It just occurred to me that what this is becoming is a kind of virtual congregation. I never planned on this happening, but I cannot say that I am displeased either.
I left the pastorate nearly two decades ago, broken and disillusioned. Some of the pain I experienced was the consequence of my own life choices. The rest was the consequence of my disillusionment with organized religion. In my estimation, the church had become -- and almost universally remains -- critically ill. In fact, as I say in my book:
"If the current decline in church attendance were the medical case history of a hospital patient, the diagnosis would read: 'Chronically ill; resistant to change; on life support; likely terminal.'"
"The church itself is the one institution most in need of the very thing it proclaims to the world -- salvation. It boasts of knowing God, but by the sheer numbers who have given up on the church, it is right to question whether the church knows God at all."(The Enoch Factorhttp://stevemcswain.com, p. 56).
So, I left, in terms of personal involvement and interest. In that respect, I was one of those whom researchers today call nones. The difference is, unlike most, I was a religious leader and a none -- that is, a former pastor who had walked away from the ministry. I took up consulting with churches and parishes, Catholic, Evangelical, and Protestant alike. While clearly disingenuous, I didn't know what else to do. All my professional training was in religion. Besides, I didn't hate the church. I was just disillusioned by it. Deep within, I held out hope the church would change. I remain hopeful to this day.
I wandered, however, and wondered for many years whether a church existed anywhere that remotely resembled the teachings and practices of Jesus. I found most taught their traditions and practiced them with rigidity. They seemed lost in the madness of their differences from each other, as well as their dogmas, doctrines, and endless debates.
One day, I found such a church -- Highland in Louisville, Kentucky. And then -- I'm happy to report -- I found a few more. To me, they are candles of hope that faintly flicker in a desert of religious darkness. Most churches, however, remain lost.
And so, the decline continues as the exodus escalates. I find it humorous how religious leaders of virtually every Christian denomination try to put a positive spin on their declines. They do so by continually showcasing the few churches in America that are growing. What they do not tell you is that their growth is coming primarily from disenfranchised and disgruntled members of other churches and denominations. Talk about disingenuous.
By some estimates, the exodus has surpassed thirty-four million. Yet, what's interesting to me is that the majority of these pilgrims still regard themselves as spiritual people. Which, of course, they are. Spirituality isn't defined by church attendance, theology, doctrine, or practice.
You don't have to go to church to know God either. As far as I can tell, Jesus himself seldom attended any "organized religious" gatherings of his day. The few times he did, the guardians of madness drove him out. At least once, he got mad enough to drive them out. For the most part, however, Jesus practiced his spirituality outside the Temple or synagogue. But, anyone who has read the New Testament would know this.
So, last year, I finished writing the book to chronicle my own spiritual journey -- that is, how I've learned to walk with God beyond the insanity that is so much of religion today. Throughout, I display quotes and teachings from virtually every major religious tradition in the world. I know now there really has only ever been one spiritual truth -- experienced and expressed in the context of a variety of different cultures and traditions. In other words, any and all spiritual traditions will speak to the inner you, just as they do me -- that is, if you're open to them and not so attached to your own beliefs that you can neither respect nor receive the truth found in others.
What I could never have predicted is the impact this book is having, as well as other things I've written since its publication for the Huffington Post, the Washington Post, and others. It hasn't been limited to the US either. Almost daily, I receive emails and Facebook friend requests from people everywhere. Just this morning, in fact, from a spiritual seeker in Bloemfontein, Free State, a province of South Africa. Most of these people have left organized Christianity or some other tradition, since much of the insanity found in the Christian church is found in other religious traditions, too. They are still interested, however, in a spiritual life.
This is becoming a kind of virtual congregation. And, quite honestly, I like the thought of it, perhaps because, although I left the pastorate many years ago, I never left my desire to help others in their spiritual walk.
Where will this go? Who knows? Frankly, it really doesn't matter. What does matter is that thirty-four million people know that spirituality isn't defined by a council of clergy-persons or a crowd gathering weekly to shout, shake, shiver, or do nothing but sit. It is instead defined by how you think, the way you live, and, perhaps mostly, by the way you treat yourself and others. Jesus said, "Love God. Love others. Love yourself" (Luke 10:27). Doesn't get much clearer than that.
Something else Jesus said is that "this is eternal life, that they know you (God)" (John 17:3). Eternal life for most churchgoers is some far off fairytale they've got to die to find. That doesn't seem to be the point Jesus was making. Knowing God is eternal life and the knowing is now. If what I write should help just one none is his or her knowing, for what more could I ask? So, whether you still walk beside or within an organized faith or religious tradition, know that you can walk with God. In fact, you do already.
I'm curious. Are you a none? Did you leave the church, too? Or, some other religious tradition? I wonder why? Still interested in spiritual things? I'll be watching for your comments as well as your contacts. Blessed journey.
