[Dialogue] [Oe List ...] 3/09/17, Spong/David Felten/Fox: How to Repeal and Replace Christianity’s Addiction to “Fake News” and “Alternative Facts” #tremendous #huge

[RICHARD HOWIE via Dialogue]

Our book club here in Altamont is reading 1984 , amazingly apropos  
for our time!
Ellen Howie
On Mar 9, 2017, at 9:13 AM, Ellie Stock via OE wrote:

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>      HOMEPAGE        MY PROFILE        ESSAY ARCHIVE       MESSAGE  
> BOARDS       CALENDAR
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> How to Repeal and Replace Christianity’s Addiction to “Fake News”  
> and “Alternative Facts” #tremendous #huge
> By David Felten
>
>  Bishop Spong’s reputation for expressing unapologetic, sometimes  
> blunt, theological opinions is long-established. While some have  
> accused him of being overbearing or egotistical, others have  
> depended on him for a firm defense of a particular spot on the  
> theological spectrum.
> After a comment deemed potentially offensive to a particular  
> Fundamentalist group, Jack was accused of sounding patronizing. He  
> replied, “If they feel patronized that’s too bad.” Harsh. But how  
> many times have we been tempted to say the same? Many Progressive  
> Christians feel that they’ve moved “forward” and resent any  
> expectation that their status as a Christian depends on their  
> ability to intellectually and spiritually go “backward.” But  
> because one of the characteristics of a more liberal perspective is  
> to reject black-and-white thinking, Progressive Christians often  
> struggle with confidently expressing the validity of their  
> perspective without feeding into the divisiveness and incivility  
> rampant in our culture.
> So how does one remain steadfast in communicating a hard-won  
> theological perspective without getting caught up in the stark us- 
> vs-them environment in which we find ourselves?
> The Problem. #sad #believeme
> Consider the newest additions to our collective lexicon: “fake  
> news” and “alternative facts.” Although they’re recent additions to  
> our everyday language, they seem strangely familiar. Why? Because  
> they’re just today’s take on a very old problem: our tribal selves’  
> need to project our superiority over others, often doing so by  
> harming or diminishing those who are not like us or who don’t  
> believe as we do. The stubbornness of our most primitive and base  
> instincts have been on full display in a thin-skinned egotistical  
> fear-mongering Executive who not only promotes a nationalist fervor  
> to be “number one,” but perhaps most insidiously, demonstrates an  
> obsession with being “right” in every tweet.
> When “fake news” first entered the lexicon in the 2016 Presidential  
> election, it was used to identify intentionally false stories  
> generated by fake news “mills” – often whole websites – devoted to  
> creating sensational and made-up stories as “click bait” targeting  
> easily-influenced low-information voters.
> But in a matter of months, the term has been turned on its head. It  
> is now used almost exclusively by Conservatives to divert attention  
> from evidence-based reality in order to muddy people’s perception  
> of current events. Recently, hardly a day went by that the  
> President didn’t use the phrase “fake news” to try and invalidate  
> any story that he simply [didn’t] like (even though his attempts at  
> misdirection were glaringly obvious).
> When Kellyanne Conway coined the phrase, “alternative facts,’ she  
> feigned disgust at the elitist idea that anything like objective  
> “facts” actually existed. Claiming that Press Secretary Spicer’s  
> “alternative facts” were every bit as valid as everyone else’s  
> “regular” facts, Conway availed herself of a practice well  
> established among Christian Fundamentalists: appeal to an authority  
> that is unfettered by reason or rational thought.
> Blogging on Patheos, Chuck Queen, writes, “It is remarkable how  
> gullible this administration considers the electorate to be,” and  
> then suggests that Christianity itself is culpable in creating the  
> environment in which this kind of gullibility is not only fostered,  
> but celebrated. He writes that Fundamentalism,
> “feeds and grows on the gullibility of people to believe what they  
> want to believe. It thrives on the propagation of beliefs that defy  
> logic, reason, science, and common sense, but somehow appeal to our  
> lower instincts and passions.”
> As many Christians grow up, they are expected to believe that the  
> biblical story of “Noah’s flood is actually a historical, factual  
> account” – despite the impossible logistics and the appalling  
> theology. Every day, countless fundamentalist Christians  
> congratulate themselves for being able to suspend disbelief and  
> embrace the “divine wisdom” of an all-loving and gracious God  
> committing global genocide.
> In analyzing people’s susceptibility to “fake news,” Christopher  
> Douglas notes that this tendency has its historical origin in  
> Christian fundamentalism’s rejection of expert elites.” While many  
> Catholics and Mainline Protestants have taken the last 150 years of  
> expert Biblical and theological scholarship to heart,  
> Fundamentalism has proudly embraced the rejection of science and  
> rational thought as a badge of honor – oftentimes creating whole  
> universes of “alternative facts” (the so-called “Biblical  
> Worldview”) to defend a literal 6-day creation, intelligent design,  
> and Jesus’ literal virgin birth and physical resurrection.
