Faith in Context

What is Likely to Happen with the Economy?

This is an astounding piece that I found in a journal on future trends in a scholarly article written by a business school professor. The primary focus of the article is how China is structuring its economic engine to compete successfully with the United States and Europe. He describes why the West is losing in this competition:

"J. P. Morgan can lose $9 billion on speculative trading in financial derivatives. Bank of American has lost $40 billion over the last four years on their failed acquisition of the mortgage lender Courntywide. A large number of big U.S. corporations pay no taxes to the federal government; instead, many of them receive tax benefits from the government. The Greek government can be forced to pay 436 million [Euros] to secretive investment funds ... who speculate against the established network of governments, central banks, and international financial institutions.

"People watch all this with disbelief. It is not a question of whether the law makes such behavior permissable. It concerns the ethics of the very system that supports national economies and underpins the global economic structure.

"History books are full of pages describing how originally successful systems have dug their own graves by allowing distortions, aberrations, exploitations, and abuses--in short, forgetting why they were established. Any political system or economic model finds its legitimacy in delivering human security, wealth, and welfare to the people. But what we see now is that a growing share of the enterprise system, particularly in the area of financial institutions, is violating this golden rule. ...

"Many of those who exploit the system are not entrepreneurs. They have not launched new products, and they feel no responsibility to safeguard the livings of their thousands of employees. They merely shuffle financial assets around, they invent new and sophisticated financial instruments, and they display this ingenuity simply to enrich themselves by grabbing money from elsewhere.

"As the profits they earn do not stem from production, they must come from other parts of the economy. Consequently, the part of the economy providing goods and services is forced to subsidize the nonproductive part."

What Does this Mean?

The economy may not improve significantly at any point in the next few decades. Congregations, pastors and Christian ministries may be faced with long-term increases in poverty and unemployment, the resulting pressures on families and pinched church budgets. Of course, the work of Jesus is not determined by the economic climate.

Source: "China's Effort to Redefine Corporate Governance," by J. O. Moeller. World Future Review, Fall 2012, pp 5-11. Moeller is a professor at Copenhaben Business School and Singapore Management University.

Has the Megachurch Idea Peaked?

Two items in the news this weekend tell me that the megachurch concept has peaked in American culture. From here on out it will decline, but probably never disappear.

First, the Crystal Cathedral, arguably the original megachurch, has passed to the ownership of the Roman Catholic diocese in Orange County (California) and has been renamed as a Catholic cathedral. The megachurch started by Robert Schuller is at an end after about a half century.

Second, Pastor Creflo Dollar was arrested on Friday night for beating his 15-year-old daughter. He has been a primary example of the "prosperity gospel" and African American megachurches. He will inevitably go downhill from this event despite his denial and defiance on the events in question.

This is probably as clear a marker as we will have on this trend in our culture. The idea of the megachurch will become less attractive and slowly enter into decline. But, it is unlikely to ever disappear alltogther. There will always be a strand of Christianity anchored in the culture of the affluent, suburban consumer even once the Baby Boom has passed from the world.

What will come next? There are several options already here: (1) the house church; (2) small, missional groups; (3) very traditional congregations with 35 to 125 in attendance each week and a return to practices that are hundreds of years old; (4) surviving mid-size congregations that have renewed themselves by reinventing their worship and outreach activities and reaffirmed their connection to a denomination; and (5) experimental ministries of many kinds.

Will Social Networking Change Religion the Way Gutenberg Did?

It is well known that Gutenberg's invention of printing technology greatly encouraged, if not made possible, the Protestant Reformation with its emphasis on each individual reading the Scripture and finding the truth about God for themselves. It shifted the focus of the Christian religion from social conversions in which a clan leader or a price or an emperor decided for groups, large and small, if they would follow Jesus or not, to individual salvation. It gave birth to what may well be some unintended consequences, such as today's extreme forms of individualism.

What if a new communication technology becomes more dominant than the printed page? How will that change Christianity and other religions? The Internet, web sites, Email, Facebook, Twitter and texting are already beginning to move into the church. Two or three or more generations from now, how will this technology have changed the nature of faith itself?

Leonard Sweet has written more about the impact of contemporary social trends on Christianity than just about any other author around and his brand-new book is Viral: How Social Networking Is Poised to Ignite Revival. It is a must read, in my opinion.

