Chapter 18
Alternative Altars : Next-Age
Faiths
When Robert S. Ellwood, Jr. wrote Alternative Altars: Unconventional and Eastern Spirituality in America, the perspicacious professor at the University of Southern California School of Religion was clearly onto something.1 While giving ample evidence that occult, mystical, and Eastern traditions in the United States were neither new nor alien, he was the first to view our nation's unconventional spirituality as a unique, coherent, and emerging movement. These alternative altars often go unnoticed by the general public, Ellwood says. And they create new forms as they change with each new generation.
The trickle of next-age faiths that Ellwood detected more than a decade ago is becoming a torrent, and their presence raises basic questions for us all: What is "spirituality"? And can we influence the modes of spirituality that will prevail?
"We will be spiritually alive in the 1990s, full of conflict over which spiritualities we will embrace," declared Jeffrey Hadden, a University of Virginia sociologist, religion expert, and author.2
Television journalist Bill Moyers believes the struggle to define what it means to be spiritual is the "biggest story of the century."3
And Steve Turner, a Christian poet and journalist in London, thinks we will be hearing more and more calls for a "return to spirituality.
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Being 'spiritual' in the '90s," he writes, "could carry the weight that being 'politically aware' carried in the '60s." Yet the content of the word spiritual, he says, is being drained of its conventional meaning. Current definitions are long on deep breathing and Mongolian chanting, but short on authentic biblical faith:
In secular discourse, spiritual can refer to anything that cannot be tested in a laboratory or bolted to the floor. Rock musicians are "spiritual" if they play whimsical music; anyone with a fascination for the occult is "spiritual"; and, of course, anything New Age is automatically "spiritual."4
Turner sees a key difference between biblical and "contemporary" spirituality. The contemporary idea is that
Spirituality, like sexuality, is inextricably woven into the fabric of our being and we can either foster it or neglect it . . . We just need to arouse the latent force within us. This is why there is currently so much emphasis on techniques that promise to improve the spiritual life. The force can be aroused through deep breathing or Mongolian chanting, or it may need a jolt of psychic energy from a crystal. Some even report that jogging does the trick.5
Spiritual Transformation
The new emphasis on spiritual transformation has altered more than consciousness; it has transformed what we mean by "spiritual." The broad umbrella we call the New Age movement is responsible for much of this shift.6 Beyond its faddish aspects, the New Age provides what Hadden calls a "respiritualization" for those who have been turning "secular."7 In 1978, 61 million Americans had no church or synagogue affiliation, Gallup surveys showed, but ten years later the number of unaffiliated had swelled to 78 million.8
The failure of many mainline churches to ask for a higher level of commitment and their failure to teach members the tenets of the faith may explain why so many drop out. As I noted, Roof and McKinney
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profess that liberal Protestantism's major "competition" of the 1990s will not be from "the conservatives it has spurned but the secularists it has spawned."9
In their benchmark 1987 book, American Mainline Religion, Roof and McKinney document the fact that for every person raised without religion who becomes a church member, three people forsake church for no religious institutional involvement. These new non-affiliates are young, predominantly male, well educated, more committed to alternative lifestyles, and "oriented generally to an ethic of personal growth and self-fulfillment," the authors observe.10
Yet many of them still consider themselves "spiritual" or "religious." An amazing 82 percent told Gallup interviewers in 1984 that "growing into a deeper relationship with God" (however defined) was important to them.11 And three-fourths of all Americans in 1988 said one can be a good Christian or Jew without attending religious services. At the same time, 60 percent of those tested said they were more interested in "spiritual things" than they had been five years earlier.
Thus, there are legions of "believers, but not belongers," out there. "They have their own private religions. It's a cultural supermarket . . . They prepare their own menus of modern mystical activities and recipes for moral commitment," says Steve Tipton of the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta.12
Without brand-name loyalty to a denomination, they are apt to pick up anything from the expanding God shelf — anything that appeals at the moment or offers a "quick-fix."13
Looking ahead, Southern Baptist specialists on alternative faiths see a religious atmosphere of floating allegiances, blending of practices, and greater variety. "Individuals will increasingly feel free to construct their own worldview from many options present in society rather than being bound by the orthodoxy of their particular faith," Gary Leazer told a 1990 conference of Baptist chaplains.14
Spirituality, Cafeteria Style
The likely result of this self-directed approach to religion will be cafeteria doctrine and do-it-yourself rituals.