> So, as in our current political sphere, no matter how articulate  
> Progressive Christians are in expressing the wisdom of Progressive  
> Christianity, Fundamentalist Christians will simply never come  
> around. Never. After all, their very identity is, in part, rooted  
> in the ability to not only dismiss any evidence that contradicts  
> their worldview (fake news!), but to double down on the veracity of  
> their “alternative facts.” As objective and well-grounded as  
> Progressive Christian apologists might be in pointing out the  
> shortcomings of a Fundamentalist mindset, it will make no  
> difference. Theological liberals can choose to continue the debate,  
> but to what end? Any serious conversation is doomed before it  
> starts, a casualty of the war between two irreconcilable tribes.
> The Solution. #tremendous #huge
> First task: own up to the fact that “fake news” and “alternative  
> facts” are not the problem. They’re the symptoms. The problem is  
> our addiction to a kind of dualism that sees the world divided  
> between competing ideas of right and wrong, true and false. That’s  
> not to say that right and wrong, true and false don’t exist, but  
> obsessing over convincing those who won’t be convinced is getting  
> us nowhere. Neither is isolating ourselves in our bunker and smugly  
> settling for “being right.” What’s needed is a framework that  
> transcends our primal us-vs-them mentality and reflects our  
> conviction that we are evolving as a species.
> Perhaps part of the antidote to our dualistic tendencies can be  
> glimpsed in James Fowler’s book, Stages of Faith. In it, he  
> develops a theory describing six stages through which all people  
> move as their faith matures (or doesn’t).
> In the first stage, usually associated with preschool children,  
> basic ideas about God are shaped through a mix of fantasy and  
> reality filtered through the authority of parents’ beliefs. In  
> Stage 2, logic begins to shape one’s understanding of the world.  
> Stories told by faith communities are often understood in very  
> literal ways. While usually associated with school-aged children,  
> some people (Fundamentalists) remain in this stage throughout  
> adulthood.
> Stage 3 is begun in the teenaged years as youth differentiate  
> between various social circles and influences. A person in this  
> stage usually adopts an all-encompassing belief system of some  
> kind. Once comfortable “inside” this belief system, Stage 3 people  
> can have a hard time seeing outside their box – often not  
> recognizing that they’re in any kind of box at all. Many people  
> remain in this stage for life (think conventional Mainline  
> Protestants).
> If people get to Stage 4, it often begins amidst the challenges of  
> young adulthood. Critical thinking skills uncover reality “outside  
> their box” – maybe even realizing (for the first time) that other  
> “boxes” even exist. Disillusioned with long-held beliefs, some  
> abandon their Stage 3 faith.
> It’s rare for people to reach Stage 5 before mid-life. Living life  
> confronts people with irresolvable paradoxes and the limits of  
> “black and white” thinking – so those in Stage 5 often begin to see  
> life as a mystery and, while abandoning old theological boxes,  
> explore the depths of sacred stories and symbols across a variety  
> of traditions.
> Very few reach the universalizing Stage 6. Those who do often live  
> their lives unfettered by petty doubts and live to serve – often  
> risking their lives for others or principled causes.
> Six stages. Each level a prerequisite of the next. Some people  
> remain firmly in stage two or three, fiercely suspicious of any  
> “new” information – and blissfully unaware that there could be so  
> much more depth and breadth to their spiritual lives. Others move  
> from one stage to another in a life-long journey toward spiritual  
> understandings that people in previous stages can’t even comprehend.
> And yes, those who discover they are being categorized in Stage 2  
> or 3 will be indignant and declare those of us who identify with  
> Stage 4 or 5 as arrogant and patronizing (accusations Bishop Spong  
> is well acquainted with!). The bottom line is that Fowler’s system  
> isn’t judgmental of people in particular stages. They simply  
> acknowledge that there ARE stages — and we’re all in different  
> places along the way.
> Once liberated from the dualism of being “right or wrong,” there’s  
> no need to try and convince a Stage 3 person of anything. Simply be  
> who you are where you are on the spiritual journey. Don’t be  
> deterred from being a person on the way to Stage 6 for fear of  
> offending someone in Stage 2. Just get on with it. We no longer  
> need to feel the urge to give in to our tribal impulse to prove  
> others wrong and ourselves right.
