Faith Meets Life: Finding religion in our current culture
“Where is God?”
This is the question that the CBC posed last week.
CBC.ca browsers were invited to post their comments, and there was an interesting range of remarks. As might be expected, some contributors are careful with their words and others rant. Still, it's a sign of the times that Canada's national news network is even asking the question. It's a sign of the times because a few decades ago academics, public school teachers, and many others, seemed unanimous in their opinion that religion, or at least the religion they knew, Christianity, was doomed, on the way to irrelevancy.
Contrary to their forecasts, religion is arguably more alive today all over the planet than it was in the 1960s and ‘70s. John Lennon's lyric, “Imagine there's. . . no religion too,” once an anthem for many, seems to be of no relevance for most people. The numerous forms of Evangelical Protestantism show no signs of abating.
Catholicism is far from dead. Other religions from the East are finding some converts in the West, some of those converts, very articulate.
For those with, could we say, softer religious impulses, “The Secret” has a lot of appeal.
Atheism itself, or as one proponent calls his perspective, Antitheism, (literally “anti-God-ism”) is itself being defined as a religion. And, in view of the fundamentalist mentality some of its strongest proponents exhibit, this seems fair.
One arresting answer to the question, Where is God? comes on a DVD I just viewed, Breathe, by Rob Bell.
Bell is a communicator and a commentator on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He makes the very interesting comment that the Jewish, Hebrew*, word for God is made up of four breath-filled letters. In English these letters are Yod, Heh, Vav and Heh. Technically, English linguists identify these as consonants, but they also seem to function as vowels, suggesting the additional sounds needed to form the word for God (ancient Hebrew does not have printed vowels).
Bell's main point about the name of God formed by these letters is that together, spoken carefully in Hebrew, they sound a lot like breathing. Try it. “Yahvheh.” Very breathy.
Where is God? To be a human being is to be breathing God day and night. It's just that it is so easy to go through life without ever stopping to be aware that we are totally dependent on the breath of God for life.
Bell asks, how does that change the way you view yourself? How does that change the way you view others? How could such a view of the name of God change our interconnectivity with each other and God? How could it help answer the question the CBC is asking?
*The reason a follower of Jesus reflects on Jewish spirituality is because Jesus was a Jew and saw himself as advancing and fulfilling the message of the Jewish scriptures in fresh and surprising ways. Jesus' followers, at first all Jewish, as a community, took this same view.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
This is the question that the CBC posed last week.
CBC.ca browsers were invited to post their comments, and there was an interesting range of remarks. As might be expected, some contributors are careful with their words and others rant. Still, it's a sign of the times that Canada's national news network is even asking the question. It's a sign of the times because a few decades ago academics, public school teachers, and many others, seemed unanimous in their opinion that religion, or at least the religion they knew, Christianity, was doomed, on the way to irrelevancy.
Contrary to their forecasts, religion is arguably more alive today all over the planet than it was in the 1960s and ‘70s. John Lennon's lyric, “Imagine there's. . . no religion too,” once an anthem for many, seems to be of no relevance for most people. The numerous forms of Evangelical Protestantism show no signs of abating.
Catholicism is far from dead. Other religions from the East are finding some converts in the West, some of those converts, very articulate.
For those with, could we say, softer religious impulses, “The Secret” has a lot of appeal.
Atheism itself, or as one proponent calls his perspective, Antitheism, (literally “anti-God-ism”) is itself being defined as a religion. And, in view of the fundamentalist mentality some of its strongest proponents exhibit, this seems fair.
One arresting answer to the question, Where is God? comes on a DVD I just viewed, Breathe, by Rob Bell.
Bell is a communicator and a commentator on what it means to be a follower of Jesus. He makes the very interesting comment that the Jewish, Hebrew*, word for God is made up of four breath-filled letters. In English these letters are Yod, Heh, Vav and Heh. Technically, English linguists identify these as consonants, but they also seem to function as vowels, suggesting the additional sounds needed to form the word for God (ancient Hebrew does not have printed vowels).
Bell's main point about the name of God formed by these letters is that together, spoken carefully in Hebrew, they sound a lot like breathing. Try it. “Yahvheh.” Very breathy.
Where is God? To be a human being is to be breathing God day and night. It's just that it is so easy to go through life without ever stopping to be aware that we are totally dependent on the breath of God for life.
Bell asks, how does that change the way you view yourself? How does that change the way you view others? How could such a view of the name of God change our interconnectivity with each other and God? How could it help answer the question the CBC is asking?
*The reason a follower of Jesus reflects on Jewish spirituality is because Jesus was a Jew and saw himself as advancing and fulfilling the message of the Jewish scriptures in fresh and surprising ways. Jesus' followers, at first all Jewish, as a community, took this same view.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
