Confessing that you’re a Christian in certain circles can be harmful to your social life. Yoga circles? Watch conversation come to a complete stop. Tired of talking? Wanna take a breather? Just intimate that you’re a Christian. You can almost hear the breath being drawn in like very bad ujjayi breathing. Everybody looks away like you’ve admitted you don’t recycle or you eat baby birds for breakfast. I was talking with a group of yoga friends recently and one guy said he’d read about somebody who was starting up Christian yoga; then he demonstrated–ekum, breath in for Jesus, dwe, breath out for Jesus–and everybody laughed uproariously. It was slightly amusing. I said, “Yeah, I can bring that to my church; we can do surynamaskaras for Jesus.” Uncomfortable, squirmy silence. Ooooo, did I say something wrong?
The sad thing is, I deserve it. I’m just getting back what I dished out back in my pre-Christian days. I know that, so I accept it–if not graciously, then just a little bit humbly (just a little bit, or I wouldn’t be writing about it, would I?).
Once when I was looking up a band on Amazon to maybe buy one of their CDs, I found statements like: They’re good, but the lead guy’s a Christian. It is true that if you listen to their songs very closely you might find a reference to an idea that could, kind, of be construed as maybe Christian (like love). The Jesus connection can be deadly and it is tempting to hide it à la Peter. No, I don’t know that guy. No, I’m not from Galilee–no way man. Christians doing yoga, ha! What a joke! (Isn’t Christian anything a joke?)
Jesus is about as popular in certain crowds these days as John Denver (maybe less). It’s hard to hate Jesus, though (how can you hate somebody whose one commandment is to love one another?). People say things like, well he’s okay, it’s Christians who get it all wrong and screw up his message. Which is, of course, true, but that’s what human beings do, we get things wrong, that’s why we need God. They think a third of human beings call themselves Christian for fear of going to hell. I used to agree with that in my pre-Christian days. Now I realize there is a depth and a truth to this religion that is authentic, even if some people do seem to be getting it wrong (for instance, Jesus was quite a tolerant guy for his time; why all the intolerance?).
Because Christianity is true and real at its core, I believe that, in spite of the best efforts of Richard Dawkins and his ilk, there will likely forever be a large number of devoted Christians in the world. If it were all about fear, it wouldn’t have lasted this long.
de die in diem 
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July 3, 2007 at 7:35 pm
o0v0o
I get this a lot. My family are Falwell-style Christians in a rural red state, and I left them far away for a reason. But when well-off, So-Cal yoga practitioners, who have no idea of rural life or traditional lifestyle, trash Christianity (intending not the contemplative, illuminated style you practice but indeed the exact kind in which I grew up), it’s not ok. It’s like your best friend beating up your little brother on the playground. It’s ok for you to rough-house with the little guy, but for your best friend it’s hands off. I want to tell them: You don’t get to trash Christianity–even its most harmful tendencies–if you don’t know how beautiful it is EVEN AT THE FALWELL LEVEL. My family spout the whole bigoted script (though I suspect they would have trouble practicing it if they ever actually met the people they are supposed to shun), but they do also possess an indwelling spirituality that makes them grateful, and kind, and oddly more selfless than almost every yoga practitioner I have met. (Yoga, in these parts, isn’t exactly a selfless path.)
