Easy Answers

Some may wonder, What does the name, Alternative, mean anyway... an alternative to what? Well, the following statement, which is part of our self-description on the right hand column of this blog, begins to address that question:

We seek to understand the Christian tradition as a healthy alternative to routines of self-indulgence, indiscriminate wealth, blind national allegiance, violence, and political power plays. We seek to move beyond rigid doctrinal and political positions, pat cliches and easy answers. Diverse theological perspectives are welcome.

The first part of this statement is clear and agreeable enough. Most religious traditions, when at their best, would hope to be an alternative to all these things. The second part of the statement, however, is not as clear as it needs to be perhaps. To what are we refering when we speak of "rigid doctrinal and political positions, pat cliches and easy answers"? It is only fair to address this, for if we are seeking to move beyond these things, then we are claiming to be an alternative also to Christian groups that seem to embrace them.

In a previous post to this blog, doubt is affirmed as having value. However, not all Christian groups intentionally welcome doubt as part of their ongoing discussion about faith. This is particularly true concerning doctrines most essential to Christian identity, for example, the belief that Jesus was God incarnate. Some Christians seem to think that belief in such a claim naturally excludes doubt.

While we recognize our solidarity with such Christian groups, claiming with them that God is distinctly present to the world through Jesus of Nazareth, our group encourages the ongoing expression of doubts and questions that naturally arise when discussing such claims. We therefore hope to be an alternative Christian fellowship for those in our culture who are not satisfied simply to receive a set of assumptions about God and reality based on the authority of a tradition alone.

Many people avoid religion in general and Christianity in particular, because they do not think that any one religious tradition should claim to have the full scoop on God or things metaphysical, excluding all other possible conceptions of reality, other views of the Divine. In order to deal honestly with such hindrances, Alternative seeks to move beyond the "easy answers", beyond appeals to special revelation as the final word about that which is ultimately unverifiable and, according to many, unknowable.

More importantly, however, the "rigid doctrinal positions" and "easy-answers" that we seek to move beyond in Alternative refer to truth claims that are accompanied by an arrogant attitude. Others can be very sensitive to this attitude when it is present in us, because it says to them, "We Christians are right, and we are not really open to discuss your views or entertain your doubts about Christian theological claims". Often, of course, it also shuts down conversations and further opportunities to connect with people on deeper levels.

While engaging others, humility, openness and seeking genuinely to connect with their free thoughts are all vital components to relationships that are authentic and fruitful. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in his address to the 2006 World Council of Churches said:

When we face radically different notions, strange and complex accounts of a perspective not our own, our questions must be not ‘How do we convict them of error? How do we win the competition of ideas?’ but, ‘What do they actually see? and can what they see be a part of the world that I see?’ These are questions that can be answered only by faithfulness – that is, by staying with the other.

In Alternative, we hope to stay with each other. We hope to eliminate pretenses and open up a conversation wherein authentic Christian belief is represented and reconsidered and wherein all kinds of doubts, doubters, and diverse perspectives are welcome. We trust that openness and friendship will be the context for re-orienting all of us to a way of life that is at the heart of the Christian tradition. We hope that this group will have fruitful discussions to that end. We don't want to forsake the heart of Christian belief, of course, but neither do we want to set up doctrinal boundaries and "easy answers" that exclude people from our discussion.