> If we’re familiar enough with Fowler’s stages, we can endure a  
> sermon that is theologically medieval and resist the urge to shout,  
> “You’re WRONG!” Instead, we can simply acknowledge, “Wow, that was  
> a seriously “Stage 2” sermon. There may even be an opportunity to  
> demonstrate some Stage 5 compassion by empathizing with the pastor:  
> “I know she’s a Stage 5 Christian, but the demographic of her  
> church is Stage 3. That must be really hard on her spiritual  
> integrity to preach to where people are rather than where she’d  
> like them to be…”.
> Think of how helpful a “Stages” labeling system could be. For the  
> benefit of the consumer, whole churches or denominations could be  
> designated as Stage 2, 3, 4, or 5 – saving people a lot of grief in  
> choosing a faith community. Like English 101 or 102, Bible studies  
> could be identified as Stage 4 or Stage 5. Perhaps truth-in- 
> advertising would lead to announcements indicating “WARNING: Stage  
> 2 Bible Study!”
> Understanding the stages of faith can also help explain the absence  
> of young people in “liberal churches.” Despite our obvious failure  
> to present young people with an “age appropriate” path, it is some  
> consolation to be reminded that reaching the later stages of faith  
> are often more a function of chronology and life experience than  
> “right information.”
> At a 2016 conference in Queensland, Rev. Dr. Margaret Mayman said:  
> “Just thinking new ‘right things’ will make us as useless as the  
> fundamentalists.” So, let’s get over the arguments about who’s got  
> “the truth” or the “facts.” It’s not a competition to be “right.”  
> Adopting Fowler’s “Stages of Faith” (or a similar system) is  
> essential in telling the story of our new Reformation. We need no  
> longer be captive to the either/or-ness of our primal past. We are  
> liberated from being held back by those living in the past and  
> freed to evolve spiritually, transforming ourselves and, with any  
> luck, the world. #tremendous #huge!
> ~ Rev. David M. Felten
>
> Read Online Here
> About the Author
> David Felten is a full-time pastor at The Fountains, a United  
> Methodist Church in Fountain Hills, Arizona. David and fellow  
> United Methodist Pastor, Jeff Procter-Murphy, are the creators of  
> the DVD-based discussion series for Progressive Christians, “Living  
> the Questions”.
>
> A co-founder of the Arizona Foundation for Contemporary Theology  
> and also a founding member of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice,  
> David is an outspoken voice for LGBTQ rights both in the church and  
> in the community at large.
>
> David is active in the Desert Southwest Conference of the United  
> Methodist Church and tries to stay connected to his roots as a  
> musician. You’ll find him playing saxophones in a variety of  
> settings, including appearances with the Fountain Hills Saxophone  
> Quartet.
>
> David and his wife Laura, an administrator for a large Arizona  
> public school district, live in Phoenix with their three often  
> adorable children.
> Question & Answer
> Kay from St. Louis, writes:
>
> Question:
> What do you mean when you speak about idolatry among Christians?
>
> Answer: By Matthew Fox
> Thank you for your question, Kay. This is a very important question  
> for our time.
> The late and great Catholic monk, Thomas Merton, had some blunt  
> things to say about idolatry when he wrote that today many “half- 
> religious people are engaged in “the greatest orgy of idolatry the  
> world has ever known.” He goes on to warn that “it is not generally  
> thought by believers that idolatry is the greatest and fundamental  
> sin.”(1)
> When hypocritical so-called Christian politicians use the name  
> “Christianity” to further their agendas to kill safety nets for the  
> aged and the poor and who oppose defending Mother Earth and sacred  
> creation from onslaughts by multi-national corporations and Wall  
> Street whose gods are the bottom line these very gods are idols.  
> Such worship substitutes for honoring the real God—a God of  
> justice, compassion and creativity.
> When the president of CBS was questioned about why the media gave  
> billions of dollars of free air time to the Trump campaign but no  
> such support to the Bernie Sanders or even Clinton campaigns he  
> replied that “Trump may be bad for America but he is good for the  
> bottom line.” That is idolatry. (It is also in my opinion treason,  
> a selling out of one’s country for the bottom line.)
> Indeed, idolatry by its very nature, reduces God to an object—an  
> object to be manipulated and used for our own interests (including  
> getting elected, re-elected, or getting big money from big donors— 
> somehow the Koch brothers come to mind—to further our selfish  
> aims). Meister Eckhart talks about people who worship God like they  
> do a cow—for the milk and cheese they can get from it.
> Again, Merton comments on this form of idolatry when he says, “When  
> God becomes object, he sooner or later ‘dies,’ because God as  
> object is ultimately unthinkable. God as object…is hardened into an  
> idol that is maintained in existence by a sheer act of will.”(2)  
> Sheer acts of will but also, I would add, of projection. Projecting  
> onto our own man-made God is an act of idolatry. Our making God  
> over into our own image instead of striving to be shining with the  
> Divine image in us and in our actions—this is idolatry. Study is  
> important to resist idolatry. We need to learn on a daily basis who/ 
> what the real God is and is not.
