NCC/Methodist film series undermines traditional faith An analysis by Mark Tooley The Presbyterian Layman Nov/Dec, 1997 Ecufilm, a cooperative involving the National Council of Churches and United Methodist Communications, has produced a new video series, Questions of Faith, that features some of today’s most radical theologians. The series is aimed at Sunday School audiences. The nearly 15 hours of video includes interviews with about 50 “spiritually minded individuals,” few of whom could be called orthodox or traditional Christians. Indeed, the qualification for appearing in this film series seems to have been either a rejection of historic Christianity or a firm endorsement for left-wing political causes. Among the speakers are Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong, who has denied the virgin birth and physical resurrection of Christ, and Rosemary Radford Ruether, who led a worship service devoted to ancient Mediterranean goddesses two years ago at United Methodist Garrett Seminary. Also included are radical feminist theologians Rita Nakashima Brock, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, and Katherine Keller. All three have denied that God is a personal deity who reveals himself exclusively through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Brock has written that Sophia, as the “erotic Heart of the Universe,” is responsible for resurrecting Jesus. Isasi-Diaz believes that God is not eternal but is simply an “experience of life.” Another speaker was Delores Williams of New York’s Union Seminary, who has rejected the Atonement of Christ by declaring at the 1993 Re-Imagining, “We don’t need folks hanging on crosses and blood dripping and weird stuff.” Similarly, Sallie McFague of Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville is an eco-theologian who believes that the earth is part of God. Virginia Ramey Mollenkott is a professing lesbian theologian. James Forbes of New York’s famously liberal Riverside Church comes from a Pentecostal background but has embraced homosexual causes. Tex Sample of St. Paul’s Seminary in Kansas City is a leading proponent of ordination for practicing homosexuals within United Methodism. Hyun Kyung Chung ignited an uproar when she advocated the worship of ancient Korean gods and goddesses at a World Council of Churches Assembly. Brian Wren is a liberal hymn writer who questions whether truth actually exists and who purges his songs of masculine names for God. Walter Wink and Walter Brueggemann (of Columbia Seminary) are oldtime proponents of church activism in liberal politics. Unorthodox beliefs Not surprisingly, the unorthodox beliefs of most speakers are reflected profusely during the five-part video series. The authority of the Scriptures, the deity and lordship of Jesus Christ, divine omnipotence, the expectation of eternal life, the reality of human sin, God’s ability to answer specific prayer, and the need for sexual morality are more often dismissed or ignored than defended. God is seen as nearly unknowable. Truth is seen as adaptable to our own desires and perceptions. Prayer Prayer is described as more an act of self-actualization than communication with the Lord. Valerie Russell of Boston’s City Mission Society opines that, “Prayer is a time you meditate and get in touch with the seeds of power in you. It is not asking God to do something for you but God empowering you to do it yourself.” John Vannorsdall, president of the Lutheran seminary in Philadelphia, does not “think it is appropriate to ask God to do things. Don’t expect God to do something.” He explains that “God is hands off. The God who is active in my life is a God I do not want.” Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, says “Prayer is talking to God’s presence, not talking with God or to God.” William Sloane Coffin insists: “Don’t pray to God for specific answers to specific problems.” “I have trouble with a God who changes the law of nature on my behalf,” reiterates Ignacio Castuera, a United Methodist pastor in Hollywood. “Is God in control? I hope not. God is one power among other powers. The past is far more powerful than God.” “I think on a good day God has power to do this stuff but God has a lot of off days,” observes Walter Brueggemann. Sex, death, and Scripture The Bible’s historical and textual reliability is dismissed. Bishop Spong urges that we “rescue” the Bible from “cultural norms,” which in his view include much of the sexual morality upon which the Scriptures insist. “I want us to take the tradition seriously but be willing to walk away from it in wonderful new directions.” Absent the Scriptures, what happens after death is largely unanswerable to most of the speakers, who decline to cite Jesus as the path to eternal life. Former Catholic priest James Carroll says, “We’re all on this escalator going up … well I don’t know what’s at the top … .” Walter Wink, a United Methodist, tries to be more hopeful by declaring that, “There’s nothing lost. God gathers up everything somehow into her breast.” Hyung Kung Chung, who believes in ancestor worship, opines that, “if they had a good life, they go to paradise and they visit us like vacation.” On sexuality, no one emphatically backs the Scriptural position that marriage is the proper context for physical intimacy. “I’ve suggested that marriage is not the only relationship in which sex can be called holy,” Bishop Spong observes. Says Virginia Mollenkott, “The emphasis ought to be on … whether you care about the whole life of the human being with whom you unite yourself.” Priest Malcolm Boyd recalls that his self-esteem was low because he “grew up in a homophobic culture.” In a natural link with their permissive view on sexuality, the speakers substitute innate human goodness for traditional Christian teachings about original sin. “I don’t see human beings as being created sinful or being created evil,” says James Cone. Richard Selzer agrees: “I believe in the goodness of mankind.” Eco-theologian Sallie McFague wants to broaden the definition of sin to include “acts of aggression against human beings and other life forms.” Undermining Christian unity Along with environmental exploitation, racism and male chauvinism are cited as sins. The cure for these maladies is increased sensitivity and political action. Rarely is Jesus Christ or any concept of a personal and omniscient God ever offered as a solution for troubled humanity. The end result is rather depressing. The 30 videocassettes are crammed full of zippy sound bites that ostensibly answer life’s most pressing questions about purpose and faith. But little of either is found in the responses of nearly 50 of America’s supposedly most articulate religious spokespeople. We are instead informed that these questions have no definitive answers. Viewers should ask this question: Why is an ecumenical Christian film agency distributing to adult and children’s Sunday School classes a video series that undermines key beliefs that are essential for authentic Christian unity? Mark Tooley is research associate for the Institute on Religion and Democracy. |
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