Bane and Blessing

As reported in today’s Huffington Post, “A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.” If “religion” is as important for people as we say it is, you’d think that the faithful would know more about the subject than the atheists and agnostics who reject it.

Religion is both bane and blessing. Religious people have done much good over the centuries, but as the world continues to shrink and we can’t help but rub shoulders with people of other religions, it is increasingly a source of conflict. I need not enumerate any examples. We know them well.

No wonder Jimmy Buffett sings:

Fruitcakes in the galaxy (fruitcakes in the galaxy)

Fuitcakes on the earth (fruitcakes on the earth)

Struttin naked towards eternity

We’ve been that way since birth

Half-baked cookies in the oven (cookies in the oven)

Half-baked people on the bus (people on the bus)

There's a little bit of fruitcake left in everyone of us

Religion! religion! oh, there's a thin line between Saturday

Night and Sunday morning. Here we go now.

Where’s the church, who took the steeple

Religion is in the hands of some crazy-ass people

Television preachers with bad hair and dimples

The god’s honest truth is it's not that simple

Its the Buddhist in you, it's the pagan in me

It’s the Muslim in him, she's catholic aint she?

It’s the born again look it's the wasp and the Jew

Tell me what's goin on, I aint gotta clue.

Although I sometimes felt as if I was in the “religion business” for most of my life, I know better and there are better songs to sing than Fruitcakes. There is One who came that we might have life, not religion. Matthew 11:28-30 is traditionally translated: “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I think Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase in The Message captures better the meaning of Jesus’ words: “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – what how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”