The Future of Faith

I just heard an excellent program on the CBC show ideas. It was an interview with futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil (Most recent book: Singularity). What it did was provide an excellent glimpse into a future which the current rate of technological advance can predict. It is a fascinating picture. It is one where human life spans are dramatically increased. It is a future where computers not only become more powerful then the human brain, but also one in which we can tap directly into that computing power. Is religion ready for this?

I ask that question as a bit of a joke. I think that in many ways religion is not even ready for the technological revolution that has already happened. Now what I am not talking about is the use of LCD projectors or electric guitars in worship, or websites, podcasts or the many other ways that religious organizations have tacked on technology. What I am thinking about is how our technological advances have changed the place of religion in society.

Lets face it. The dominant forms of Christianity were largely produced out of a time in which Christianity could claim a degree of dominance. Thus for centuries you could have an organizational structure, the church, claim exclusive access to knowledge. By training their clergy and deciding who could be a part of that organization, religious knowledge was controlled and the church maintained almost complete monopolistic power. Sure there were many other voices that arose. Their ability to challenge the monopoly of the church was very limited. The most successful reform attempts where able to effect change largely by creating their own organizational and communal structures. Thus the reform movements were limited largely to monastic reform movements; first Cluny, Cistercians, latter Dominicans, Franciscans and interesting in response to the reformation the Jesuits. Then came the printing press.

Suddenly a monk from the relatively backwater town of Wittenberg was able to spread his ideas and unleash a torrent of reforming voices that tore through Western Christianity. What happened was that knowledge control shifted from a church to books. Key books became the point of both limiting and defining religious knowledge, whether those books were The Bible, Confessions, theological treatises, catechisms etc. Still organizational structures retained their importance, and the mode of the gathered community as the point of religious life continued.

Now we live in the days of the internet, greatly increased life expectancies, jet travel etc. It is clear that the question of control of religious knowledge has changed. I now have not only access to libraries of sacred books from almost every tradition. Any religious voice can have its voice heard, from radical fundamentalist terrorists to Jainists. In my own life I have had the opportunity to hear many of the most influential religious voices personally as well as on-line. The reality is that while many religious organizations still try to make their claim for exclusive religious knowledge. These claims increasingly fail. As many evangelical leaders report they may be coming in the front door quickly, but they are leaving out the back just as quick. (Most main line churches don’t even have them coming in the front door). The reality is that we are now in a diverse and competitive religious environment and that is here to stay. From now on if religious are not delivering the goods that people are searching for they will be gone.

Now many religious leaders start to complain that this shift to consumer religion is nothing but evil and a reflection on our selfishness. I am no longer so sure. I actually believe that there are lots of people searching for some real spiritual substance. Consumer glitz and marketing might get them in, but don’t expect them to stay.

Perhaps much more importantly, and perhaps why religious leaders are really so nervous, is that if you don’t have the goods, if you are not responding to real needs. Then your future is bleak.

This is an important reversal. Most pastors are trained as experts. That is they are representatives of a religious faith, which usually believes that it is the best and knows everything. So it trains people to simply recite “the truth.” The best critique for this came from a friend of mine, Joe, who basically said that Lutheranism has the best theology, . . . that is for 16th century questions. In other words if Lutherans keep answering 16th century questions, as an organization they get to hang out with the dodo. Every denomination or church better start asking which century’s question they are addressing. If it isn’t the 21st, yea sorry.

So what are the questions we need to pay attention to? Well the reality is that most people despite our massive technological advances still find themselves often in lives that are unhappy, lacking meaning, connection or a sense that they are actually making a difference. The reality is that our massive influx of knowledge also causes us to realize the world’s problems, realize how small we are, and also to ask the big question . . . what is this all about. Or perhaps more importantly where do I fit into this. The other reality is that people are going to live a lot longer. The other reality is that once people start getting older they start wanting to explore the spiritual dimensions of life.

Very large on the horizon is that with all these advances, the reality is that there are still billions who don’t even get enough food to eat or receive the most basic of education and healthcare. Who will make sure that the voices of the poor are heard and ensure creation is protected?

In other words, while most denominations like my own, have leaders who have deiced to steer themselves into inevitable demise. The reality is that the future of religion on the whole is that it is remarkably bright and important.

So what will it take for religion to thrive? The reality is a remarkably different sort of leadership. Out goes the excessive worries over organizational structure, policies, practices, preserving a culture or an identity (usually a code word for the club). We don’t need leaders who can simply recite. Instead what is needed is a leadership which can listen to the questions and concerns of people and be able to access the entire richness of the tradition. We need leaders who can walk with people into the depths of their questions. We need leadership who can respond to the realities of the world and shape the church so that it organizationally can give them a means of responding. In a world where people move more and more and become more and more fragments, we need leaders who can facilitate the formation of communities, where people can have a real sense of belonging. We need leaders who can walk into the rich diversity of life, and gather people together who can bring hope, meaning, purpose and real change.

Over the coming years it will be very interesting to see which communities will be able to follow the spirit enough to emerge as a meaningful community of faith in a rapidly transforming world.