What's behind the "Spirituality" conversation?
Why is it that spiritual issues seem to be at the forefront of the national conversation right now? The current issue of Newsweek magazine carries a cover story on “Spirituality.” A recent issue of Time magazine carried a story about intelligent design and evolution, with a picture of God and a chimpanzee gazing into each other’s eyes. Recent polls show that religion is also a key factor in determining which party’s candidate a voter will support in an election.
The reason for this national conversation about spirituality is that people deep down sense that this matters in a very important way. When people talk about “spirituality” or “religion,” and or the lack thereof, they are using those words as shorthand to talk about their worldview. A worldview is the paradigm through which a person looks at the world and understands how he or she relates to it. People are not always consistent, but generally will think and act in accordance with their worldview. It is for this reason that a person’s worldview is so critical, not for intellectual debate, but for the implications of it for life in the real world.
For example, if a person believes that his existence ends when he dies, then he will maximize his personal pleasure while alive, even at the expense of others.
We can call this the Secular Worldview. Conversely, if he believes that he is actually an eternal being whose existence continues eternally after he dies, and that his actions while alive will carry ramifications after death, then he will logically try to understand what is expected of him in while alive and live accordingly. If in his inquiry this man discovers that the God of the universe sent his Jesus to earth in order to redeem him as an individual and the creation generally, then he will seek to live a life in obedience to Jesus. We can call this the Christian worldview.
Lets apply this to a hypothetical situation of an unhappy marriage that has children. A man with holding the Secular Worldview will have no real reason to stay with the marriage if is making him unhappy.
It would actually be a logical choice for him to leave his marriage in order to make himself happy. He may or may not find happiness in leaving the marriage, but studies show that his children will suffer harm. They will be more likely to run into trouble with the law and get involved with illegal drugs. Their performance at school will also likely suffer. Taking the next step, society will more likely be burdened with the expense of caring for them if they become incarcerated or if they are unable to develop the skill set needed in order to hold down a stable job.
This behavior will propagate itself through the succeeding generations, creating a vicious cycle.
Now lets look at a how a man with a Christian worldview will likely behave in the same hypothetical.
The Christian man will know that his God hates divorce, and that he should only get a divorce in extreme cases, such as in the case of infidelity. In our hypothetical, neither spouse has been unfaithful, so leaving the marriage is not an option. He commits to being a better husband, and not only to working with his wife to overcome the challenges they face, but also to sacrificially loving her in the same way that his God loved those he came to save. As a result of his sticking with the marriage and making it work in the face of unhappiness, he will not be absent from the children’s lives, which will result in the children being less likely to run into trouble with the law and more likely to avoid getting involved with illegal drugs. They will also likely do better in school. Taking the next step, society will more likely be benefited by their contribution. This behavior will propagate itself through the succeeding generations, creating a virtuous cycle.
People know intuitively that this is what is at stake in the discussion of spirituality and religion. They are aware that their worldview matters in the real world. They may not be able to articulate their worldview clearly, or think through all the implications of it, but they know, deep down that it is important.