April 2012 Newsletter article
O Christ,
create new hearts in us
that beat in
time with yours,
that, joined
by faith with your great heart,
become
love’s open doors.
We are your
body, risen Christ;
our hearts,
our hands we yield
that through
our life and ministry
your love
may be revealed.
- Herman G.
Stuempfle Jr., “O Christ, Your Heart, Compassionate,” ELW 722
Last week I
found myself reading an online review of a book about how religion can be
useful to atheists. Rather than digging into the core argument of either the
review or the book, I want to talk about one particularly valuable insight.
“If you ask people in modern western societies whether they
are religious, they tend to answer by telling you what they believe (or don't
believe). When you examine religion as a universal human phenomenon, however,
its connections with belief are far more tenuous.” (John Gray, http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2012/02/religion-atheism-atheists)