Ken Dobson's Queer Ruminations from Thailand
Search this site
  • Life in Thailand
  • Queer Issues in Thailand
  • Queer Christian Issues
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Stories

Religious Enzymes

3/11/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture
The head of a Bible College was disgusted at a picture he saw of me participating in a service for a Buddhist abbot in our neighborhood.  He thought it represented a repudiation of Christianity.

Here in “The Land of Smiles” being soft on Buddhism is one of the things that can disqualify you from the ranks of trustworthy Christians.  Being openly LGBTK will relegate you to the back pews as well.  One cannot be both highly political and a prominent Christian leader.  Those three: that’s about it.

Interestingly, having a position on abortion doesn’t wave a red flag.  Nor does your conviction about how many days it took God to create the world in which we live.

I take this as evidence that the tests of unworthiness are not the same for Christian groups everywhere.  Most of the things which are fracturing Christianity in the USA are fairly inert here.  Conspiracy theories in the USA about the causes of wildfires, climate change, or the current pandemic have caused people to leave churches and pastors to resign.  But not one case of anything like that has leaked into this country.

Obviously, the corrosive factors that disintegrate religious unity are cultural.  If they were religious or theological they would be cross-cultural.

Several years ago the Protestant church in Thailand quaked and some fractures occurred.  At the time, I had our class of Master of Divinity students study the cause of these splits.  They did interviews and gathered histories.  In every case the presenting reason for the impending split was theological having to do with the “power of the Holy Spirit” or the inerrant truth about some aspect of religious practice.  But the division in every case was on social lines, one clan versus another, or unwillingness to share power or to tolerate dissent.  The struggles became so widespread that the national church conducted a series of gatherings to disseminate the “truth about the Holy Spirit” and quench charismatic zeal. None of the churches reconciled through that campaign although restored calm convinced a couple to remain in the denomination. Our class concluded that since the cause was social-cultural, a theological appeal would not get at the root.

In counseling we know that the presenting issue is rarely the basic issue.  “His drinking” may get a couple to a counselor, but the counseling must delve deeper if the marriage is to be saved.  You cannot heal a social division by simply addressing the presenting issue any more than you can heal a disease by suppressing the symptoms.

Some very recent surveys suggest that almost half the Protestant pastors in the USA have heard QAnon conspiracy theories mentioned by members of their congregations.  In many cases these have led to serious concern about the future of the American church.  I read an article just a day ago that worries a QAnon religion (sect or cult) is emerging.  At the same time voices are reminding us that the situation in the USA is cultural division which cannot be overcome by appeals for either national unity or religious reform.  The problem is that conspiracy-driven evangelicalism is anti-intellectual, and therefore impervious to fact-driven intellectual arguments. 
​
Perhaps viral infection is an analogy.  A virus is hard to kill without killing the host it has infected.  If the victim does not mobilize anti-viral responses the victim will die.  A vaccination works to alert the host to the possibility of infection so that the antivirus is already available when the virus shows up.  The body must mount the attack and heal itself.

Since churches and religious organizations are aspects of the cultural body-politic, the protection and preservation of those institutions is not all that’s at stake.  The whole body is infected, not just the organs of religion.

Well, I began this exercise by reflecting on how different Christian intolerance in Thailand is compared to the USA.  Having come this far, I have one final observation.  Christianity in Thailand used to be far more intolerant of Buddhism than it now is.  Living together has made a difference, but working on shared concerns has tipped the balance.  Justice and compassion are “enzymes” religious organs produce for the whole body.   The HIV-AIDS crisis as well as several previous ones (leprosy comes to mind) stimulated inter-religious action that helped religious intolerance and rivalry fade.

COVID could be America’s vaccine to get the body-politic alert to the anti-intellectual virus that’s attacking.  If religious organs pump out quantities of justice and compassion they will have done what they can. 
1 Comment
Paul D Frazier
3/11/2021 10:17:17 pm

Some of the parishioners I serve are still afraid to gather in person (we re-opened on Father's Day 2020 with taped off social distancing, and masks to be worn).
Other parishioners are angry that they should wear masks.
Several think the Covid-19 is a Democrat Hoax.
I was told that it would disappear after Election Day.
One tracking site informs me that more than half of our Covid deaths have taken place after Election Day, 283,638 since, out of 516,000 plus.
I also serve parishioners who believe the Election was stolen from Donald Trump, and other conspiracy theories.
I serve some parishioners who are not going to get the Vaccine.
Some parishioners refuse to come to Church because they don't like wearing masks.
They can believe what they want as long as they wear their masks.
The only exercise I am getting is shaking my head.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson posts his weekly reflections on this blog. 

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Copyright © 2023 Rev. Dr. Kenneth Dobson