Sociologists have generally concluded that people who are very religiously active tend to be less engaged with the secular world, opting to stay sequestered in their faith communities. But in a comprehensive survey, the Pew Research Center found that the 40 percent of Americans who are religiously active are more engaged in all kinds of community organizations and activities than their non-religious neighbors.

The findings are fascinating. And, as a “religious American”, I’ll admit, somewhat surprising. While 40% of surveyed Americans are most active in “churches or religious organizations”, apparently these folks don’t live their lives hiding behind their stained glass windows. Of this 40%, 35% are also involved in sports or recreation leagues, 34% in charitable or volunteer organizations and 30% in community groups or neighborhood associations, each for at least two hours a week. Their involvement ranges from two to three times that of their non-religious neighbors!

What’s even more surprising are religious Americans internet, e-mail, cell phone and broadband use, which outnumbers that of others. Religious and non-religious groups tie in their use of text messaging, while the religious folks are outnumbered in social networking usage.

Lastly, when religious folks are part of groups, they’re all in: 41% are heavily engaged, compared to non-religious citizens’ 28%.

I can certainly see this at work in the congregation I serve. There are folks I have the privilege of knowing that are crazy busy doing all kinds of great things not only at church but in their neighborhoods, too. It’s incredible. They offer not a what, but a how, as Caputo states:

When love calls for action, we had better be ready with something more than a well-formed proposition even if it has been approved by a council. We had better be ready with a deed, not a what but a how, ready to respond and do the truth, to make it happen here and now, for love and justice are required now. (On Religion, 130)

It makes me wonder – especially in light of these findings – why we continue to reuse the old and outdated “sacred versus secular” dialogue. In fact, to clarify, most of us don’t speak this language anymore. Even the seminary I attend(ed) doesn’t! Why does this study!?

I’m also thinking of Gianni Vattimo, who argues that Christianity actually announces the end of the sacred! That’s another post for another day, though.

(From another perspective, I’d love to hear Robert D. Putnam, author of Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Better Together: Restoring the American Community and American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us, comment on this research).

Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

If you will only heed his every commandment that I am commanding you today – loving the Lord your God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul – then he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. Take care, or you will be seduced into turning away, serving other gods and worshipping them, for then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you.

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

The Lord said to Moses: Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner. You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.

Jones concludes,

It can be said that these verses, this prayer, compose the very heart of Judaism, and what became Christianity. While the orders to add fringes to clothing as a reminder seem odd to those of us who aren’t Jewish, we surely recognize the statements about God’s oneness, about the love and honor that is due to God, and about God’s steadfast love to Israel in bringing them out of bondage. (57)

For whatever reason, I was struck by the part Jones seems to do away with. Before reading his immediate remarks that follow the prayer, I underlined this sentence:

You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.

There’s something really profound here that I’m not sure I can pinpoint or explain. It takes into account both righteousness and the reality of our fallenness. I’m thinking of Peter Rollins’ assertion (following Caputo) that the Kingdom is rather materialistic endeavor; that the “working out” of Christian faith provides food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, welcoming for the stranger, clothing for the naked, care for the sick and time visiting the prisoner [see Matthew 25.31-46]. David Bazan seems to be saying something similar in his song “Bearing Witness”, though he may dislike my saying so.

The use of fringes as a reminder to be holy seems to be for the same reason but pointing in the opposite direction. A material thing pointing back to a spiritual dimension. Are not God’s commandments so often forgotten because of the desires of our hearts?

Anyway, I’m off to the sewing machine.

Indeed, there are two sides to every story. Or, in this case, YouTube video.

Chances are you’re one of the 9,487,981 (and counting) who’s seen the spoken word video “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” by Jefferson Bethke (aka bball1989).

His YouTube Channel features videos of Mark Driscoll and Acts 29 buddy Matt Chandler as well as a video response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins promo (wherein he steals most of Bell’s material but inserts his own theological perspective here and there, ultimately making his response less than coherent).

I first saw “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” on Wednesday, I think, when a number of my friends and coworkers shared it on The Facebook, praising it for it’s deconstruction of institutional Christianity, that, as bball1989 states, would rather build churches than feed the hungry. From this perspective, I can agree. And I’m convinced that John Caputo would be proud. Really.

So, yes, in Bethke’s formulation:

Jesus > Religion

Jesus is better than institutional faith. Or, as I recall it from elementary school math, the alligator mouth likes Jesus more than religion, which is a little weird now that I write it down. But you know what I mean, right?

On the other hand, however, Bethke ends up undermining his anti-religion project by arguing for a life lived wholeheartedly after Jesus. To offer an oversimplified response: That is religion. It’s how life is lived. This is why there was no word for religion until the 13th century, when life began to be fragmented between different spheres and a word had to be created to refer to one’s beliefs and pattern of life.

In this sense (which Bethke seems to misunderstand):

Jesus > Religion

“Wait,” you’re thinking, “that’s the same as above.” Yes, but this time, the greater than symbol is not only that, it’s an arrow. Jesus points to a better religion. Recall Jesus’ response to the religious scholars of his day, when asked about the greatest commandment:

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matthew 22.37-40 NIV)

Yes, the religious scholars of Jesus’ day had some things wrong. But that doesn’t make Jesus’ response anti-religious. Quite the opposite.

Tony Jones hits the nail on the head (albeit in a rather snarky manner – but hey, I guess he’s earned it with a PhD from Princeton):

Religion is simply the social and psychological framework by which human beings organize their experience of the Divine…

It’s naïve to think that billions of people will experience the Divine, but they won’t try to organize and categorize that experience. We do, and we find that our experience overlaps with the experience of others. We join with those others, and we find patterns of speech, symbols, and behavior that help us articulate our experiences.

And it’s not bad that we do this. It is, Mr. Bethke, inevitable.