Follow Steve McSwain on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DrSteveMcSwain
Religious Nones | Evolving Thoughts
Living the Religious Life of a None: Growing Numbers Shed ...
I Don't Believe in God: Differentiating Religious "Nones" in ...
Religious “nones” and the future of American religion « The ...
I have friends who are still affiliated with Unity churches, and who speak highly of them.
Unity churches can be found in every, or almost every large city, and many medium-sized and smaller cities, as well.
Their main website is http://www.unity.org/
I also recently co-lead a yoga/spiritual retreat at the original HQ for the Unitarian Universalist church, which is now a retreat center. I don't know anything about their churches as a whole, other than to say that UU is the only church/denomination I've heard criticized for being *too* open, in all ways -- which, for many of us, basically can't be negative.
The main UU website is: http://www.uua.org/
(Please note that UU and Unity are two completely differeent denominations, per their non-associated websites linked above.)
At the retreat center, there were a bunch a bumper-stickers and signs posted in various places, and one that has happily stuck with me is:
HUMANKIND - BE BOTH.
As always, religion tends to be a mirror for most of us: it tends to make the open-hearted more so, and the closed-minded more so, as well.
Regarding the former item -- that's wonderful of course; and a big part of what it's all about.
Regarding the latter item -- it's amazing to me, and to others I've talked with, that this ("rule-frozen heart syndrome") is such a prevalent affliction in Christianity, considering that the Gospels spend so much of their preciously spare ink highlighting Jesus' repeated rebuking of this very attitude in the Pharisees and others.
As far as whether I'm a "none" or not, I don't really self-define, these days.
Spirituality and life are one and the same for me, and if anything is true, uplifting or useful toward being ever more aware of wholeness, unity and harmony for myself or anyone else, I'm interested.
http://livingunbound.net
My theory is that Jesus was sent by God to show people what right intent looks like. God knew what was going to happen but God loves people that much.
More recently a second person was sent by God but this time people mostly ignored the message. The person lived out his life and was able to complete the job, mostly in secret.
More recently still it seems to me another change has caused people to begin to hate the idea of right intent less, I believe as a result of all this now deceased person was able to accomplish.
If you believe in love than you believe in God. God is love. It is a struggle for everyone to grasp that and to live it authentically. To know God is something of the heart, something experienced, a presence. Knowing about God isn’t something I’m trying to intellectualize or compartmentalize by reading and studying. It is an experience of a presence in the heart that reveals that God is love. What I am writing about is not comprehensible or logical accord to the intellect of man or a lot of world religions. I am writing about a collection of shared experiences of mankind with the Divine, a participation in they Mystery. If, I gave you a comprehendible, containable, construct of God, it would be a lie. Man cannot contain the entire knowledge of God with a philosophical rationalization. We can only attempt to grasp what God was revealed by our experience and encounters with the Divine. So, I can only verify the Being of God through a movement of love between the Beloved and Beloveded. As in any relationship, one grows and takes on the characteristics of the other. Much like the Mystery of the Incarnation of Christ Jesus, and the glimpse of the future life of mankind revealed on Mt. Tabor.
And Acts chapters 2&4 suggest the early Christians gathered often for worship and to share communion.
he would again have those same problems if he returned and gave the same teachings.
the rich man not going to heaven would do him in, if not that the forgive seventy times seven, or the kingdom of heaven is within you.
in a nation that loves its super power status that meek shall inherit the earth teaching would go over like a lead balloon.
in a nation that allows mega corp profits off the sick and needy and these corps find ways not to pay to max their profits, one can only imagine how a jesus would react to such a nation.
or the teachings that the least in heaven is greater than john the baptist. that would really upset the baptists and of course the southern states. ie baptists.
and last but not least a nation that worships at the altar of an economic system that puts profits over people. then we have the worship of individualism and competition; oh to hear jesus speak on those aspects of american culture.
no he better stay where he is at, he would not be wecome in america.
The works of organized religion are at best, do for me if you want me to do for you. Atrocities at worst.
Jesus was crucified for having too much rightness. It made people too uncomfortable, pretty sure he was trying to make them look bad. And what if this catches on?
I would respectfully submit we have a way to go yet before understanding, "This is eternal life, that they know you."
I am also gay, but that is not the reason I left the church. In fact I probably would have gone through some mandated therapy if I had any confidence in the church in other areas questioned.
When I took a comparisons religion class, I found many things about Buddhism that spoke to me and made sense. Twenty years later I officially converted to Buddhism.
Buddhism has many factions and denominations as Christianity. I don't believe in many of the "mystical" supernatural elements of Buddhism...
My spiritual meanderings have included learning Reiki and using it in lieu of meditation, to help with spirit-travel recall (for want of a better term - "astral travel" is a phrase I can't abide). To reference another of today's HP articles, I'd say I'm not really seeking now; I've found what I was looking for, and am very happy to let that develop naturally.
Thank you for this interesting article! :)