As a historian of American religion, I’ve always been fascinated by the ways religion has changed over time–how it’s shaped society and been shaped by society in return.
Increasingly, I find myself deeply interested in people’s personal histories of religion, and the ways religious belief changes and evolves over the course of people’s lives. Why do some people stick with the religion of their childhoods? Why do others reject it completely? Perhaps these questions have been spurred by my interest in the history of religion or by my own religious de- and reconstruction.
Earlier this summer, I read Michael Gungor’s latest book, which got me thinking about all of this again. Gungor, along with Mike “Science Mike” McHargue, is one of the original hosts of The Liturgists podcast. I’ve been an avid listener for the last 4 years. One of the recurring themes explored on the podcast has been Michael Gungor and Science Mike’s spiritual journeys. Both were raised in conservative evangelical churches, but eventually left the conservative evangelical faith, spending some time as atheists before returning to religion–albeit in two very different ways. The podcast is increasingly exploring the aftermath of religious deconstruction, where people end up, and how they cope.
Gungor’s story is particularly interesting. It’s been fascinating to watch his evolution over the last five years. Michael and his wife Lisa Gungor started their careers as worship leaders and then built a successful career in the Christian music industry. You might not be a Gungor fan but you probably know some of their music, such as the song “Friend of God” or their album Beautiful Things.
Michael Gungor eventually began questioning many of the beliefs he’d been raised with and spent several years secretly an atheist, all while still working as a Christian musician. Michael has been frank about this experience, the effect of living as an evangelical brand for so many years, and the ways his religious beliefs continue to change and evolve. I’ve enjoyed his openness about the experience and his willingness to explore new aspects of spirituality.
In an episode last year on Christianity, for example, he discussed why he had discarded the “Christian” label and explained his discomfort with it. And in his book, he lays out an expansive philosophy. Michael’s definition of God, for instance, is broad. He writes, “God, for me, is a name for the nonduality that is beyond such categories as existence or nonexistence, matter or nothingness, real or imagined. God is All in All, beginning and end as they are now.” As The Liturgists podcast has begun to explore where people end up after deconstruction, Gungor has provided a fascinating perspective among three other hosts who have all remained in more traditional Christian groups.
This week, I’ve been thinking about Gungor’s book in relation to a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. In “Religion for Adults Means Embracing Complexity,” Sarah Hurwitz ponders what it means to return to religion as an adult, see it with fresh eyes, and ask new questions. In her case, she went through her bat mitzvah but then didn’t think much of her Jewish faith until decades later. However, at 36-years-old she started attending classes again on Jewish history and culture. She was surprised to discover the richness of the traditions she’d been raised in—broad ideas about God and their relationship to humanity, theological complexity she’d been unaware of as a child and young adult.
In discovering this complexity as an adult, Hurwitz became recommitted to her faith. In her op-ed, she wonders what responsibility people have to revisit the religious beliefs and practices of their childhood as adults. In fact, she emphasizes the need for adults to put the work in to find communities and clergy that support this sort of spiritual work. She argues that failing to do so is “a real loss, because mature forms of religion don’t traffic in simplistic or implausible answers, but push us to ask the right questions.”
To me, Gungor’s story is emblematic of what Hurwitz discusses in her piece–a return to some of the beliefs of one’s childhood but with fresh eyes, new questions, and maturity, and a boldness in reclaiming spirituality and religious traditions for oneself. In the years I’ve been listening to the Liturgists, Michael Gungor has been unafraid to ask these questions and be honest about where his spiritual journey is taking him.
In his new book, one of Gungor’s main assertions is that we should hold our stories and traditions loosely. Hurwitz’s is that we shouldn’t be afraid to embrace the complexity of religious belief and practice. But both point to the obligation and the privilege to think deeply about the traditions and stories we inherit and to derive new meaning and richness from these explorations.
One Response
Dear Dr. Broek,
Hi! My name is Marty. I found your excellent article by googling: a new way of looking at religion.
Though you wrote it in 2019, I feel moved to respond to this in your second paragraph:
“Increasingly, I find myself deeply interested in people’s personal histories of religion, and the ways religious belief changes and evolves over the course of people’s lives. Why do some people stick with the religion of their childhoods? Why do others reject it completely?”
Dr. Broek, I think you might enjoy my spiritual journey!
That said, I recognize that your religion is strictly between you and God, and it is not for me to tell you what you should or should not believe. Therefore:
Please feel free to agree or disagree!
“A Traumatic Experience That Changed My Life”
I was raised in Kansas City as a Reform Jew, the liberal denomination of Judaism.
When I was 16, I started dating. My parents made a rule: I could only date Jewish girls to prevent intermarriage.
I was very strong in my beliefs as a Jew, especially that there is only one God – the watchword of the Jewish Faith. I totally agreed with their rule and strictly obeyed.
I met lots of Jewish girls through B’nai B’rith, an international Jewish organization. But there were many Christian girls in my high school who I wanted to date.
One night while crying about my not being able to date Christian girls, a question popped into my mind:
“Why is religion such a barrier between people?”
I had never questioned my religion. I was happy as a Reform Jew.
But I felt it was unfair that religion should prevent me from being with people on a one-to-one basis.
As I stopped crying, I realized I had no choice but to accept this situation because I totally agreed with my parents’ rule.
I was not aware of it at the time, but this night marked the beginning of a long, intense, painful, exciting journey.