Sweet points out that Christ was "a master Storyteller ... a crafter of parables for the artists of everyday." He uses the parable of the mustard seed to explain the situation that is about to begin. He points out that the mustard plant was an invasive plant like dandelions in your lawn. "The subversive mustard weed is nearly impossible to get rid of. Once it takes root, it takes over and invites every insect, pest, and rodent to live within its leaves. It spreads quickly and can grow and thrive almost anywhere." (page 188)

He asks, "What does infectious faith look like? It erupts in amazing beauty and resilient brilliance. It pricks with an occasional thorny thistle. It incites passion, spreads love, breeds kindness, generates compassion. While it infests the mind and heart with Jesus, it revives the body with the Holy Spirit. ... The Body of Christ." (page 189)

"Jesus was a master of stories and ... a healer of the body ... a holistic blend of mind/heart, soul, and physical body ... [a[ living organism." What will happen when a generation of young people invest the Jesus way of life with house churches, Skype Bible studies, Second Life enterprises, Facebook pages, and Twitter streams of prayer? What will be the common expressions of faith among my great-grandchildren? What is your speculation? Please share ... and read this book.

Will E-publishing Destroy Libraries?

There is a conflict underway that has the potential to destroy public and university libraries as a concept. The publishers of E-books do not want to sell their materials to libraries and allow multiples uses. They are insisting on collecting a fee for every time someone looks at a publication. In other words, they want to collect tolls instead of deliver a product.

This is a departure from publishing practices going back some 200 years. The fact that a book or periodical purchased by a library will have multiples users has long been accounted for in the fact that libraries have always paid more for both individual copies of books and periodical subscriptions. What the publishers now want goes beyond that precedent. They want to collect a toll every time anyone looks at a publication. This unprecedented demand creates an untenable situation for any library and threatens the freedom of information that is a bedrock value under-girding public libraries and educational institutions.

Of course, the libraries could simply purchase hard copies of publications and avoid the problem. But, more and more titles are published only in E-book format and not available in hard copy. And, more and more readers are using only E-books.

Will this conflict lead to a culture war between the sub-culture of traditional, academic research and analysis on the one hand and the culture of new technology on the other? Or, will someone create technology that effectively makes it impossible for E-publishers to lock out non-toll-payers?

An in-depth analysis was published in this morning's edition of The Washington Post here.

American Religious Profile: New Data

A new Gallup Poll has been released asking Americans about their religion. Remember, this is not based on official membership lists, but this is the self-identification of a random sample of adults across the country.

A third of American adults identify themselves as Protestant or with some Protestant denomination. One in four (24 percent) identify themselves as Catholic. Two percent identify themselves as Jewish and one-half of one percent as Muslim. A total of 17 percent said that they identify with no religion or simply refused to answer the question (15 percent and two percent). The others identified with many small religions generally considered not Christian.

A 57 percent majority clearly sees themselves as Christians, but the United States continues to edge closer to a time when that majority will disappear. It is a melting icecube. Despite the claims of some propagandists, the U.S. was never a Christian nation, always valuing religious liberty and pluralism over the established faiths of Europe. But in the 20th Century it did come into a time when the majority of Americans identified with one Christian denomination or another. How long will that consensus last?

American Catholics Hear a New Liturgy Today

This weekend the revised liturgy is being introduced in Roman Catholic parishes across the English-speaking world. It is the first time that the English version of the mass has been revised since it was introduced after Vatican Council II. One of the major changes in Catholic religion made at that council in the 1960s was conducting worship in the language of the lay people. Incidentally, this was a very old issue at the time which got its start during the Protestant Reformation.

Many Catholics in America and Europe believe that this revised English liturgy simply re-introduces ideas and language from the old Latin liturgy; that it is a triumph for conservative Catholics who would like to erase the changes resulting from Vatican II. Bishop Donald Trautman, former chairman of the U.S. bishops' committee on liturgy was quoted in USA Today earlier this week labeling the new liturgy "elitist" and incomprehensible to the average Catholic. He sees its introduction as prelude to a "pastoral disaster."

Much of the change in the liturgy involves the insertion of English translations of the old, Latin mass. There is a line-by-line comparison available on line if you want to see all of the details, most of which is obscure to anyone not trained in theology and church history. It includes more direct statements of a number of ideas that were never officially removed from Catholic theology, but have been largely ignored by pastors and people in recent decades.

This event demonstrates how difficult it is for religious institutions to reform themselves. Tradition has a power all its own. The center of gravity seems to always shift away from the "new thing" that the Holy Spirit may be calling God's people to and back to the old paths. The Catholic Church is not the only religion that suffers from this disability.

A Season of Apocalytic

It seems that this is a season of apocalyptic themes. Harold Camping, the founder of the Family Radio Network of Christian radio stations, finally gave up after repeated announcements of dates on which he was sure from his careful study of the Bible that Jesus was returning. The latest was in October. A cult in Peru was equally certain that Jesus would return on October 15. There is growing spectulation about the fact that the last year in the Aztec "long calendar" is thought to be 2012 by many scholars although they are uncertain as to what that means. Now a new movie is out entitled Melancholia which one reviewer calls "a zombie apocalypse film."