It seems that approaches to any given tradition run the gamut from superstitious to mystical (that goes for astanga yoga too– for sure). I wonder if you’d be comfortable with the idea that you have more in common with the mystics of other religions–Judiasm, Buddhism, Sufism–than with many conservative Christians in the West? (And meanwhile, in agreeing that there is only one “God” and all others are false, and in seeing the universe as a magic realm of good and evil, the more traditional masses of any of these “axial” religions are also “fundamentally” in agreement–and thus in conflict…)
Just to explore the question further, if science is also a kind of religious practice (one with its own cosmology, origin myths, practices, holy books, capacity to define and explain reality)… in a sense Dawkins is a science-mystic. He is so moved by the *immanence* of life that despite the rules that bind him he at times approaches *transcendence.*
July 3, 2007 at 8:18 pm
yogamum
It’s so ironic when supposedly “open-minded” people show themselves to be so judgmental of Christianity. I think part of the problem comes in when power structures and religions collide. You know, separation of church and state and all that…I think Christians should resent the appropriation of Christianity by the conservative movement. It’s very hard for me to disentangle my feelings about how Christianity is misused for political gain (which of course has been going on for thousands of years) and the actual religion. I would have no problem with our leaders professing Christianity *if they actually practiced it.* I think the practice of Christianity is a beautiful, positive thing — I always think of my grandparents, who were devout Christians and prayed for each and every member of our extended family every day (no small feat!) and never, ever criticized anyone else’s belief system.
See — even in this comment the first thing that came to my mind was politics! I have some prejudices of my own to work out, obviously.
July 4, 2007 at 2:00 pm
gartenfische
Owl, you make some excellent points. I recently had an e-mail discussion with a man who cannot see anything good in Christianity. I told him the Christians I know are the most loving, caring people I’ve ever met. And it’s true. Even my daughter’s boyfriend’s parents, who are very, very conservative, fundamentalist Christians who make the bigoted comments, listen to Rush Limbaugh and the whole shebang, they give of themselves selflessly and lovingly. They have been so kind toward my daughter, it’s almost unbelievable.
I have no problem seeing commonality with other religious who aren’t Christian. God is there for all of us. And it’s true about Dawkins, he is actually quite “religious!” I’m sure he wouldn’t appreciate the comparison, but he seems as fundamentalist to me as a fundamentalist Christian.
Yogamum, I know what you mean about separating political Christianity from the religion. Isn’t part of the problem the us and them mentality we humans take on? “Those Christians,” “those homosexuals,” “those Mexicans.” Thomas Keating (Catholic priest) says one of the things we need to let go of on the spiritual journey is “overidentification with the group.” We are often blind to it in ourselves.
One of my teachers suggested that when someone makes a discriminatory comment against a group of people you should ask them to name one. So if somebody is talking about stupid Christians or lazy Mexicans, well name one please. Are you talking about Sue? Maria? Because, like you said, owl, once we know the other, it’s very hard to keep them in that box. A good question for some Americans at this point in time is, You say you hate Muslims, well how many do you know?
Yogamum, I was not raised with religion, but I had a grandmother who was the most beautiful and kind person and a very devoted Christian. A cousin of mine once made a comment about her insinuating that she was ignorant because of her religion, but I really thought (and think) that she knew more than all of us. She wasn’t religious out of ignorance, she just didn’t talk a lot or act superior; it is easy to dismiss someone like that. I never, ever heard her put down anybody. If people around her were denigrating others, she never took part. She was truly following Jesus in both words and actions. She said once that some people have important things to do in the world but her job was to be there for her family. She said, “I’ve always been there for my family.” And she was. There must be millions of quiet Christians living their daily lives, doing their best to follow the commandment to love one another–being kind, but not crowing about it. It’s not easy and they deserve respect.
So on this national holiday, celebrating the group we call Americans, I’m going to work on not identifying so strongly with my particular groups! (Aargh, that’s hard.)
July 5, 2007 at 10:48 am
o0v0o
It’s cool to be talking with you, GF. I don’t have enough conversations on this level with people who love Jesus.