Of all the people Root has studied, he finds that 60 percent reject the idea that a person should be limited to a single faith.15
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"People will go to a study group on Hinduism on Friday night and then come to church on Sunday and try to interject those ideas into Bible study," says Leazer.16
And that's no prediction; it's happening.
Community Congregational Church in Tiburon, California, has attracted a growing number of members through services featuring Tibetan prayer bells, Buddhist chants, and various forms of meditation. Other have done similarly: In 1989, churches in thirty-seven of the thirty-nine regional conferences of the United Church of Christ (UCC) stressed spirituality in such forms as meditation, journaling (keeping spiritual diaries), dream analysis using the teachings of psychologist Carl Jung, dancing, and "body prayer."17
Looking toward America's religious future, George Barna describes a synthetic faith:
It will be fascinating to watch people develop these new religious philosophies. In all likelihood, they will seek a blend of elements that will give them a sense of control over life, personal comfort and acceptance and a laissez-faire life-style philosophy. It is likely that from Christianity they will borrow Jesus' philosophy of love and acceptance. From Eastern religions they will borrow ideas related to each person being his or her own god, the center of the universe, capable of creating and resolving issues through his or her own power and intelligence. From Mormonism they will extract the emphasis upon relationships and family, toward establishing a greater sense of community.18
If nothing else, future spirituality will be heady and diverse. And its practitioners, a sundry lot.
One person's vision of tongues of flames (or flaming tongues!) descending at Pentecost may be the equivalent of another person's weightless feeling while soaking for an hour in an isolation tank, wrote Turner in Christianity Today.19
Although many people no longer belong to any explicitly religious group, they do belong to any number of other groups which they consider "substitute faiths" and through which they participate in "religion-like" activities. For example, the Sierra Club, Common Cause,
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counseling classes, group therapy, aerobic ballet, yoga, and martial arts. These may not sound very "spiritual," but to those who invest them with spiritual meaning, they are. Perhaps what we have here is just a new version of the old line, "I worship God in nature when I'm on the golf course instead of in church on Sunday."
In-Syncretism with the Eclectic Current
There is syncretism abroad in our land, and it has powerful implications for Christians. To understand it, we must first learn its vocabulary.
Ecology: "Green" phrases such as "Earthkeeping," the Earth as "Mother," and "creation spirituality" are part of a new emphasis on the spirituality of ecology. For instance, papers produced on "The Integrity of Creation" for the 1991 World Council of Churches' General Assembly had "syncretistic echoes" . . . "with a heavy dose of the pantheistic 'green' theology so popular in ecumenical circles."20
This viewpoint comes to life in folks like Monte Paulsen, a newspaper publisher in Portland, Maine, who abandoned his Baptist upbringing and his vocation as a missionary to give himself to his new mission: saving the environment. His new religion? "Deep ecology." Meanwhile, he is "struggling to overcome the assumption that humankind is the most important species on Earth — something which the Christianity he rejected insists on."21
Self-help: Several self-help psychologists who emphasize the spiritual draw adoring crowds and adulation, if not worship. John Bradshaw, a onetime Catholic noviate, packs in people around the country to hear his lectures on confronting childhood pain. Millions more watch him on PBS and buy his books like Healing the Shame That Binds You. "For the growing number of people around the country grappling with dependencies on everything from alcohol and cocaine to food and sex, John Bradshaw's message has become gospel," declares People's Weekly.22
Or consider M. Scott Peck, the self-awareness psychotherapist best-known for his blockbuster book The Road Less Traveled. "Peck is a chapter heading in the lives of millions of readers, especially in the Bible Belt," says Robert Randall in The Christian Century.
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The meaning of life is that we have to learn. Psychological-spiritual growth (there is no distinction in Peck's mind) is the process of becoming ever more self-conscious. The road less traveled that leads to salvation-mental health (again, there is no essential difference) is one of courageously questioning every feeling and action with the aim of increased self-awareness."23
As we reap the bitter fruit of this decade's dysfunctional families, substance abuse, and other addictive patterns, we will see an increased fuzzing of the lines between religion and transformational psychology and occultism.