Why so much focus on apocalyptic? It reaches way beyond the six percent of the population that usually thinks about this topic; the small number of Christians who have great interest in speculation about the end of time despite the fact that in Matthew 24-25, Jesus makes it clear that He does not approve of such speculation. He simply declares that "no one knows," that even as Messiah, He did not know when the second coming is scheduled. The most authentic Christian teaching on this topic is to live each day as it is the day; to be constantly prepared for the end of time no matter how short or long the time.

Is all of this attention to the apocalyptic simply the result of the economy? After all, it is for millions of families the end of their world as they've known it. The forces of good and evil are involved in a great, climactic struggle. It appears that before they are done there is a good chance that the politicians will destroy the American dream, and that is the end of the world for the large numbers who believe in that dream more than they believe in God. Or, are incapable of differentiating the two. Or, is there something else going on here? What do you think?

The Next Generation Begins

One of the most common questions that I am asked; "When does the generation begin that follows the Millennial Generation?" Some demographers have placed the end of the Millennial generation (today's teens and young adults) as early as 1994. Others suggest somewhere in the middle of the last decade. I think we now have concrete data to support a clearer answer.

Demographers usually place the markers for the beginning and end of generations based on demographic events, not cultural or political events. After all, this is demography, not sociology or political science. The Pew Research Center released a new study yesterday that provides the best candidate I have seen for a demographic event that can serve as a marker between the Millennial generation and the generations following it.

It is possible that this next generation will become known as the Great Recession Generation. Of course, it is too soon to know what label will stick. That will only become known over the next 20 or 30 years. The year 2007 had a record high number of births in America, more than 4.3 million. The next year the birth rate started a downward trend that continues. Provisional data for last year indicates it is down to a little over 4 million.

The simple answer as to why is that mothers and fathers have responded to the bad economy by having fewer babies. But, that may be too simple and explanation. An alternate theory is that the economy is down, in part, because Americans have lost the will to take risks and responsibility for communal relationships (family and civic) and the economic downturn as well as the dropping birth rate are both symptoms of something deeper.

My instinct is that we have arrived at the marker between generations and this new generation (currently three years of age and under) will most likely end being called the Recession Generation, at least initially. I confess my thoughts are much influenced by the multiple reports from economists of all stripes which predict that the Great Recession will last a decade or longer. If the economy somehow pulls out of the current depressed mode in the next two or three years, then the label won't stick. A generation lasts more than a decade and future events could change perceptions.

You can download the full report from the Pew Research Center here. I am interested in hearing other conclusions.

One Thing You Can Do About Slavery

Prism, the journal published by the Sider Center, stated recently that the total number of people in the world who are currently in slavery (not using the word as another way of describing political oppression) is larger than it ever has been in human history. This includes people in sexual slavery as well as labor slavery. These situations are probably distant from most of my readers, but there is one thing you can do about this evil, and this is not about fund raising.

Join youth groups, congregations and individuals around the world this weekend in fasting and prayer for those who are enslaved. A graduate student of mine in Canada started this concept last year thinking that a few church youth groups she is connected with would join in, and found that through social networking it exploded around the world. So this is the Second Annual Weekend of Fasting and Prayer to End Human Trafficking. Pick a time frame that works for you starting on or after 12 a.m. September 23.

For more information use this link. No matter where you are or what you are doing this weekend, you can do something for "the least of these" with whom Christ identifies fully.

Why Do They Hate Us?

Memories of what happened ten years ago bring me back to the haunting question of the time. It still remains largely a mystery. Why do some people have such hate for those who believe differently that they think God has authorized them to kill?

This is not a Muslim problem, despite the slander believed by some. Christian fundamentalists bombed the Federal courthouse in Oklahoma City before Muslim fundamentalists flew planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In fact, it seems most religions have a very small percentage of people who are insanely, violently zealous. There are Christians willing to kill people they disagree with over abortion despite the fact that Jesus clearly taught us to "turn the other cheek" and not resist evil with evil.

Ultimately this kind of hate does not come from God. It is not about piety or devotion in any religion. It is rooted in evil. It is a marker of all the God is against. There is a word for this in all religions; sin. Anyone who thinks they can rid the world of sin by resorting to violence or injustice is overcome by the very thing they are supposedly fighting against. It is like the old folk tale of the tar baby. The more you hit it, the more you are stuck in it.

The only thing that is victorious over sin is divine love. God chooses to struggle against sin by extending mercy, forgiveness and grace because He is wise enough to know there is no other way to actually overcome sin. Hate and terrorism ends when I decide to quit hating those with whom I disagree on the most profound topics, the most cherished truths.

Why do they hate us? Because we hate them. The only thing that disconnects this vicious cycle is when we choose to join God's side and love the hater. That takes far more courage, a far more fearless moral stand than anything else. The Son of God gave His life to demonstrate this reality.