Stuff Christians Like [to Fight About]…

I know this post is long; but, I promise it’s worth the read.

So, about a week ago I noticed a ton of people posting a video entitled I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus via Facebook and Twitter. “Oh no!” I thought to myself, “another viral Christian thing.” I’m not really into trends, so I just tried to stay clear of the thing altogether. But then someone—knowing I’m a minister—decided to post it on my Facebook wall. Grrr…it’s not that I don’t like well produced videos. It’s that I hate the pressure of feeling like I need to co-sign on something just because it has the words “I love Jesus” in the title—the same way I hate feeling pressured to see Tyler Perry movies (in case you missed it, that was a black joke). At any rate, I’ve noticed tons of responses to this poem. It’s turned into a huge online poetry slam, with everyone from popular Christian artists to prominent atheist vloggers weighing in at the margins. Since I’m due for a blog, I thought I’d comment.

First, it’s important to remember that this is a poem. It shouldn’t be taken as a formal dissertation on the distinction between religion and Christianity (or Jesus—it seems as though the two are used interchangeably in this piece). Sometimes, we just have to try to hear things for what the listener is trying to communicate instead of picking apart their actual words. This is his personal statement on why he hates the hypocrisy and dead ritual that can so easily seize the life of our churches. Is he right? Yes and no. But it doesn’t matter if he’s right, because it’s a poem. Poems don’t have to be “right”. His poem did what art does: it caused a disruption, offended someone, stirred up conversation and controversy—that is one of my favorite things about being an artist. He did his job. He expressed a personal opinion in a way that resonated with a much larger audience. Well done. 

But, many of the critics of this piece have done well also. As beautiful and moving as the piece is, it presents us with a false choice between Jesus and religion.

There are two reasons that the poem falls short theologically.

The first is that the poet is working more with famous cliches about religion, as opposed to considering the witness of the entire God Story. It may be true that “religion is a man-made invention”; however, The God Story tells us that God invented the religion that the ancient Hebrews practiced. In fact, the first 5 books of the Bible are devoted exclusively to revealing the religion of God to the Israelites. God gave the Israelites 613 instructions to live by; so, God is not on the opposite extreme of religion. God does not hate religion; He hates meaningless rituals and hypocrisy. What the poet also overlooks is that Jesus was a religious person. I know that we Christians love to say that the Pharisees were the religious people and Jesus was the rebel, but it’s actually the opposite. Jesus was a Torah observant Jew, calling the people back to the true religion of God—to be the light of the world that God had always intended for them to be. He even says of Himself, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them (Matthew 5:17). What Jesus was fighting against was not the religion that God created, but the undermining of that religion’s essence by the leaders of that time. There’s a reason why Jesus calls the Pharisees “hypocrites” and not “religious”—it’s because they’re ACTING like religious people. 

The second reason the poem misses the mark theologically is that it subscribes to the romantic notion that the essence of relationship is undermined by rules. The problem with that notion is that every relationship has rules; without such boundaries, relationships become unhealthy and dysfunctional. This sounds oppressive to many of us, but it’s true. Moreover, Jesus doesn’t see rules (religion) and relationship as mutually exclusive categories. He says, “If you love me, you will obey my commands” (John 14:15). There it is folks, rules and relationship together. 

At the end of the day, a lot of this has to do with the negative connotations that words like “religion” and “Christianity” have. It also has a lot to do with the fact, that some people just love to miss the point and criticize others. Some people are just looking for any opportunity to get attention. What’s sad is that, instead of Christians gracefully conversing about these things and working to bring clarity to a world that has no idea what we believe, we spend time posting rebuttals. I guess I’m still being an idealist.