CAPITALISM, DEMOCRACY & EMERGING CHRISTIANITY As the world seems to be self-destructing with war, social upheaval, terrorism, rapid ecological damage, global warming, financial meltdowns, dire poverty, and increasing disparities of wealth, humankind is being forced to mend its ways or become an extinct species. There is also emerging in the world a higher consciousness that can be said to be the evolutionary destiny of humankind in providing for its own survival. It is about seeking a more just, sustainable, and compassionate world. It is "the great turning" that social scholars are speaking about, like David Korten, Paul Hawken, Eckhart Tolle, Wendell Berry, and Leonardo Boff. Many Christians also view this emerging higher consciousness as the incarnate spirit of the risen Christ now dwelling within all of humankind. To the author, this evolutionary shift in human consciousness is challenging and delegitimizing the forces of global corporate capitalism throughout the world. This higher consciousness is beginning to challenge these forces with the spiritual dynamics of democracy. The author warns us though that the continuous waging of war by the U.S. will probably never end without persistent and massive creative nonviolent civil disobedience. The author also speaks of the emerging Christianity movement as being part of this shift in global consciousness. Also within this challenge is the dysfunction of the human ego. Institutional consumer capitalism feeds on the human ego. This is what makes for a dysfunctional society. The power of the human ego can only be dealt with through a contemplative mind. Thus, emerging Christianity, with its more prophetic and contemplative faith, can serve as an important praxis to this shift in global consciousness. The author summarizes his essay with the thoughts that universal justice and democracy should be a major focus of the emerging Christianity movement. This is to engage all of humankind. The freedom to think great thoughts is what will give credibility to the emerging Christianity movement.

Capitalism, Democracy & Emerging Christianity

An Essay By A Catholic ActivistBy Stephen V. Riley

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2010 Stephen V. Riley
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4520-0567-6

Chapter One

EMERGING CHRISTIANITY

The emerging Christianity movement, to my mind, is about a bold voice for universal justice. It is about the Christian obligation to seek a higher level of social awareness in order to reach an honest discernment of the spirits. It is about Christianity becoming a healing force in the world rather than a divisive force. It is about religious tolerance and encouraging dialogue and partnerships with other Christian denominations and other religions. To share one's sacred energies with people of other faiths takes humility and open-mindedness. The world desperately needs more of these attitudes.

My spiritual journey for peace and justice over the past ten years has led to deep social awareness and personal discernment. Great joy, hope, and personal fulfillment are found in sharing powerful energies with like-minded people of faith. Such sharing has always been a transformational experience for me.

This essay has been written as my own personal spiritual exercise to discern for myself where the emerging Christianity movement should be going. I am also compelled, however, to share some thoughts that go unarticulated in Christian conversations today. I believe that these thoughts should be articulated.

I believe the emerging Christianity movement is attracting like-minded people of faith who seek to invest their activist energies in a particular spiritual place, the place where they believe Christianity should be in the twenty-first century. Their quest is not about forming another denomination. There are enough divisions of faith. I believe many of the progressive faithful who choose to be part of the emerging Christianity movement are concerned with the increasing conservative forces within their own Christian denominations. Too many Christians are turning a blind eye to that wounded world where Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, showed humankind how to heal with love, compassion, and forgiveness.

A DIVIDED NATION AND A DIVIDED CHURCH

I believe the Catholic Church has become as divided and confused as the United States, and for many of the same reasons. Both view the world through the eyes of power, privilege, and wealth, and each has its own vision of empire. In turn, both the U.S. government and the Catholic Church are greatly divided by dominant conservative forces and struggling progressive forces. In both cases, the conservative forces are becoming less tolerant of dissenting viewpoints. These conservative forces are the great protectors of the unjust status quo. In contrast to this conservative stance, in coming to know the mind of Christ, one realizes that Christianity was meant to be a countercultural faith.

THE FUTURE CHURCH

John L. Allen, the astute Vatican observer and writer with the National Catholic Reporter, has recently authored a book, The Future Church: How Ten Trends Are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church. I have excerpted those thoughts that I believe are relevant to the development of the emerging Christianity movement.

Generally speaking, with strong influence from the global South, John Allen sees the Church becoming more conservative on moral questions such as abortion, homosexuality, and the family. However, in regard to economic, political, and military matters, the Church will be more liberal. Allen writes, "In non-Western nations, religious bodies are sometimes the only meaningful expressions of civil society-the only zones of life where protest can take shape, and where concern for the common good can be articulated."

John Allen speaks of the internal life of the Church as ad intra and the broader religious and social questions outside the Church as ad extra. To John Allen, the ad extra liberal camp is unlikely to make much headway in terms of setting ad intra policy. "On issue after issue, whether it's women priests or birth control, the tide is running decisively in the opposite position. He fears that

"liberal reform movements in the twenty-first century will find themselves in a `catacomb period' ... Given those realities, some progressive Catholics believe that their future lies in engaging social and political questions outside the church-shifting to ad extra rather than ad intra causes ... Ironically, the Catholic conservative identity impulse, which is by intent and design an ad intra phenomenon will likely have the effect of producing a boom period of ad extra Catholic activism."

John Allen points out that the aggressiveness of evangelical Catholicism and Pentecostalism will force the Catholic Church to a new imagination. This new imagination is that the Church will embrace more of the aspects of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity and yet become ever more conservative and protective of its own distinctive Catholic identity. As John Allen writes, "there will be no dissent on the Church's payroll ..." and "the Bishops will be the teachers-in-chief."

John Allen also brings up another important point. "If liberals are more likely to work in secular or ecumenical settings, to know the argot of modernity, and to know how to move the levers of social power outside the Catholic Church, they will arguably be in a better position to wield influence. Professional migration outside the Church may enhance the capacity of the Catholic left to build coalitions, and to argue persuasively with those who are not formed by the Catholic tradition. Ironically, evangelical Catholicism could end up giving a boost to the social capital of Catholic liberalism."

John L. Allen discusses, as well, how the Catholic Church's hierarchical mode of operation may lack the flexibility needed to keep up with the intense pace at which issues mutate in a globalized world. "To expect the hierarchy to be the primary "change agent" is both unfair and unrealistic. ... Radical change has to well up from grass roots activism. ...Ultimately, time and the tides stop for no one, and good ideas will endure whatever their initial reception by the powers that be." John Allen makes another powerful point when he states, "The real question, therefore, is not whether the bishops are up to the challenges of the 21st century. The question is whether the rest of us are." The us, to me, means all Christian denominations.

The future direction of the Catholic Church that John Allen writes about certainly provides more than a few thoughts that are fertile ground for an emerging Christianity movement. I stress, however, that I believe John Allen has overlooked the influence of a higher social consciousness that is rapidly developing in the world. It is a far more powerful force for radical social change than the "exclusive" forces of Catholicism can now play. I believe the Catholic Church feels threatened by this secular force, not humbled by its powerful spirituality. This is understandable, considering the ego of any institution accustomed to such power and control. For these reasons, I believe the emerging Christianity movement will find its own humble place in recognizing this emerging higher global consciousness as the work of the Holy Spirit and become an influential partner in this fast-developing shift in global consciousness.

BLESSED UNREST

This emerging global consciousness is best described...