“Religion, if banished to the realm of mere feeling, has ceased to be dangerous for any
rational and practical human enterprise. But, we must add, it also has lost its seriousness, its truth, and its ultimate meaning. In the atmosphere of mere subjectivity of feeling without a definite objective of emotion, without an ultimate content, religion dies….”
“Basic Considerations” in Theology of Culture
Paul Tillich
There is a secular – passionate back lash against Warren Lewis’ Baptist Church. This is a tragic consequence, Tillich might say, because to react negatively against religion of any form, is to negatively respond through secularism. For Tillich, a secular feeling is a substitute for religion, and that substitute opens this generation to an unaccountable subjectivism and to those who will follow. What is more, in the future, those who may differ from the current generation will have a different and harsher critique of this generation’s feelings. Thus secularism turns on secularism, always finding the flaws of those who came before them without balancing their assumptions with credible evidence.
However, until God in Christ fully redeems humanity, all sectarian religion is partly secular. It is compromised by cultural traditions old and new. Younger generations are secular, postmodern secular. They have been ripped from historical points of departure and this implies many of them are anti-authorial and anti-epistemological. By this I mean that truth begins with them and what came before them holds minimal significance. In other words, they too are subject to cultural relativism as they charge, as I charge too.
On the other hand:
Judaism, however, is not only religion and it is not only ethics: it is the sum total of all the needs of the nation, placed on religious basis…. Judaism is the national life, a life which the national religion and human ethical principles embrace without engulfing.
“The Enduring Problem” in Christ and Culture
H.R. Niebuhr
For African Americans, replace “Judaism” with “Baptist” and you will have African American culture. For most and historically, Baptist’s cultural worldview has defined community ethics, national life and religion and human ethical principles. During that time, most blacks were and to a large extent – a blues people. Today we are rapidly becoming – a jazz people. Pain and suffering still are common aspects of African American identity but younger African Americans, do not sense racism as their only source of pain. They see high rates of divorce and grandparents to young to raise them. They are struggling with complex sexual, religious ethics and identities. This is a generation that has been told that guilt is not necessary but they do. Still, this generation of blacks does not see a monolithic culture that Baptists have represented well. So we need to redefine culture and theology as we acknowledge Christ as Savior. I want to say more but not now….
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