What Ever Happened to Civil Discussion?

I don't know about you, but I am getting weary of not only mean politics, but also mean theology.  But let's just look at theological discussion for now.  Jim Wallis and Brian McClaren have been called "Marxists" for being so bold as to say there is a "social gospel;" that Jesus came to right things like poverty, unjust social systems, and illness.  Did these guys ever go to Sunday school?

Today, Brian McClaren, who calls himself an "evangelical," was inerviewed on National Public Radio concerning some parts of today's on-going Christian arguments.  It is worth listening to or reading.  There is even a lengthy excerpt from his new book, A New Kind of Christianity, which has caused more rancor -- not from McClaren -- but from his opponents and detractors,  (See http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125165061&ps=cprs.

One of the issues is the ancient (and somewhat tired, I must admit) discussion about who is going to hell and who isn't.  About 60 percent of Christian traditionalist (though fewer in number each year) today say that anyone who is not a Christian is going to suffer eternal damnation in hell.  Younger folks, under age 35, even young evangelicals in that age range) have a much different take on it.  They have grown up in a religously pluralist world.  They know of, or have friends who are, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, or Muslim.  Nearly two-thirds of them believe that their non-Christian friends are going to be damned eternally to hell.

Of course, when you get right down to it, what kind of global community would this be if everyone thought this way?  The days of tribalism must pass and we all need to understand truly that not only are we all  genetically related, we are all "the neighbor" who is to be loved as strongly as one is to love God and the neighbor to whom we should practice the almost universal "Golden Rule."

David Campbell, a professor at Notre Dame and co-author of American Grace: How Religion Is Reshaping Our Civic and Political Lives found that "a young evangelical, Roman Catholic [or] mainline Protestant growing up in America today, if he goes to college, his roommate might be Hindu.  His roommate might be Muslim. His roommate might be Buddhist or atheist. So, suddenly the 'other' is sleeping across the room.  And, it's really hard to condemn someone to eternal damnation on the basis of their religion when you know them well and have come to love them."

I am being to understand why most young people tell me they are "spiritual" and not "religious."  Who would want to be called "religious" when that can mean eternally condeming your friends to hell?  And who would want to be "religious" when all you hear is acrimony and condemnation between Christians themselves?  After all, if Christians can't get along with each other how might we expect them to act in the world?

As for me, maybe I will start calling myself "spiritual" and not Anglican or Christian.  Better yet, maybe I should just call myself a struggling disciple of that Palestinian carpenter who tried show us how to live with one another!