Foggy Thinking
When the weather shifts in the Northwest the mornings are cool and the days are warm. Fog happens. It blankets the scenery covering the waters, hovering over the trees tops mysteriously. When you travel through the fog you have to slow down to get your bearings. You are wise not to travel at the same speed you usually do, nor presume you know what is ahead.
So it is in Christian leadership in our culture. When there is foggy thinking and changing social trends, we need to slow down, evaluate the landscape, and gain perspective to know how to proceed. Studying theology helps clear the fog. It is not additional help for leadership; it is essential to keep our bearings. Stan Grenz published a small book called, “Who Needs Theology?”. It cuts through all the misconceptions about why a solid theology is needed. He states, “all Christian may be theologians, but not all theologies are thereby made equal”. Too many people believe what Grenz calls “folk religion”. This is merely a set of unclear beliefs and untested assumptions about God, ourselves and how we are to live.
When I tell others that I am studying for a doctorate, people have various reactions. Curiosity, or perhaps admiration, but many hint that it seems non-essential. Comments like “reading books is good but you got to act” or a subtle suggestion of “It’s great you want to study, but that’s your business.” Theological study is seen as unnecessary. Other just ask “Why? You already know enough.” I am pursing my doctorate not as a hobby, but to survive! The culture we live in is shifting. The church in an increasing secular environment has to respond well to the current challenges. Quick pragmatic solutions are not enough. For me going deeper and wider in my theological thinking is fuel to keep going. It helps bring clarity in the religious fog of our culture.
There is a fog about religious commitments in the Pacific Northwest. Where I live in the U.S., has been called the “None Zone” in a study by the Pew Forum’s “Religious Landscape Survey” conducted in 2001. 25% of people in the Northwest checked “none” when indicating their religious preference compared with 14% of the national average. A more recent study by researchers at Hartford’s Trinity College has found the trend is growing across the U.S. They predict that the number could be 25% for the entire country by 2030. People here are unclear about their beliefs and uncommitted to religious institutions.
Why is this so? There are a number of reasons and plenty of speculation. One reason is the thinking of people who live here. What I have found in our city is that there isn’t resentment of the church as much as apathy. People in the Northwest are very independent. Washington was one of the last states to join the U.S. We were founded by pioneers and adventure seekers. We tend to still attract independent thinkers and people who would rather explore the outdoors than matters of faith. We are not as much a churched society as the American South. People are just not interested in what goes on in churches.
But independence alone is not enough to explain why people opt out of faith commitments. Part of the blame may be the churches themselves. We need to reflect further on what it means to engage our communities. Theology is not just about what we think, but how we live. If people in our communities can see theology lived out before them that is compelling, I believe there will be others who will join us. In the “None Zone” you cannot be ambiguous, we have to engage in ways that make sense. It is essential in places when church ministry may be admired but not embraced. What Grenz points out is that good theology clears the spiritual fog. My next post will explore one reason why people have seen church commitment irrelevant to their lives: we have taught them to think that way.
Who Needs Theology, Stanley J. Grenz and Roger E. Olson, Downer’s Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1996. Kindle location 204-5.
“In the None Zone”, Amy Frykholm, The Christian Century December 2, 2008
www.christiancentury.org/article/2008-12/none-zone
See also:
“Get Thee to the None Zone”, Knute Berger, CrossCut.Com: News of the Great Nearby, Seattle Oct. 10, 2012.
http://crosscut.com/2009/09/28/mossback/19260/Get-Thee-None-Zone/
“American Nones: The Profile of the No Religious Population”, A. Kosmin &ariela Keysar with Ryan Cragun & Juhen Navarro-Rivera, Hartford, CT: Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture, 2009.
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