Religious Boundary Keeping

[_John Larsen]

I have been listening to a lot of Christian radio the last little while. I was struck by something strange. They have many Christian programs that are positive and “uplifting” but a lot of their focus on the outside world tends to be really negative and dark. This is both in their newscasts and segments where they discuss the world or social issues. And by dark I mean it. In the last few days I have heard programs focusing on suicide, ritualistic killings, rape and homicide. News reports tend to be very foreboding and seem to pick the worst of the worst in human behavior (as opposed to what is most likely). There is also a repeated theme of the spiral downward, that things are getting much, much worse.

I was mediating on this today. In particular, why Christians, who should be focused on the “good news” and the positive influence of their religion on society, tend to focus on just the opposite. Something dawned on me. It is all about boundary keeping. To a large extent they are forced to artificially create an "us and them", an “other world” because one naturally doesn’t exist.

If one compare the values of mainstream Christians, mainstream Muslims, mainstream Buddhists, mainstream Hindus and even mainstream Humanists one will quickly come to an obvious conclusion—they all pretty much believe the same thing about personal morality and what is good behavior. It is really just in the realm of metaphysics that they differ. They don’t really disagree on values, just where those values come from. I used to attend the Mormon Church and now I attend a very liberal Unitarian Church. Even our reverend is a black, gay, woman. I don’t know how you could get any further from Mormonism. But the truth is, if you didn’t know any better you couldn’t tell the difference by interacting with the people. They all believe in charity, honesty, duty, loyalty, personal integrity, human value, etc. on both sides.

So if you are “selling” your religion on Christian radio what are you going to do, since they values you are packaging are really pretty universal? You are going to try to juxtapose your religious package against something horrible. So for our Christian radio the choice is evangelicalism or a murder and rape filled, demon-haunted world. Who would chose that?

You can then judge how interested a religion is in proselyting their religion by how dark they paint the world. Interestingly, religions that aren’t interested in such things today, such as mainstream Hinduism or Judaism do very little in terms of doomsday theology and bogeyman preaching. So if you want a stronger “us” you must make a stronger “them”.

[_silentkid]

Fear and guilt are Christianity's prime motivators.

[_Phaedrus Ut]

I've noticed the same. Without a problem there is no need for a solution. The scary part is these end of days/Rapture/second coming people tend to see signs everywhere. The world is turning into a progressively evil, violent, and sinful place. The interesting part is that actual statistics show that the world is becoming a safer not a more dangerous place http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/viort.htm


Phaedrus

[_Gadianton Plumber]

Would you please post this on MAD?

[_John Larsen]

Would you please post this on MAD?

I'll do it just for you.

[_Gadianton Plumber]

Would you please post this on MAD?

I'll do it just for you.

What a guy!

[_BishopRic]

One thing I've heard from my TBM friends and family since leaving the church is "well you still have morals, don't you?"

The reality is that I believe my "morals" are much better since leaving because my "church of the Golden Rule" morals call for true inconditional love and respect for all...something I don't find in most religions. So I have to answer "yes, but mine are quite different than yours...." Of course they assume that means I am about to commit mass murders now.

I think what you say is very true, and of course we see it on the boards with the modefenders calling us Mormon haters and wicked apostates. The whole paradigm of life is different when you get past the "good/bad, right/wrong" thinking and see everything as natural with outcomes (I don't even like the term "consequences" as it seems religious based).

So I do find it challenging to converse with religious zealots as they seem to struggle to understand any other way of living. The "us vs. them, God vs. Satan" world is so ingrained in all their thinking.

[_John Larsen]

I'll do it just for you.

What a guy!

Did you get what you wanted out of that thread?

[_Gadianton Plumber]

More or less. I find it fascinating when something that is inherently neutral like "some religion do the us v them" thing, it is taken as an insult. It reminds me of that scene in My Name is Earl where the gay guy is trying to get the courage to go into a gay bar. A cop knocks on the window and says "you can't park here" and the high strung fellow screams "I'm straight! I'm straight"

Or like when I once walked into the room where my little boy was playing and he blurts, "nothing!"

[_EAllusion]

It is a common, indeed defining, trait of fundamentalist sects to portray the world outside of their religion as a horrible, fallen place full of increasing danger and iniquity.

The most stark example I've seen of this is in the Amish community. They have a pretty robust cultural system in place to portray one's ultimate choice between the Amish religion or a world filled with shortsighted pursuit of pleasure and selfishness - drugs, promiscuity, pain, and indifference. And with that choice, how many of us wouldn't choose against it?