent with core teachings in the Bible
but the point is that there are such extra-Biblical truths.
.
The other point is derived from the example of Christians who clearly were
among the greats of faith from any period of history. This refers to Albert
Schweitzer, for instance, a man who gave his life to provide medial care
to people in equatorial Africa who otherwise would have had no such care
at all. Schweitzer was also a scholar who not only devoted years to the
study of the Bible and Christian theology, plus philosophy and history,
he also took serious interest in Asian religions, particularly Hinduism
and Buddhism, and wrote a book on the subject, his 1935 opus,
Indian Thought and Its Development. Schweitzer certainly showed
appreciation for the religions of India -and East Asia- but was not about
to lie about the shortcomings in these faiths that he believed were
obvious.
And, after all, he was self-critical about his own Christian faith. But we
are all imperfect beings and we should be honest and both admit our
faults and be critical about the failings of others..
.
Perhaps most relevant, however, was the life of E. Stanley Jones, once
a Methodist missionary to India -in an era when Methodists weren't
much different than Baptists, rather then the case today, where
"mainstream"
Methodists seem to be closer to Unitarians.
.
.
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