by Demi Prentiss

Jim Burklo, who serves as pastor of United Church of Christ of Simi Valley, CA, recently mused whether Christians might be able explain our faith in one paragraph in entirely non-religious language, with no reference to God or Jesus or the Bible. The challenge is increasingly experienced in everyday American culture, where growing numbers of people identify as “nones,” meaning people with no religious affiliation – now about 20 to 29 percent of Americans.

Burklo explains,

If we really believe that God is love, then we can describe the essence of our faith entirely in terms of that love, leaving out the G-word.  Not that the G-word is bad:  it is integral to the rich mytho-poetic language of our faith tradition.  But if we want to get our message across to people who either don’t relate to the G-word, or associate it with bad experiences, we need to start with purely secular language.

I believe that if we practice this kind of secular description of our religious faith, we’ll do a better job of welcoming “nones” into it.  And at the same time, we’ll go deeper in our own understanding and practice of our faith…..

So here is my paragraph, briefly describing Christianity in purely secular terms:

Out of billions of years of the universe churning with creation and destruction, a breathtaking reality has emerged: love.  On earth, love has evolved from the bond between family members into a deeper love that is unconditional and universal.  The emergence of this love marks a profound turning point in natural history.  This love flows through deeply attentive, open, all-embracing consciousness.  This love lifts people out of selfishness and shallowness and into lives of selfless compassion, creativity, service, and activism for justice.  This love manifests in humble awe and wonder.  This love is more extraordinary and beautiful than everyday prose can describe.  It inspires poetry, music, ritual, and mythic narrative, and it brings people together in community to celebrate and practice it more fully. 

The Christian church is one such community.  Welcome to it!

How about you? In the context of your work, or school, or social club, or athletic team, or perhaps even your family, could you meet Burklo’s challenge? How fluent can we become in speaking “None”?

_{“We draw people to Christ not by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are and how right we are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it.” – Madeleine L‘Engle}