The American Religion

In a recent post I mentioned “the American religion”. Pondering this a bit, I came to the conclusion that I really think The American Religion is salvation by way of human romantic relationship.

It seems that sometime in the middle ages, relationships based on pragmatism gave way to the idea of Chivalrous Love or Courtly Love (not to be confused with Kurt’s widow). Knights during peacetime quickly became listless, so they would choose an unattainable muse to pursue in a strange cat-and-mouse-style game. This mistress would often be married or engaged, and since standards of decency still hung around, to actually engage in physical sensuality would be frowned upon. Instead, the mistress was to be practically worshiped from afar, showered with gifts and affection, but always with a certain caution lest actual companionship should be contemplated.

This practice seems to echo in modern society, in that our culture highly values charged eroticism that is strangely removed. It’s as if we want the initial rush of romance to last indefinitely, so we flitter all about a relationship without actually engaging in it. To truly know someone deeply can tarnish any gilt image we have created of them, so we choose to skim along the surface.

The American Religion teaches that romantic love is the highest good, and that the emptiness one feels inside which in prior times was described as a “God-shaped hole” can be filled with the right human, your “soul mate”. That’s the catch, however; there is only one “right” person in the whole world for you, and you must find them to be truly fulfilled. If you experience anything but ecstatic freedom in your current relationship, it’s clear your soul mate is still beyond the horizon.

Of course, this all sounds somewhat silly, and most people intellectually see through it. However, many Americans, maybe even most, live as though it were true. We are a fairly self-centered country, indeed, but we find escape from our inner vacuum through the idea of someone outside of ourselves pulling us into really living.

Its interesting how we can’t escape our nature as created beings designed to worship a perfect Lord.

Insensitivity to Violence

I just saw a news report on careworkers caught beating mentally handicapped men on a cell phone video. Apparently the video was taken by one of the offenders, and was discovered when he sold the the phone to a co-worker. That co-worker wisely reported the incident to authorities.

While the report was full of sickening details, the part that resonated most for me was a quote from the video. The “videographer” said to his co-conspiritor, “hit him for me”; they apparently felt these men needed discipline for some perceived offense or trespass (no doubt related to their condition). As someone who’s worked with children, I hate the idea of people in positions of authority taking out their frustrations on the innocents they’re charged with keeping.

If I’m honest with myself, I find I’m quite insensitive to violence. Where does this come from? I haven’t been exposed to all that much actual violence. I find it hard to believe that media violence would cause my insensitivity, because media sexuality hasn’t had a parallel effect. I suspect it could come from the “culture of death” I find myself in. Human life is constantly devalued everywhere I look, and I feel this is something I must guard myself against. While I intellectually place a high value on human life, I know that many of my actionable beliefs are such that I’m only half-conscious of them. I hope to grow self-aware enough to encourage sensitivity about the things I truly want to value.

It’s a dangerous culture we live in, physically and intellectually.

Spiritual Cobbling

I’ve noticed a trend among people of my generation (80’s babies). It seems that many people I know put their belief systems/worldviews together using bits and pieces of books they’ve read (usually influenced by Eastern traditions), intuitions, and statements of people they respect. These very individualistic beliefs strike me as typically American, and I wonder how widespread this practice is. Is this the modern American religion?

Greg Koukl of Stand to Reason has a great piece on this type of spiritual cobbling here. I highly recommend reading the article.

The idea of verifiable spiritual truth is really missing in contemporary dialog.