In the fall of 1964, when I attended the University of Kansas, out of 16,000 students, B’nai B’rith had only 25 Jewish women. As a freshman, I had many dates.
But in the fall of 1965, as a sophomore, there weren’t anymore than the same 25 women. By that time, either I didn’t like them, they didn’t like me, or in most cases, they had boyfriends.
Dr. Broek, I ran out of Jewish women! This was extremely traumatic!!!!!
Because I believed so strongly in my parents’ rule, I decided to stop dating.
I cried myself to sleep for many nights!
One night while intensely crying about not being able to date anymore, I repeatedly asked God, “Why is religion such a barrier between people?”
Suddenly another question popped into my mind:
“Why does one God have so many religions?”
This question was much more profound. It went to the very root of my beliefs as a Jew.
I gradually stopped crying and pondered this deep question.
Very painfully I realized I had to unlearn everything I had been taught in Sunday school, except for three things: There is only one God. Abraham and Moses were Messengers of God. The Torah was a major Holy Book. I was not willing to give up these strong beliefs.
My ego fought me very hard on this unlearning process!!! What I was admitting to myself was that through no fault of their own, my Sunday school teachers, rabbis, and even my parents had given me an incomplete picture of religion. I realized there was much more to religion than what I had been taught and had blindly accepted.
Then these two thoughts came to mind:
a) With so many religions and denominations all over the world claiming to be God’s one true religion, this made no sense to me. I felt it was an illogical contradiction.
b) I realized that usually our religion is determined by the country where we are born, and how we are raised by our parents. Often we are then taught that our religion is true and all others are false.
A month later, I met a fellow Jewish student named D.J. He and I became very close.
One day he said he was studying a new world religion called the Baha’i Faith, founded by Baha’u’llah. I felt extremely uncomfortable and defensive. In spite of my questions, I was not interested in learning about other religions!
I started teasing him. I waved my hand and said “Baha’i Baha’i” for bye bye. Luckily he had a great sense of humor.
After a short time I asked him, “D.J. why does one God have so many religions?” He answered from the Baha’i teachings:
Logically, one God can have only one religion. He is not in competition with Himself.
However, God, out of His infinite love for humanity, has revealed His one religion many times throughout history. God’s Messengers have been the Founders of the major world religions: Abraham, Krishna, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Muhammad.
Hence all the major world religions are Divine in origin, one in essence, equally true, equally important, equally valid, and all part of one progressive Divine process.
A universal loving Creator does not play favorites by elevating one religion above all the others, but rather out of His infinite love for humanity God has revealed His Will throughout history, and will continue doing so indefinitely.
God, through His Messengers, has adapted His one religion to meet the needs of each age in which it has been revealed. Each age has had different social conditions and requirements.
The major world religions are like equal chapters of one book. If a chapter were missing the book would be incomplete.
Each chapter emphasizes a different principle. Moses emphasized justice, and devotion to God by obeying God’s Covenant. Buddha emphasized the eight-fold path. Jesus emphasized love and forgiveness. Muhammad emphasized submission to the Will of God.
It has been well over a thousand years since the coming of Muhammad. God never leaves man alone and has spoken again. His latest Messenger is Baha’u’llah Who emphasized unity, and has revealed God’s Will for the next one thousand years.
I was delighted with his answer! I had never heard anything like it before. I felt it was logical and universal.
I then asked him my question about religion being a barrier between people. D.J. again responded from the Baha’i teachings:
The Founders of the major world religions reveal the infallible Word of God. The clergy interpret the Word of God with their fallible minds, resulting in diverse interpretations, many of them very literal instead of symbolic.
The clergy then impose their fallible interpretations on their followers saying in effect, “My interpretation is true and all others are false.”
The followers figure the clergy have thoroughly studied the religion and know it well. The followers blindly follow the clergy instead of independently investigating truth for themselves and reaching their own conclusions, whatever their conclusions might be. The result has been the formation of countless sects and denominations, each based on a different set of dogmas and interpretations of the teachings of the Founders.
For thousands of years this view of religion has failed to bring people together. On the contrary, it has created destructive barriers resulting in disunity, hatred, self-righteousness, prejudice, fear, fanaticism, and wars fought in the name of religion.
The Founders came to bring unity and love. The clergy and followers have created irreparable disunity and hate.
Again this made sense to me! I was impressed with his historical analysis and logic. Moreover, it further explained why there are so many religions.
I decided to stop teasing D.J.
His answers to my questions and the above two thoughts that I had, prompted me to very seriously investigate the life and teachings of Baha’u’llah.
The more I learned about the Baha’i Faith, the more I fell in love with its universal teachings — a universal perspective that is world-embracing.
I especially appreciated the oneness of God, the oneness of humanity, the oneness of religion — the three basic principles that are to be a solid foundation for bringing about permanent world peace through world unity, leading eventually to the creation of a spiritual world civilization whose watchword will be “unity in diversity,” whose basis will be undeviating justice and unconditional love, whose blossoming will represent the coming of age of the entire human race; and whose glory and majesty we cannot even imagine right now.
D.J. became a Baha’i long before I did.
After I became a Baha’i on January 14, 1967, I started dating again. I had not been on a date in almost a year and a half. Only this time, I went out with women regardless of their religion, skin color, or nationality. What a wonderful change!
Dr. Broek, thank you for letting me share this with you. Keep up the great work you are doing!
Warmly,
Marty