Americans Increasingly Mix Christian Ideas with Eastern and New Age
Belief in ghosts, astrology, fortune tellers, “the evil eye,” communicating with the dead, etc. Survey details at Pew Research
Commentary at Click on Detroit
“Count Chandler Pierce, a 27-year-old cook from Duncansville, Pa., in that group. He was raised Baptist, dabbled in Mormonism, said he is ‘with the whole Christianity thing,’ most closely identifies with Buddhism and believes in astrology and all manner of supernatural phenomenon.
‘My religion now … it’s complicated,’ he said.”
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
An article in the current issue of Christianity Today profiles a Sonoma County, CA “evangelical Christian” woman who claims God virtually dictated to her the mission for a new ministry: “Journey Center: Christ-centered spirituality, healing, and wholeness.” The article explains how she began her work by going to an “alternative spirituality” fair, set up a prayer booth for one & all. People from all kinds of “spiritualities” came for prayer—“buddhists, hippies, everybody,” she said. Then testified that “Every single person—every single person—was touched by the presence of God in some way. Some were crying. Some said, ‘Wow, I felt something.’ We were scared Christians, thinking it was going to be bizarre. But we found out that Jesus was already there….” She & her volunteers learned to avoid certain words like Jesus, church, and Christian because they were offensive to the “alternates.” But they could use “Christ” because “many are into ‘Christ consciousness.’”
One of Journey Center founder’s most telling remarks came after developing a relationship with a woman who specializes in “chakra balancing and past-life regression.” Her practices also included “radical feminism, goddess worship, Buddhist meditation, and Native American spiritual practices.” Incidentally, this new friend insisted that as she engaged in her various practices, much to her chagrin, “Jesus kept showing up unbidden. He had appeared in a group exercise in guided meditation.” When she “visualized a door, turned the handle, and stepped into the room where she was supposed to meet her higher self, Jesus was there.” After several visits with this “alternative spiritualist,” the evangelical Christian concluded, “I hadn’t realized my understanding of God was so limited. I didn’t know he could show up in someone’s Eastern meditation practice.”
Wow…either did I!
One of Journey Center founder’s most telling remarks came after developing a relationship with a woman who specializes in “chakra balancing and past-life regression.” Her practices also included “radical feminism, goddess worship, Buddhist meditation, and Native American spiritual practices.” Incidentally, this new friend insisted that as she engaged in her various practices, much to her chagrin, “Jesus kept showing up unbidden. He had appeared in a group exercise in guided meditation.” When she “visualized a door, turned the handle, and stepped into the room where she was supposed to meet her higher self, Jesus was there.” After several visits with this “alternative spiritualist,” the evangelical Christian concluded, “I hadn’t realized my understanding of God was so limited. I didn’t know he could show up in someone’s Eastern meditation practice.”
Wow…either did I!
Discussion