Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The True Church

Apparently, Pope Benedict XVI is at it again. Yesterday, the Vatican released a document (approved by the Pope) that reaffirmed the official position that the Roman Catholic Church is not only the sole true Christian church, but the only sure path to heaven. (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070710/ap_on_re_eu/pope_other_christians)

As the article linked above notes, this is not a new position. Since at least 2000, this has been the official teaching of the Catholic Church, despite the progress the Second Vatican Council made in the 1960's in ecumenical (cooperation between Christian denominations) relationships.

Well, as a mainline Protestant pastor, you can guess that I disagree with this view, to say the least. I think it's absurd and awfully self-righteous for any institution (including my own beloved United Church of Christ) to claim that it possesses the only "true" legitimate anything. (Luckily the UCC, along with most mainline Protestant churches, do not make this claim.) I could go on and on about how this idea flies in the face of such concepts as Christian humility or loving neighbor as ourselves. Or about how making these kind of asinine claims is what leads to religious violence and persecution. (How many wars have been waged in the name of religion? Too many.)

But I don't want to hear my own voice today--I'd like to hear from some readers.


Questions to ponder:

Can a human institution ever claim to have the "one way" to God or salvation?

Is there such a thing as "one true church"?

Has the Roman Catholic Church actually moved backward since Vatican II, or simply "clarified" its position, as Benedict states?

When Jesus claims in the Gospel of John to be "the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me," does this lend support to the idea of a "one true church"? Does it mean that, if not a church, then at least a religion (i.e. Christianity) can claim a monopoly on truth?

What happens when multiple religious groups make such a claim? They can't all be right, so how do you decide which one is right?

If the Roman Catholic Church isn't the one true church, what would the true church look like?


Well, that's probably enough for our brains for today. Let's get some discussion going.

Until next time, this is Pastor Chris signing off.

Monday, July 9, 2007

General Synod and 50th Anniversary of the United Church of Christ

The big 50th anniversary of the merger between the Congregational Christian Churches and the Evangelical & Reformed Church that created the United Church of Christ was celebrated from June 22 to 26 in Hartford, Connecticut, along with the UCC's 26th General Synod. I was fortunate enough to attend as a visitor.



There were many things of interest to comment on at this event. One of the highlights for most folks was the speech given by Bill Moyers. You can read it here: http://www.ucc.org/news/significant-speeches/moyers-challenges-ucc-drive.html.



One of the themes of the speech, along with many of the other speeches, was the hijacking of the Christian religion for the purposes of the political right. In short, many of the speakers (and I) believe that the language of Christian faith and piety have been taken over by politicians who have turned many of Jesus' meanings on their head.



For example, how can it be that the most vocal and recognized Christian groups in politics share a party alignment with those representing the interests of big-business corporations? Why is this same party most interested in giving the richest Americans a sizable tax break, while shifting more of the burden onto the lower classes (and taking away the public resources these folks need most)? Have they read what any of the Hebrew prophets had to say about economic power in society? Or what Jesus had to say about worldly riches?



And why do we have a President who is perhaps the most "professed" Christian president of recent years, but at the same time pursues policies that not only help the rich at the expense of the poor, but also continue to fail to welcome the stranger and alien, actively destroy God's creation, and--of course the big one--make war based on false claims? How can the religious right be on the same side as these priorities?



Or, as so many others have asked, WHAT BIBLE ARE THEY READING?



Let me know if you come up with any answers, or if you have good points to share on either side of the question of whether Christianity has truly been hijacked by the political right.



-Pastor Chris