Would it be good for society if more people were religious?

According to a recent Gallup poll, 65 percent of US adults say it would be positive for society if more Americans were religious. With all the bad news in the news, including a “nightmare” shooting in Montreal, a deadly heat wave in Europe, and the rising threat of AI-fueled cyberattacks, surely being more religious would be good for humanity.

But is this true?

Are we reincarnated as trees or rocks?

Yesterday I focused on what one writer called the “dizzying number of religious groups” in America. Today, let’s pivot from the plurality of religions in our country to religious pluralism, which is the belief that all beliefs are equally valid.

Here’s the problem: There is no such thing as religion, only religions.

To illustrate: There is no such thing as “trees” or “words,” only this oak tree and that Spanish word. The same is true of “religion”: many specific religions exist, but “religion” does not. What deity or deities does “religion” worship? What requirements does “religion” make of us?

And importantly: What do we do when one religion disagrees with another?

For example, we discussed the Druids at Stonehenge yesterday. They believe that the soul “undergoes a process of successive reincarnations” in human form or in forms “that might include trees and even rocks as well as animals.” However, Christians believe that “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) and proclaim that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8–9; Acts 4:12).

If one is right, the other must be wrong.

Clearly, while most Americans think “religion” is a good thing, this sentiment is true or false depending on the specific religion in view.

Now to my point: If evangelical Christians are to persuade Americans that our religion is best for them, we must first demonstrate that it is best for us.

Making emancipation a reality

On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger issued an order declaring that “all slaves are free.” Despite President Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation asserting that “all persons held as slaves” within the Confederacy “are, and henceforth shall be free,” many slaves remained in bondage even after Confederate armies surrendered in the spring of 1865. The June 19 proclamation freed two hundred and fifty thousand enslaved people and led to the annual Juneteenth celebration held across the nation last Friday.

All Christians should agree that racism is sin and slavery is horrific. We should therefore celebrate the equality and freedom that Juneteenth proclaims. (For more, see my website article, “Why Juneteenth is important to all Americans.”)

Similarly, all of humanity is spiritually enslaved to sin. Jesus’ death on the cross emancipated us from such slavery, but billions of people are still trapped in its chains. You and I have the high privilege of declaring their freedom by sharing the gospel of God’s saving love.

But they will not believe that Jesus can free them from sin until we show them that he has freed us. This is why we need more than a religion about Jesus—we need a daily, transforming relationship with him. The closer we are to him, the more we become like him (1 John 2:6).

“Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought”

How can we experience such intimacy with our Lord?

St. Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335–394) was one of the greatest scholars in Christian history. In “On Perfection,” a letter written to a monk named Olympios, Gregory wrote:

The life of the Christian has three distinguishing aspects: deeds, words, and thought. Thought comes first, then words, since our words express openly the interior conclusions of the mind. Finally, after thoughts and words come action, for our deeds carry out what the mind has conceived.

Accordingly, Gregory advised us to direct our thoughts “towards Christ, the author and source of peace.” He explained:

If you draw from him the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart, you will show a likeness to Christ, your source and origin, as the gleaming water in a jar resembles the flowing water from which it was obtained.

For the purity of Christ and the purity that is manifest in our hearts are identical. Christ’s purity, however, is the fountainhead; ours has its source in him and flows out of him. Our life is stamped with the beauty of his thought. The inner and the outer man are harmonized in a kind of music. The mind of Christ is the controlling influence that inspires us to moderation and goodness in our behavior.

From what—or Whom—will you draw “the thoughts in your mind and the inclinations of your heart” today?

Quote for the day:

“As no darkness can be seen by anyone surrounded by light, so no trivialities can capture the attention of anyone who has his eyes on Christ.” —St. Gregory of Nyssa

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