Psychology as religion becomes an alternative altar, notes John Wimber, leader of Vineyard Christian Fellowship. He sounds the alarm against elements of the inner-healing movement and the proliferation of books teaching that spirituality is primarily an aid to self-esteem, self-worth, and better living. "In the '90s look for increased tension between Christians who see Christ as their helper and those who see him as their Master. I suspect that churches will split over these issues," Wimber predicts.24
Ken Woodward of Newsweek paints a vivid picture of clerics who cover sin like an artist with an airbrush:
Having substituted therapy for spiritual discernment, they appeal to a nurturing God who helps His (or Her) people cope. Heaven, by this creed, is never having to say no to yourself, and God is never having to say you're sorry.25
Finally, a word about "Twelve Step Spirituality," the immensely popular — though low profile — psychology-religion hybrid. Many people who crowd church social halls and basements for drug, alcohol, and a host of other rehab meetings can, as a result, develop a strong personal faith in God. But Twelve Steppers can also step right out of any religious structure or traditional faith into Altars Anonymous. Faith in faith, not in God, may be the only substance at the bottom of the glass.
Goddess / Feminism: The goddess pathway to self-empowerment is an option for many 1990's feminists. The path often combines goddess-worship with witchcraft. Perhaps 100,000 Americans already worship the goddess,26 and many more will "begin a
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joyous adventure into the rich past of women's spirituality and power," beckons an advertisement for "The Spirit of Aphrodite" program. "Discover the Goddess within as you realize your birthright as Woman," it promises.27 "A Mighty Goddess Is Our Forte," quipped The Christian Century magazine.28
At the same time, controversy will brew in mainline denominations this decade over the strong feminist bent in some seminaries. The trend has led to the adoption of nontraditional references to God, such as "Mother God" or "Mother-Father God," thus encouraging a search for a goddess figure in the Bible. This development may find favor among church hierarchs and seminary professors, if not pew people. In any case, a cauldron of syncretism and feminism will be bubbling as we celebrate the witching hour of the new millennium.
Astrology: As we race toward 2001, more people will impute a spiritual quality to astrology, believing that the conjunction of metaphysics and astrology will give heavenly advice about earthly events.
"Perhaps what drives modern Americans to seek the stars is the innate human need to find meaning and transcendence behind the details of daily life," speculates David Neff, an editor of Christianity Today. "Science and the Enlightenment have given us the belief that human beings are responsible for their own destiny. They have stripped our lives of transcendence and put us in charge. But we certainly do not feel in control."29
Many will be looking to the stars — those impersonal forces of planetary motion — for signs of the future. Myopia will keep them from looking above and beyond the stars to the God who created them and set them on course.30
Science: The new gurus will be "scientific mystics," those who "are mystical in their science and scientific in their mysticism." So says John David Garcia, author of Creative Transformation. But Karla Poewe-Hexham and Irving Hexham, authorities on cults and new religions, denounce the theological impetus behind the faith-in-science "myths of the New Age." They say that "real knowledge of how science works has been replaced by blind, baseless faith, which must be exposed for what it is: a leap in the dark and nothing more."31
Paranormal Experiences: "Psychic healing" and holistic health techniques are already a substitute religion for many. Natural
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remedies and homeopathy may become preferred and legitimate treatments for 2001 and beyond. But spirituality can be distorted when "the search for spiritual experience drifts off into the misty land of paranormal experiences," warns Father Andrew Miles in a charismatic Catholic newsletter.32
Civil Religion: Cultural religion, that old bogey of protestant mainline purveyors, isn't dead in the 1990s, and don't expect it's funeral any time soon. Inevitably, there is and will be what missionary statesman Ken Bailey calls "some subtle fusion between the cross and the flag." We can catch ourselves at this dangerous game, he said, only when we give authentic hearing to people from other cultures. And what is true for American Christians is also true for Christians elsewhere.33
Because the United States and its allies so resoundingly won the 1991 War in the Persian Gulf and restored the prestige of the American military, nationalism may enjoy a renaissance. Patriots may kneel at the alternative altar of a national religion that substitutes for scriptural faith.
This has been only a syncretism sampler: There are many more alternative altars and next-age faiths. Some, like the Native American spirituality movement — always popular at New Age expos and psychic fairs — are actually Old Age faiths. Now, they're raising the consciousness of whites in the new ecological era of the 1990s.
As we move into the next century, syncretistic religion will coincide with the philosophic bent of the nation, Barna believes. Many people will prefer relative values, disavowing any absolutes in truth, reality, or morality. Those who lack a fundamental knowledge of the Christian faith will be the most susceptible to alternative altars and the pervasive influence of New Age pantheism.34
According to Jeff Hadden, the New Age movement will "gain momentum and some focus" through the 1990s. At the same time, he says, there will be strong opposition from "serious Christians who aren't going to stand still for that."35
A battle for the worldview is heating up. Between now and 2001 that battle will pose perhaps the most crucial challenge to historic Christianity since the Reformation. And the winner will have a major influence on our planet.