I have amazing grandparents who have prayed for me every day of my life. For most of my 20s, I wanted to tell them to STOP, because I knew one of their prayers was that I’d “come back to god.” Now I’m so grateful for their devotion and regret not having focused on their wellbeing in the same way all those years. And although they’d be mortified by what passes for spirituality in my world and would find my practices satanic, the truth is that their prayer during my 20s has been answered. 🙂
Your daughter’s family sound wonderful, and will have raised a son with great moral sense and capacity for love and devotion. But if she stays with him, they will–while loving her as their “own” (women in their culture are, indeed, all owned by parents and later husbands)–they will expect her to play a certain role. They may “lovingly” try to force her there in their own ways, relying time and again on random lines from Paul to justify their expectations. In my personal experience and those of so many friends and relatives, it is difficult for a moderate to establish herself among fundamentalist inlaws without intense pressure to conform, obey and submit in all things. xo
July 5, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Sarah
Amen! Be proud! I think that progressives are just starting to realize that there are Christians among them (us).
Sarah
Aspiring Christian Yogini
July 5, 2007 at 3:56 pm
gartenfische
Owl, yes, I’m enjoying the conversation, too. And like you, I am amazed at the arrogance and ignorance I was so full of when I was in my twenties, and even into my thirties (and I was so sure I KNEW!). I would’ve also wished my grandmother didn’t pray for me; now, I am certain she did and I’m so grateful. Sounds like you are coming to your senses younger than I did. Hmmm, my daughter might have a lot of interesting stuff to deal with if she does stay with her boyfriend. So far, his parents haven’t been pressuring her too much, I think because they’re afraid to scare her away and they want them to get married.
Sarah, I really hope progressives realize that Christians are not the enemy. I have had to listen to too many negative comments about Christians from fellow progressives. There are a lot of Christians who are not conservative, but so many people don’t get that. We keep on putting each other in boxes!
Some of my family members talk about how stupid liberals are and some of my friends how stupid Christians are. Either way you look at it, I’m in the stupid box. How do we keep from making people we don’t agree with into the enemy?
July 12, 2007 at 11:20 am
Linda
Unfortunately, the fundamentalists ruin it for everyone, whether they are Islamic or Christian — it’s the fundamentalists who make the most noise.
I had this conversation with a United Church of Christ minister whose church is in Dearborn, Michigan, a city (he told me) that has the highest percentage of Middle Easterners outside of the Middle East. He sees no difference between Christian fundamentalists and Islamic fundamentalists….and neither do I, because both believe THEIR way is the ONLY way (or the most rightous.)
I am Buddhist and attended the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Wisconsin this year. “Christians” were demonstrating outside his public talk, handing out leaflets that said the Dalai Lama is going to Hell unless he accepts Jesus Christ and that Buddhists have no concept of right and wrong because Buddhism is a “godless” religion. HUH?!? Here I was, being told, in essence, by people who DO NOT KNOW ME THAT I DON’T KNOW RIGHT FROM WRONG BECAUSE I AM A BUDDHIST.
What is wrong with that picture?
Ironically enough, they were demonstrating against a man who believes that people should not leave their own religion to “become” Buddhist, and whose topic for his public address was “Compassion: The Source of Happiness.”
July 12, 2007 at 12:11 pm
gartenfische
Linda, you are right on. A few years ago I read Karen Armstrong’s book about fundamentalism (The Battle for God: Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam), which was excellent and made the same point you did–it’s the same animal dressed up differently. Perhaps it’s a mindset, more than a religion. The religions CAN, and do, exist outside of that mindset.
I wish we could all accept one another. We are constantly making enemies out of those unlike us, whether they be Buddhist, Christian, Muslim (skinny, fat. . .). I’m not exempt from this, I’m just trying to become more aware and open. And I’m trying not to identify with my “groups” (as Thomas Keating puts it) so definitively.
July 12, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Linda
We fear what we do not understand.
And Gandhi, although Hindu, was assassinated by a Hindu extremist.
I was already inside the auditorium waiting for my husband at the Dalai Lama’s public address. When he got in he told me about the “Christians” and said that he commented to the people in front of him as he stood in line waiting to get in: “America is a great country because we can basically say whatever we want to say….but why can’t we all get along?”
July 14, 2007 at 12:26 pm
gartenfische
Good for him. That’s a lot more meaningful than an angry, retaliatory attack. (His behavior was more Christian than the Christians’!)