Changing faith:

Helen Mildenhall, a former Christian turned atheist, writes of her experience and why she has changed. At first, my righteous indignation was invoked and I wondered how someone could be so brazen and wrong. But the more I read, the more I found myself identifying with her. Her honesty is what makes her story plausible. Her struggles are common, while her decisions are a bit off the hook.

After reading about Miss Mildenhall's experience, I was left having to admit that my own faith has changed over the last several years. I was raised going to church three services a week, at the very least. Now, I am lucky if I attend church at all. And the reality is, I don't feel the least bit bad about it, nor do I feel less "spiritual." Church attendance had become a chore; our area is saturated with churches to attend, but none of them seem to be what I or my wife are looking for at this juncture in our faith journey.

I don't think I am alone; Mildenhall's story is not isolated. People of faith, particularly the Christian faith, seem to be going through a metamorphosis. A change is taking place where people are fundamentally inspecting what they believe and why they believe it. The pat answers of the past are no longer working. People are looking for—I am looking for—something that is genuine, something that will bring peace to the interior life.

Religion is hemming people in, putting them in boxes where personal discovery and growth are irrelevant. Blindly following the ideals of organized religion is leaving many unfulfilled and wanting more. I am not sure that going to the extent of Mildenhall is what needs to happen, but there is a revival of personal faith, where the individual's quest and journey takes precedent over organizational identity. Some may argue that this trend is detrimental to the Christian faith, and that it compromises the corporate nature of the Christian faith. But, I would argue that one must obtain and experience faith on a personal level before any of the corporate facets of the Christian belief have any real meaning or impact. And, that, in many ways, is the problem with religion. A set of rules adhered too with no real internal convictions as to their current relevancy.

Professor and author, Jacob Needleman, in a book I am currently reading entitled, Lost Christianity, states that modern Christian religion has lost its ability to transform human nature. David, the Old Testament king and psalmist, said that God desires truth in the inward part, and that God would make him to know wisdom in the hidden part (Ps 51:6). The lack of truth, known realized truth within has left a vacuum within modern man's religious interest. For many people, religion has no real inner value and to force it to appear valuable in the outer dimensions of life is proving more and more unpalatable to many people. There is a real quest, revision if you will, going on within the Christian faith today; a change that seeks to make the Christian faith meaningful and fulfilling. This spiritual journey is changing much of what we know and call faith today.

Among the many practical examples of what I am discussing here, is the emergent Church movement. For instance, Mildenhall will be taking part in a conference in November of this year that is being put together and staffed by prominent people within the emergent church movement (http://www.revolutionconference.com/). Having an atheist address a group of Christians is certainly not orthodox, by any stretch of the imagination!

These groups, as a whole, tend to be eclectic with esoteric undertones. In fact, many of these people meet in small groups and have abandoned the organizational nature of today’s mega church for a more organic community. These groups signify a shift in norms within the Christian faith, and some have seen it as a modern day reformation of sorts.

What’s your take on all this? Has your faith changed in recent years? How do you related to the organized church?