Losing My Religion

When REM recorded the song of this title, singer Michael Stippe claimed it was not about religion, but drew from an expression meaning that a person had come to the end of their rope, they were at the brink, it was all too much. The lyrics speak of alternately being hemmed in a corner, and then exposed to the spotlight, but unable to keep up. It is easy to see meaning where maybe none was intended, and after all it may just be a great song.

What is true though, is that as a nation (perhaps nations) we are losing or have lost our religion. In this country, Australia, the first official census was conducted in 1911 at that time 1 in 250 people claimed to have ’no religion’, by the 2011 census that had changed to 1 in 5. No doubt there can be a range of reasons offered to explain this trend, but what is clear that it is not a specifically Christian religion that is being spoken of, but any religion.

What implications does this have for us as individuals, and more broadly as a society? In the first place the apostle Paul perhaps sums it up best when he writes to the young church in Corinth: ‘If we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied’, indeed if this is all there is all there is then as the writer of Ecclesiastes suggests, we might as well just eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. Religion offers hope and order to an often disordered world. To be convinced that there is someone bigger than ourselves who ultimately controls and makes sense of our existence, gives hope. It permits us to understand the tragedy and distress we see in the light of a bigger plan. One that has at its core, welfare and hope for the believer, in this world and more certainly the next. If there is no God, then we are left to use the somewhat limited resources available to us to find peace, where there is no peace.

As a society our rule of law is based on Judaeo Christian principles. They include ideas of justice and fairness, the equality of all and basic human rights. They provide a context in which our own sense of morality is developed. The morality that is seen as ‘right’ in our culture may be different from those in other places, and what has often distinguished them is their foundation. Once that foundation is removed, or damaged, the very basis for decisions about right and wrong, appropriate or inappropriate, reasonable of unreasonable, fair or unfair are removed. If the foundation is removed, what is it replaced with?

It is apparent that the turn away from religion has been accompanied with the rise of self as the final arbiter in decisions of right conduct or morality. I have the right to determine what is permissible for me, I do not need to appeal to a higher authority, if indeed there is one. There are no moral absolutes, everything is contextual. If the current rules don’t permit my choices, then just change the rules.

Current debates about the redefinition of marriage, euthanasia, sexual identity, identity fluidity, gender choice, pre and after birth and so on, all have to do with the rise of self in forming moral choices that determine the shape of society. If, as the statistics suggest, we live in a post religious nation, then we better find a better foundation to build on than unfettered personal choice. But as for me and my house – we will serve the Lord, and if that puts me at odds with social media, the politically correct and various element of ‘progressive’ journalists and their acolytes, so be it.

It’s time for a counter revolution, a reinstatement of values that are based in belief in one who gives hope, offers a future and guarantees peace.