Oct 1, 2021 03:52 PM
https://www.forbes.com/sites/alisonescal...2a5ffe12ae
INTRO: The world is beset by fire, flood, famine and pestilence (pandemic) at unprecedented levels. We can see our climate changing, we can feel the weather, but we are still mired in controversy about what to do. Why?
Brian McClaren thinks the problem starts with what he calls toxic orthodoxies: institutionalized systems of belief, whether religious, political or economic, that cannot be questioned. Because to do so would be heresy. “I'm concerned with how faulty religious beliefs and approaches are actually plunging our species towards self destruction,” McClaren told me in an interview. “But that’s equally true of economic orthodoxy.”
His book, Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working And What To Do About It, starts by identifying the crisis of doubt within American religion, and then draws parallels with other sacrosanct American beliefs. Like “the idea that economic growth is the solution to all problems. I think those are those are matters of belief for an awful lot of people who don't consider themselves religious,” says McClaren.
When beliefs don’t work in our reality and people are told not to question them, doubt emerges. For McClaren, doubt is crucial path to growth, both personal and in our thinking. He believes doubt might just save the world, because when people grapple with doubt they often emerge with more empathy, intellectual humility and nuanced thinking.
Crisis in the American Church. McClaren understands why 65 million U.S. adults have dropped out of active religious attendance, and why that number increases by roughly 2.7 million a year. An insider, McClaren was raised in a Christian fundamentalist church, where he was warned that, “An open mind is like an open window, you need a good screen to keep the bugs out.”
Later, he went on to become a pastor, thinking that “more time exposed to hymns and worship songs, more time in Christian fellowship meant my doubts would decrease, not increase.” But after years of listening to people and counseling them in his role, McClaren found himself sharing his parishioners doubts. And that doubt launched him and the church he served for 24 years on a journey of exploration that led to (sometimes painful) growth. Since retiring from the pastorate, he’s continued his work as a spiritual teacher and author.
“Most Christian denominations have painted themselves into a corner,” says McClaren. “They have defined themselves by beliefs. And that leaves them unable to change their beliefs. When you define the boundaries and those boundaries are beliefs, then if you change your beliefs you're out.” In the book, McClaren shares heartbreaking stories of people who were “disfellowshiped” from their communities and even their families when they confessed to doubting some of their church’s beliefs.
“You're setting up people for dishonesty,” says McClaren, “Because in order to maintain their identity in the community, they have to keep saying they believe things that are harder and harder for them to believe.”
His goal is not to give up on religion, but to transform it. “Something is wrong, dangerously wrong, not just in my religion but in all the interconnected religions of the world,” McClaren writes. “People like you and me can play a part in detoxifying and healing our religious traditions,” a process in which “doubt can play a surprisingly constructive role.” (xviii)
Doubt could save the world. For McClaren doubt is a process that can lead to growth and change... (MORE)
INTRO: The world is beset by fire, flood, famine and pestilence (pandemic) at unprecedented levels. We can see our climate changing, we can feel the weather, but we are still mired in controversy about what to do. Why?
Brian McClaren thinks the problem starts with what he calls toxic orthodoxies: institutionalized systems of belief, whether religious, political or economic, that cannot be questioned. Because to do so would be heresy. “I'm concerned with how faulty religious beliefs and approaches are actually plunging our species towards self destruction,” McClaren told me in an interview. “But that’s equally true of economic orthodoxy.”
His book, Faith After Doubt: Why Your Beliefs Stopped Working And What To Do About It, starts by identifying the crisis of doubt within American religion, and then draws parallels with other sacrosanct American beliefs. Like “the idea that economic growth is the solution to all problems. I think those are those are matters of belief for an awful lot of people who don't consider themselves religious,” says McClaren.
When beliefs don’t work in our reality and people are told not to question them, doubt emerges. For McClaren, doubt is crucial path to growth, both personal and in our thinking. He believes doubt might just save the world, because when people grapple with doubt they often emerge with more empathy, intellectual humility and nuanced thinking.
Crisis in the American Church. McClaren understands why 65 million U.S. adults have dropped out of active religious attendance, and why that number increases by roughly 2.7 million a year. An insider, McClaren was raised in a Christian fundamentalist church, where he was warned that, “An open mind is like an open window, you need a good screen to keep the bugs out.”
Later, he went on to become a pastor, thinking that “more time exposed to hymns and worship songs, more time in Christian fellowship meant my doubts would decrease, not increase.” But after years of listening to people and counseling them in his role, McClaren found himself sharing his parishioners doubts. And that doubt launched him and the church he served for 24 years on a journey of exploration that led to (sometimes painful) growth. Since retiring from the pastorate, he’s continued his work as a spiritual teacher and author.
“Most Christian denominations have painted themselves into a corner,” says McClaren. “They have defined themselves by beliefs. And that leaves them unable to change their beliefs. When you define the boundaries and those boundaries are beliefs, then if you change your beliefs you're out.” In the book, McClaren shares heartbreaking stories of people who were “disfellowshiped” from their communities and even their families when they confessed to doubting some of their church’s beliefs.
“You're setting up people for dishonesty,” says McClaren, “Because in order to maintain their identity in the community, they have to keep saying they believe things that are harder and harder for them to believe.”
His goal is not to give up on religion, but to transform it. “Something is wrong, dangerously wrong, not just in my religion but in all the interconnected religions of the world,” McClaren writes. “People like you and me can play a part in detoxifying and healing our religious traditions,” a process in which “doubt can play a surprisingly constructive role.” (xviii)
Doubt could save the world. For McClaren doubt is a process that can lead to growth and change... (MORE)
