Week 8: Gotta Light?

"God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God"

-The Nicene Creed

“The natural light of reason has as much right as any other kind of knowledge to be called divine.”

 -Spinoza

“Faith must trample under foot all reason, sense, and understanding, and whatever it sees it must put out of sight, and wish to know nothing but the word of God.” 

-Martin Luther, Works Vol. 12

 

It would probably be tedious for me to list the many ways in which religious belief has interfered with human progress.  So I’ll refrain from an extensive list, and content myself with the a few highlights from religion’s endless battle against intelligent thought: Martin Luther condemned reason, Galileo was accused of heresy, and former congressman Tom Delay blamed the teaching of evolution for the Columbine shootings.  Today, the Religious Right fights against stem cell research that might alleviate real suffering.  Religion is not the light to the world that it claims to be.

But that does not stop religions from making that claim, over and over again, every week.  Everything in today’s service was about light.  Whoever planned the service got a little carried away with the motif.  The prayers talked about light, the scripture readings, the sermon, and the songs, even the children’s lesson.  It was all aimed at stressing upon the parishioners that God/Jesus/religion/they can be the lights in this world of darkness.

The closing hymn at today’s Methodist service said, “Christ is the world’s light, Christ and none other” (lyrics by Fred Pratt Green, d. 2000).  I want to respond with Really?  None other? Obviously Mr. Green doesn’t mean that Jesus is literally the sun.  He means it symbolically.  In fact, everything from today’s service was intended symbolically.  When the children’s minister told them to find the light in themselves, and that light is Jesus, and they could find the light of Jesus in all their friends, even if it is very dim, I think she meant that symbolically. 

Which leads me to my point for this week.  Is it possible to speak with more clarity or exactness about what we mean by “light,” or more broadly, by any of the symbolic terms we kick around when talking about God/Jesus?  What do religious leaders (or lyricists, or ancient texts) mean when they use “light” as a symbol?

Symbols are powerful.  Their power is that of suggestion.  They need not be exact.  If symbols were simple equations, where Symbol A = Actual Thing B, then there would be no need for the symbol.  Rather, symbols bring to mind the deep variety of associations we have with them.  So for example, the most basic symbol of Christianity, the cross, conjures feelings of love, awe, forgiveness, suffering, sacrifice, divinity, salvation, etc.  It does not simplistically represent any one thing, but uses the mind of the viewer to create meaning based on that viewer’s experiences.  For this reason, symbols are dependent upon the viewer.  They carry no meaning outside of the mind of a specific individual.  The cross means nothing to someone who has never heard of Christianity.  To the Romans who crucified Jesus, it symbolized torture and punishment, the absolute power of Roman law.  To many in the Muslim world, it symbolizes the blasphemy, decadence, militarism, and economic power of the West.  These symbols are slippery things.

The church’s use of the word “light” is therefore very powerful, since light is such a basic need for humanity.  The notion that light is good must be very deeply rooted in the human psyche.  It allows us to see clearly; it accompanies warmth; it means safety from predators.  Its symbolic meaning has been extrapolated over time to suggest life, hope, joy, and truth.  For all these reasons, I suspect, fire and candles are used extensively in religious rituals around the world.

But I would suggest that the church’s employment of light as a symbol is a kind of trickery.  Ironically, rather than enlightening and clarifying, its usage obscures truth.  When churches talk of the light over and over, it is a convenient way of avoiding saying anything real or specific.  It feels good to hear about light.  It sounds good to hear about light.  It conjures all those positive associations and leaves it at that, without actually saying anything.

When the children today were told that they have the light of Jesus in them, does that mean they have love and kindness in them?  I think so.  Certainly we can spread love like spreading a flame—there’s plenty to go around. 

But to take it beyond that, to use light as a symbol of the truth of Christianity, is to begin down the slippery slope of meaninglessness.  Why do churches and preachers continually feel the need to remind us that the Bible is truth, that God is truth, that Jesus is “the way, the truth, the life,” that the church is the light of the world?  Most Christians don’t believe the Bible to be literal truth, so the church must mean some kind of spiritual truth, some kind of spiritual light that defies logic.  Sorry folks, but I see all this talk about “light” as sound and fury signifying nothing.  Theology is anti-intellectual, spiritual mumbo-jumbo wrapped up in a beautiful and convincing cloak of symbolism.  Any attempt to remove that cloak of symbolism is met with arguments that are impossible to argue with, like, the truth of God defies logic, or the truth of God is outside of science, or some other empty catchphrase.

To close, allow me to borrow some ideas from atheists Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins.  There was a time when the influence of the church far outweighed literacy and science.  It was known as the Dark Ages. (Yes, I went there.)  I believe most people recognize that an inquisitive mind is what leads to enlightenment.  Science has been a light to the world, opening doors that the church tries so hard to keep closed.  The inconsistent and bizarre teachings of the Bible pale in comparison to the beauty and grandeur of our natural world.  I have been enlightened by learning about history, chemistry, psychology, math, and astronomy.  I have been enlightened by reading beautiful works of literature.  In our understanding of life, Darwin shone a light—a brilliant beacon of light—that has taken human knowledge to a new plane.  Truly, these are the areas in which light as a symbol makes sense to me.  The church uses the symbol of light only to distract, dissemble, and darken.