> Merton elaborates on the idols of our time when he comments on “the  
> dangerous and potent idols” in the world today:
> Signs of cosmic and technological power, political and scientific  
> idols, idols of the nation, the party, the race….The fact that they  
> are evident in themselves does not mean that people do not submit  
> more and more blindly, more and more despairingly, to their  
> complete power. The idol of national military strength was never  
> more powerful than today, even though men claim to desire peace.(3)
> I would add that idols of consumerism—a fetish for things we buy  
> and feel we need to buy or have bought—is part and parcel of  
> today’s idolatrous scene as well. Indeed, our very economic system,  
> to the extent that it creates and whips up consumer fetishes, is  
> running on idolatry: That somehow the acquisition of more goodies  
> will satisfy the deep hunger and longing of the human heart—even if  
> such idolatrous buying results in other people going hungry or the  
> earth itself being exploited, species rendered extinct, and climate  
> change raising the seas, destroying cities and homes and the future  
> for our great, great grandchildren. Such idol-worship fails to  
> satisfy the heart. Idols are that kind of worship—unsatisfying. But  
> dissatisfaction is at the heart of economic idolatry—it feeds the  
> machines of advertising to keep us buying. And buying. And buying.  
> The addiction of shopping is a special form of idolatry born of  
> consumer capitalism.
> Fundamentalism is a form of idolatry because it focuses on the  
> literal as Bishop Spong reminds us in his solid study on Biblical  
> Literalism: A Gentile Heresy. This turning the literal into a god  
> invites projection and with projection comes the worship of idols,  
> i.e. man-made gods. Literalism also feeds the idols of fascism and  
> empire-building because it focuses on external forces including  
> “law and order” and military might at the expense of our inner  
> wellbeing, the grace that community, celebration, joy, sharing,  
> forgiveness, creativity, are all about. Such idolatry becomes a  
> substitute for true religion. And there is plenty of that going  
> around. Inner work is required to resist it.
> We can also make an idol of rationality itself. Einstein warned  
> about that when he declared that we should not overvalue the  
> intellect for the intellect, he said, does not give us values; it  
> only gives us methods. Values come from intuition he insisted and  
> rationality should serve intuition. Yet we live in a society, he  
> commented, that honors rationality and ignores intuition. This is  
> one reason I elevate Rationality to being today one of the capital  
> sins. Education has crashed on the rocks of rationality—rocks of  
> idolatry. It needs a complete new start. Including for sure our  
> seminary training which rarely includes training in how to be a  
> mystic and teach others to be mystics, i.e. persons at home and  
> accomplished with their intuitive (mystical) brains. This effort to  
> create a balanced educational pedagogy where our left brain  
> (intellect and analysis) and our right brain (mysticism and  
> intuition) are both exercised and respected has been at the heart  
> of my work as an educator for 45 years.
> I am happy to say that a new school is being launched in Boulder,  
> Colorado this year to carry on this pedagogy. Started by graduates  
> of our University of Creation Spirituality, it is being called Fox  
> Institute for Creation Spirituality and it will offer master’s  
> degrees and doctor of ministry and work degrees and a doctor of  
> spirituality degree along with certificate programs in creation  
> spirituality. It is an effort to combat idolatry in our culture,  
> our souls, and of course in our education. You might want to check  
> it out.
> ~ Matthew Fox
> Read and Share Online Here
> About the Author
> Matthew Fox holds a doctorate in spirituality from the Institut  
> Catholique de Paris and has authored 32 books on spirituality and  
> contemporary culture that have been translated into 60 languages.  
> Fox has devoted 45 years to developing and teaching the tradition  
> of Creation Spirituality and in doing so has reinvented forms of  
> education and worship. His work is inclusive of today’s science and  
> world spiritual traditions and has awakened millions to the much  
> neglected earth-based mystical tradition of the West. He has helped  
> to rediscover Hildegard of Bingen, Meister Eckhart, Thomas Aquinas.  
> Among his books are Sins of the Spirit, Blessings of the  
> FleshTransforming Evil in Soul and Society, The Pope’s War: Why  
> Ratzinger’s Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can  
> Be Saved and Confessions: The Making of a Postdenominational Priest
> (1) Cited in Matthew Fox, A Way To God: Thomas Merton’s Creation  
> Spirituality Journey (Novato, CA: New World Library, 2016), 204.
> (2) Ibid., 237.
> (3) Ibid.
>
> Announcements
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> The Charter for Compassion has decided to take a leadership role  
> with the newly formed One American Registry/One Coalition and we  
> are launching this commitment in a special webinar to be held on  
> Thursday, March 9th at 9 am PT and 12 pm ET.  Click here for more  
> information.
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