There’s a very heavy sense in which the concept of religion equals rituals. When someone asks another, ‘what is your religion?’ it can almost surely be rephrased ‘what rituals does the god you believe in require you to participate in?’. It’s not so much about the god; it’s about what you have to do stay in his/her/its good books. This seems to be the gist of my generations understanding of religion. That being the case, it comes as no real surprise that the majority of the youth shuns all things ‘religious’; they are seen as strenuous constraints.
Nonetheless, it seems that previous generations had a
different understanding of religion. To them it seems to be an infinitely good
thing. C.S Lewis, for instance, sees religion as a source of comfort in his Mere Christianity[1].
This is emblematic of the old
guard’s conception of religion: if you were Christian, then Christianity and
religion were inseparable. Likewise if you were Muslim, or whatever religious
movement one belonged to. And that’s just it. Your religion was something you belonged to, not, as it seems to be the
case today, something that belonged to you, along with your career and social
preferences. To be sure, religion was the context in which rituals were carried
out, not the rituals themselves.
I felt it important to discuss this dichotomy after a
conversation I had with a certain Aliya Daniels at a camp recently. She asked
me whether or not I am a religious person, to which I replied (something to
this effect), “No. I’m not religious, but I am a Christian. And I think
religion is Christianity’s biggest weakness”. She looked understandably
perplexed but I then went on to explain how my faith in God is based not on
rituals, but on a relationship with Him. The latter is alive and dynamic, while
the former can be switched on and off, like a bulb. My faith, I said, wasn’t a
set of prescribed practises. It is a conviction resulting in certain practises. To continue with the bulb metaphor,
Christianity is the electricity behind the light, yet it is still up to me to
flick the switch. And why else would I flick it unless I was certain of the
existence of the electricity behind it? Subsequently, why in the world would I
switch it off and continue to stumble in darkness when I have felt the joy of
living in the light? Ditto baptism, and fasting, and consistent Church going,
and observing lent etc. Surely these are the practises, the switching on which
one chooses because of a prior
conviction that God is alive, wants nothing but the best for me, and above all,
wants me to experience Him and all that He is. If the practise itself is the
religion, then what is its point?
Thus if religion has been made tantamount to rituals, then
it makes Christianity undesirable, and this is perfectly understandable. No one
in their right minds wants to simply be doing stuff, in a certain strict way,
on certain days for the sake of it. It just does not make sense.
Here’s what I perceive is the crux: the synonymy of religion
and faith is a myth, and it is a myth that is now more than ever deteriorating
perceptions of Christianity, even in the church. Deifying rituals is not
biblical. That is a misconception. I quote two scriptures, one from the old and
the other from the New Testament, and will not further expound because I think
they speak sufficiently for themselves:
Psalm 40:6 “sacrifice
and offering you [God] have not desired, but you have given me an open ear.
Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required” (ESV)
James 1:26-27 “if anyone thinks he is religious and does not
bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit
orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the
world” (ESV)
And so it is with a sting that I read Chinua Achebe’s
assertion in Things Fall Apart that
“the church had come and led many astray”. It is a damning apprehension of the
fact that, even if they meant the world of good, the early missionaries brought
with them a set of rituals, ways of doing things, instead of bringing a faith.
Hence, contrary to their mission, they indeed led many astray. It is a legacy
which modern Christians are duty-bound to address. Failure to do so will, I
suspect, create a generation of Christians enslaved by their own ‘religion’.
How ironic.
