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Spoken word poet Jefferson Bethke is no stranger to viral video success, with several of his YouTube videos drawing hundreds of thousands of views. However, there was no way he could have anticipated that more than 15 million viewers would tune in for his newest piece, “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus”. Neither could he have guessed the level of controversy it would sparked. From people deeply inspired by his honest passion to others upset with what they felt was a reckless use of the term “religion”, few people are without opinion
In response to the popularity (and notoriety) of the piece, Bethke explained that at his church, “the word ‘religion’ is pretty much synonymous with hypocrisy, legalism, self-righteousness, and self-justification”. Criticism not withstanding, the vast majority of viewers seemed to approve of the poem, resonating with his cutting critique of Christianity’s failures. And frankly, fair enough.
Few of us would be hard pressed to think of examples, whether through historical events or personal experience, where Christians represented themselves poorly, even atrociously, in the name of God. It’s an all too common sentiment to hear today that people “love Jesus, but not the church”, considering themselves “spiritual, but not religious”. And so, Bethke struck a nerve with millions who indeed love Jesus but hate “religion”.
St. Francis of Assisi was no stranger to such attitudes. The church of his day was so often characterized by corruption that the common people saw it as being little different from their abusive lords and kings. It was this very corruption that, at least in part, led Francis to the radical life of devotion to Jesus that has made him one of the most loved Christian figures throughout history. His unrelenting commitment to follow Jesus stands in sharp contrast against a culture of religious despotism and debauchery.
And yet, Francis was unabashedly a true son of Rome, fully submitted to papal authority. His devotion to the church even extended even to the basest compromises of simple priests. It’s said that Francis would kneel in the mud before even the fattest, most compromised priests. And while he held communion as the holiest of sacraments, he would willingly receive Eucharist from sinful priests for their indiscretions. How could such an uncompromising follower of Jesus make such seemingly compromising choices?
It is in this very dissonance that St. Francis has so much to teach us today. What first appears to be fawning obedience to the institutional authorities of Rome was, in fact, motivated a far more powerful obedience to Christ. Whether he faced a parish priest or Pope himself, he knew he was looking at men created in the image of God- more so, brothers resurrected into the same Body of Christ. His reverence for the holiness of God far outstripped the sins of a corrupt clergy. All he could see was Christ.
This is not to say that Francis was indifferent to their failings. His pursuit of holiness often drove him to extremes, meaning he turned his critique inward for he know that the best rebuke of the bad was the embodiment of the better. Aware of the brokenness of his own heart, he was too dependent on the grace of God to stand in judgment of others.
Many people who are part of Little Flowers Community, the small church that I pastor in my impoverished, inner city neighborhood, have very good reason to hate religion, especially Christianity. They are the addicts, the mentally ill and the homeless- people who experienced more alienation at the hands of the church than most. Yet everyday we seek to follow the example of St. Francis, by seeking to see in others- beyond their “hypocrisy, legalism, self-righteousness, and self-justification”, beyond our own- the Jesus we love.
Bethke’s poem confronts us with the uncomfortable reality that our treasured religion is not exempt from being twisted by sin. And yet, when we see Jesus in people who use and abuse religion, we realize that it is not so easy to simply love Jesus and hate religion. Instead we discover that God’s grace is all encompassing, calling us to a humility and embrace that will be offensive to many. Yet we hold on to the hope that when a waiting and watching world sees such love, they will look past our flawed religion and see Jesus.
Tags: Missional
This is intriguing, Jamie. For the last few months I’ve been trying very hard to figure out how to love the church, in all her weird and diverse expressions. My first step as been trying to get to KNOW the church. As you’re aware, I’m in the process of visiting every congregation in my city. This is partly a research project, but partly a disciplined practice. If it’s true that Jesus loves the church, then I want to understand what this strange institution is that He loves so much.
What the next step is I don’t know, but I’ve really appreciated you’re explorations on the subject.
Thanks Trevor. I think your church crawl is an amazing project (though I sympathize with your failure to find Anabaptists). Keep the crawl crawling!
Well said brother! I like your no non-sense cut through the debate way of putting things. you always have a beautiful way of drawing things back to Jesus, Francis, and Little Flowers.
A failure to find true anabaptists?! COME ON ya don’t say! Joking aside, it is a challenge, I too as an anabaptist am saddened by the sad state of how lacking anabaptism is now. How did we become main stream evangelicial instead of the third way our forefathers fought for?!
Thanks Paul!
Your article is among many that have risen to the challenge of the video. It is a refreshing breeze in a world of dumb-downed definitions. I understand what our brother in the video was saying, and he clarifies it somewhat in the first sentence under the video that few will read.
But, of course, there is nothing new in his title. It flows from the ‘evangelical’ mantra that “Christianity is not a religion, it is. a relationship.” This is a sad state of mind for those who cannot handle “the holy conjunction”=AND.
Over a half century ago, Elton Trueblood described our culture as a cut-flower society. Cut off from its roots, it withers and dies. Anyone who is rooted in the history of the first two millenia of Christianity knows that both Catholic and Prostestant writers, from Augustine to Wesley to Trueblood, wrote of true religion versus false religion. But today, many have abandoned truth and smothered it with experience.
This points to a major ‘disease’ of our day. C.S. Lewis provided an antidote for the spirit of our times, for any who wish to take the medicine, with his rule for reading:
“…after reading a new book, never allow yourself another new one till you have read an old one…keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds…”
Michael, thanks for the thoughtful comment. As you say, the sentence under the video did give clarity, but sadly when the video is embedded on others sites, such text is not present. Further, some have suggested that was a later edit, but I cannot speak to whether that is true. Again, thanks for the great comment.
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