The Religion Of Special Occasions

Lake County Mail, Issue 18, 24 September 1947, Page 7

The Religion Of Special Occasions

A recent writer stated: “English people are not irreligious. They patronise a religion of special occasions,” which can he equalled hy another: “Most men are religious, they can tell you the church they stay away from.” I think that those statements both apply to the twentieth century, Francis Bacon, in one of his essays wrote: “It were better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy of Him 5 for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity.” He reminds us too, that Plutarch has written in the same strain: “ Surely,” saith he, “I had rather a great deal, men should say there was no such man at all, as Plutarch; than that they should say that there was one Plutarch, that would eat his children as soon as they were born, as the poets speak of Saturn.” These are challenging statements and make us ask the question: Is it better to be an indifferent agnostic than to degrade God by unworthy worship? Right throughout the centuries people have treated their gods with amazing disrespect. Michal, the daughter of King Saul and wife of David “ took her god and put him to bed, and took out a pillow of goat’s hair for his bolster and covered him with bedclothes.” (1 Samuel, 13). She did it for a purpose, she let her household god take the place of her husband when his life was sought by King Saul; but even so, such treatment was rather cheap and shabby. What of modern religion after nearly 2000 years of Christianity? Do we treat God with any greater respect? There are four attitudes taken, up by many people in regard to God. 1. Those who use Almighty God as a doctor, or at most a specialist to be called in when earthly physicians and surgeons have done their best. God is honoured only when the shadow of the undertaker appears. As a Tommy once said to his padre, “I love my father, but I am ashamed of him sometimes. For he only thinks of religion when he has one foot in the grave and the other on a banana skin. When his health is miraculously restored he hasn’t even the decency to come to church to give thanks.” 2, Those who use God as a lawyer. There are many respectable people in the world who honour the laws of God but seldom worship the person of God. Like Voltaire who never passed a church without raising his cap, “ they salute, but do not. speak.” Theirs is a religion of cold respect. Like the Pharisees, they may observe every jot and tittle of the law, but have no room in their hearts for the Law-giver. Then there are

3. Those who use God as a beneficent Father Christmas. They spend quite a lot of time in prayer but never in praise or meditation. Like the spoilt child at boarding school whose letters to his parents are nothing more than requests for hampers—-his parents the universal providers in, his opinion, and little else. The parents hunger for words of love, but seldom do they get anything but selfish petitions. 4. Lastly, there are those who use God as a powerful national ally, those who flock to churches on a National Day of Prayer. When our armies are in a tight corner, when diplomacy is bankrupt, when the atomic bomb becomes a hideous reality, they fervently sing “ 0 God our help in, ages past, our hope for years to come.” The danger, past, like Michal', they put their God to bed. t Again I repeat the challenging question; “Is it better to have no opinion of God at all, than such an opinion as is unworthy?” Is it not evident that what we want to-day is a campaign to establish a new and worthy relationship between man and his God? Not with a “doctor god,” a “ lawyer god,” a “ Father Christmas Deity,” or a “ divine national ally,” but with a God who combines all these attributes with a big plus! A God whom we regularly seek with the eagerness of a lover. As Dick Sheppard puts it: “The real Christian life begins with a yearning and a longing, becomes a joyous experience, and then a settled conviction.” He must be a God to whom we regularly speak with awesome deference — as someone has said: True prayer is walking and talking with God, leaving God to do most of the talking. We will never get this worthy relationship until we discard for ever “the religion of special occasions.” PHILIP C. WILLIAMS.