What If Chruch Was About Goodwill And Not About Dogma?

When I was in college, I studied the writings of Paul Tillich, the German-American theologian and philosopher. I had the good fortune of being guided in my studies by a professor who had studied with Tillich while in graduate school at Harvard. Reading Tillich influenced how I view the world. When you pull back all the dense theological arguments and philosophical language, Tillich basically said that human beings act selfishly when they feel they live in a dog eat dog world. People lash out without regard to the feelings and needs of others when they believe it’s solely up to them to look out for their best interests. And, conversely, when they feel they are a part of something bigger, when they feel they belong to a community, that brings out their best instincts.

Tillich’s theology was interesting, but I simply don’t know if his ideas about being, non-being and God as the Ground of Being are true. I don’t know if he was right when he claimed that the Ground of Being accepts us as we are and that believing it--accepting acceptance as he would put it--sets us free. But it has been my experience that people who have friends and family who support them are generally happier and nicer people than those who have been subject to gross and systematic abuse. I’ve also noticed the same thing with dogs. Dogs who are loved tend to be friendly, and dogs who have been abused growl at you and bite.

I’m not sure we have to work our way through Tillich’s metaphysics or accept it as true to come to the basic conclusion that cruelty breeds cruelty and kindness breeds kindness. And Tillich himself would argue against turning his philosophy into a dogma. Even though Tillich did a powerful lot of theorizing about his Ground of Being, he insisted that God--assuming there is one--would necessarily transcend our thoughts and conceptualizations of God. And he claimed that doubt could never be overcome, and that doubt was a part of faith.

So I was wondering what if going to church wasn’t about standing up and pledging a loyalty oath to a specific creed or dogma. What if it wasn’t about trying to persuade others to pledge a loyalty oath to your dogma? What if it wasn’t about defining yourself as special, as “saved”, because you believe something others don’t? What if it wasn’t about trying to scare people by telling them they’ll be punished if they don’t believe what you believe? Instead, what if it was about fostering a sense of community and goodwill? And not because someone claims Jesus demands it or whatever, but because those who go simply want to live in a world where people look out for one another and not just themselves.