I very much appreciate Pastor Rich joining the dialog of the LO community and posing lines of inquiry about spiritual life and the appeal of church practice and hope that Gary Rice's invitation to take on a spiritual beat that engage a wide field of inquiry and witness might be possible.
When the LO project was just beginning in 2005 I outlined a number of lines of inquiry for stories, the content of which remained, I believe, in the start-up editorial chambers rather than on the LO Deck for all to consider.
I will resurrect these lines of inquiry here, hoping that Pastor Rich might find some insight and traction for his engagement in a rather heavy load of context supplied to prospective civic journalists at the start-up of the LO project and still not yet realized:
1. "Left Behind: Lakewood Churches in the Era of Sprawl and Born Again Ideology"
This interdisciplinary inquiry will briefly consider economy, geography, ideology and sociology in order to assess the degree to which sprawl, Apocalyptic fever, right wing political revolt against the secularism, and the upward re-distribution of faith-based wealth is, in effect, "Left Behind" in Lakewood's churches.
a. Are shrinking "blue" Lakewood churches reacting less to economic secularism and political pluralism than expanding "red" churches in exurbia?
b. What does this suggest for the faith community left behind in Lakewood?
c. Do Lakewood's red voters travel beyond Lakewood in search of a red church compatible with their ideology and belief systems?
d. How does this transfer of support from the bricks and mortar churches of Lakewood to those in exurbia effect the very survival of these community's institutions?
e. What are the socio-economic profiles of those who travel to churches outside Lakewood?
f. Is this the first step in eventual relocation?
g. How might age, income and class play into this dynamic?
Therefore one question to be posed to Lakewood ministers will focus on aspects of the polarization around cultural values, the gap between the rich and poor, and the rise of life-style mega churches in exurbia.
Another line of inquiry will engage the perceptions of female Lakewood ministers concerning how their service fits or does not into the New Protestant Ethic as outlined by Arthur Kroker in Born Again Ideology.
Here Kroker posits that there has been a renewal of "the fateful relationship between Protestantism and capitalism," marked by Max Weber's classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, in contemporary American political discourse.
According to Kroker, "On the centennial of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, the political universe is suddenly dominated by the spirit of what might be called the New Protestant Ethic as the ideological reflex of the age of networked capitalism and empire politics.
See:
http://www.ctheory.net/text_file.asp?pick=451
A final line of inquiry might be the actual place of residency of the ministers.
2. "Lakewood's Next Generation: Identity, Faith and Technology."
I would like to propose an inquiry into "Lakewood's Next Generation: Identity, Faith and Technology."
Anybody interested?
How are Lakewood's religious institutions adjusting to the changing life conditions of Generation X and Generation Y?
Scan current literature on The 30 million in U.S. who claim no religion - 'Nones'.
The following are very useful tools for obtaining a conceptual orientation to the phenomena.
American Religious Identification Survey:
http://www.gc.cuny.edu/studies/introduction.htm
Brookings Briefing:
Faith and Youth in the iPod Era
http://www.brookings.edu/dybdocroot/com ... 050411.pdf
According to Patricia O’Connell Killen, a professor of American religious history at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash., and Mark Shibley, an associate professor of sociology at Southern Oregon University, there are three factors to consider: 1. Secularization, or the progressive loss of belief; 2. Demographic shifts away from religious tradition; and 3. Political reasons, such as liberals leaving the church in response to the Christian Right ascendance.
How are Lakewood's faith communities adapting to these trends - from the perspective of ministers, young, old?
As Lakewood is a Gen X & Y mecca, I would suspect that nones are a force in the city. But is this really so?
Nones have more than doubled in a decade. In terms of the spiritual marketplace only Catholics and Baptists have more members than nones.
Nones often consider themselves spiritual. Nones do not appear to participate in any organized spiritual community.
What are the rituals of nones?
Describe any personal or communal spiritual practices.
What are the effects on Lakewood's churches and faith communities?
Get some interviews with nones, believers and pastors.
How about an podcast show with "Nones" called "Stan's Nonery?" Mixing nones and believers?
Are any faith communities making any special efforts to engage nones through opening the book of nature and shifting activities to the outside?
If so go on the nature trail with the group and describe the activities.
Interview pastors about adaptation strategies.
I would be happy to serve as embedded public library researcher to assist any interpid civic reporter interested in taking on this very important story, as a feature or as a series of pieces.
I suggest a series that features Lakewood Gen X-Y - paths - personal, communal.
Include in series those with faith and nones.
Organize/map the whole spectrum of spiritual practice from Traditionalists to DIY yogics, from pagans to Muslims etc, and those who are still humming "losing my religion."
Frame the broad context in the links provided.
Do some profiles in series.
Perhaps as part of the Threshold mix.
3. Traditional Ritual and DIY Technics
The question of the conservation powers of ritual versus DIY technics is an interesting one to consider in the case of nones and access to ancestral morphic resonance.
Another question: how is one spiritual (in a communal, relational sense, with whom, with what, in what, through what) if the technics and the rituals are not connecting to ancestral morphic resonance.
Does the person imagine ancestors as inhabiting the spiritual universe of their practice?
The Brookings piece seems to focus from questions of identity. So I think identity and means to engage ancestral company on spiritual tracks is an interesting areas for inquiry.
What's the take on the spiritual background, i.e. - the company imagined in such a context?
Traditional religious practice would jack into this vibe. DIY variations would offer another story.
Here is Rupert Sheldrake:
"In general, rituals are highly conservative in nature and must be performed in the right way, which is the same way they have been performed in their past. If rituals involve language, the most important of them use sacred languages. For example, Brahmanic rituals in India use Sanskrit, a language which is no longer spoken except by Brahmins, and the Sanskrit phrases must be pronounced the correct way in order for the rituals to be effective. We find a similar practice in a Christian context. The Coptic church in Egypt dates back to ancient times when Coptic was the spoken language; so in modern Cairo, you can attend a Coptic service and the language you hear is the otherwise dead language of ancient Egypt. The survival of ancient Egyptian in the Coptic liturgy was one of the important clues that enabled the unraveling of the language of ancient Egypt with the help of the Rosette Stone. Similarly, the Russian Orthodox church uses Old Slavic, and, until recently, the Roman Catholic church used Latin. There are hundreds of such examples.
Ritual acts must be performed with the correct movements, gestures, words, and music throughout the world. The same pattern is found from one country to another as participants perform the ritual in the same way it has been performed countless times in the past. When people are asked why they do this, they frequently say that this enables them to participate with their ancestors or predecessors. So rituals have a kind of deliberate and conscious evocation of memory, right back to the first act. If morphic resonance occurs as I think it does, this conservatism of ritual would create exactly the right conditions for morphic resonance to occur between those performing the ritual now and all those who performed it previously. The ritualized commemorations and participatory relinking with the ancestors of all cultures might involve just that; it might, in fact, be literally true that these rituals enable the current participants to reconnect with their ancestors (in some sense) through morphic resonance."
Rupert Sheldrake, 'Society, spirit, and ritual', Psychological Perspectives, Fall 1987
Kenneth Warren
However, I would love to get the input of Lakewood natives on why so many churches seem to be struggling to stay alive and impact our city. Are we going about things incorrectly?
I do think that families see the importance of quality time together and even the need for leisure/extra-curricular activities - it would make incredible sense for the church to seek to satisfy this need.