"It's religion, it doesn't have to make sense!"

Posts at the moment seem to be focusing on things I don't like. Possibly because it feels like there's a lot of them just now! But anyway, here's another thing about people's attitudes which saddens me. It's the way people seem to equate Christianity- and again, many of these arguments probably apply to other faiths too- with what you might call intellectual laziness.

There's a perception that, as a friend said to me the other day "it's religion, it doesn't have to make sense!" Well excuse me, but I rather think it does. The clue here is probably what you mean by"sense"- if you accept the idea of the supernatural then things may make sense to you that someone who doesn't accept that won't see as making sense.

What they meant, I assume, is that if a religion- or religious leader- says something is right then all the people who follow that religion unthinkingly obey.

I have to agree that if this was indeed what faith is all about, I wouldn't be involved. It's a model that probably was once the case- or at least official sources, for example of the the Roman Catholic church would like us to think so, although as a historian who specialised somewhat in the reformation and church history I rather doubt their control was as complete as many liked to think! And I'm not going to deny that some denominations and congregations today still seem to have the attitude that their leader is right and that they should do what they say unthinkingly.

But this certainly isn't true of your average Christian today. One of the things I valued about the church I grew up in was the variety of different preachers we had. Many of them were not of a high standard, but the experience taught me to think for myself and to consider whether what I was hearing fitted with what I knew of God, with what I read in the Bible. And I don't think that the idea of absolute obedience to church leaders is a very Biblical model of church leadership*. Nor did Martin Luther, one of my historical heroes, who developed the doctrine of the "priesthood of all believers" according to which all believers are equal and have an equal right to interpret the faith as long as they can prove it is consistent with God's word in the scriptures.

God gave man a rational brain, which allows him to think and to reason. What would be the point in that if he didn't intend us to use it? What would be the point of his giving us free will, the power to choose to do the right thing or not, if he didn't want us to think and choose? So the idea that faith is just an excuse not to think for oneself is just plain wrong, as far as I can see. Following a leader is no excuse for doing or saying or thinking things which are plainly wrong. And exploiting people's belief to gain power for oneself is an abuse and misuse of authority, for which the exploiter will be answerable to God (see Ezekiel 34 for God condemning the priests to whom spiritual leadership of Israel had been entrusted and who had led the people astray). Good leaders should seek to encourage the people they lead to study the Bible and learn to decide what God is saying to them through it themselves, rather than relying solely on others to interpret it for them.

That doesn't mean leaders or authority are a bad thing. We are told to respect our leaders and pray for them, because they have a difficult job. From experience, I can say that when I'm interpreting the Bible for others it can sometimes be hard to know what's from God and what's from me. As long as what's from me is in line with what's from God, that's not much of a problem, but leaders need prayer for wisdom and discernment. And if leaders don't have the respect of those they lead- and respect isn't the same as unthinking obedience, it might simply mean discussing a matter you disagree on in private with them rather than undermining them in front of others- it becomes very hard for them to lead at all. Some of the stories of churches and their leaders in Acts and Paul's letters show what happens when churches have weak or erroneous leaderships.

So faith isn't an excuse for people to get power and make others follow them. Abuses that may have happened or still be happening are just that, abuses. Our Lord is Christ, and no other. Human leaders can help us**, but once they loose their humility or claim never to make mistakes they're stepping outside God's plan, in my opinion. Nor is faith an excuse for not thinking. In fact it can make for some very hard thinking, as I often struggle to see how something that is happening can possibly fit in with my faith. It saddens and indeed offends me when people think of Christians in this way as unable to think for ourselves because of our faith. Just because we're called sheep doesn't mean we can't think!


* See, for example, 1 John 4 v1 where we are told to "test the spirits" of those that speak in churches so that we're not lead astray by false teaching. And verse 10 is a pretty good example of what we need to be looking at to see if the things we're being taught fit with God's will: "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

** The Biblical depiction of church leaders as shepherds is a good one, as it is not only mirrors Jesus' description of his leadership of the church but also reminds us of the caring, sacrificial, loving element that a shepherd showed for his flock.

See also this article and this for more on a similar subject.