Must Religion Be Boring?

In the movie, Life of Pi, a writer comes to visit Canadian Piscine Molitor Patel, who is named after the French word for swimming pool. The writer says he was told Piscine “will tell you a story that will make you believe in God.”

Piscine, nicknamed Pi, replies: “I will tell you my story. You can decide for yourself whether to believe in God.”

Pi proceeds to tell a fantastic parable about growing up in India where his parents owned a zoo. Forced to leave India, his parents packed the family and the zoo animals – including a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker – onto a ship bound for a new life. The ship is wrecked in a storm, his family is lost and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat with Richard Parker. After an excruciating eternity afloat, where he endures more storms and attacks by Parker, Pi survives to tell his story.

Whether Pi’s story had any effect on the writer’s faith isn’t disclosed, but the religious theme of the movie is undeniable. One of its main points seems to be that life is all about faith, including the embrace of religion.

Despite the widely accepted perception that religion is unappealing in today’s world, the book on which the movie was based has sold more than 10 million copies, and the movie won four academy awards in 2013.

Deep down, most have an intense interest

It confirms my belief that deep down, most of us have an intense interest in God and religion. Many manage to suppress it, perhaps because it is related to death and the search for answers to life’s “big questions,” which we would prefer to ignore or postpone. There are philosophical and personal reasons for avoiding the questions, too.

Many people acknowledge their spirituality. It’s religion they don’t get. I’ve covered this topic previously (See “Spiritual but not Religious,” at www.skepticfaith.blogspot.com. Click on 2013, then July in the right-hand column.) Here are a couple of additional thoughts, however.

The author of “Life of Pi” uses a story to help his audience consider faith in a new light. Jesus used stories to do the same – stories about a repentant son and his father; about a foreigner who helps a man robbed and hurt on a road while “religious” people pass him by; about a merchant who finds a pearl so magnificent that he sells everything to buy it.

These stories, as well as those in the Jewish Bible, are filled with wisdom, teaching about our relationship to God and each other. Although religions have no exclusive ownership of them, religions embody the stories in a community of believers and access them in a way we can’t on our own. At their best, religions help us understand and appreciate the lessons of these stories and put them into practice.

True, religions are not always at their best. They are human, though there is a sense in which they are also divine, and we need to acknowledge that.

Religious services can be joyous and meaningful

A second reason for antipathy toward religion, in my view, is that religious services are not always joyous and meaningful. I can only speak about my own faith, Catholicism, but I have a suspicion that traditional Protestant churches have a similar problem.

I have a great love of the Catholic Mass, which I prefer to call Eucharist, or thanksgiving. But the way it is celebrated in many churches I’ve attended – and I’ve attended many – leaves me wondering not why so many people stay away but why so many attend. It’s naïve to think that most people attend because they’re afraid not to, or that they do it out of habit. Most, I believe, are genuinely searching for God.

I wouldn’t substitute any other form of worship for the Eucharist. It’s the way the ancient church worshipped, and I know how awesome it can be when done well. While in language school in Cochabamba, Bolivia, I often went to a parish in the poorest section of town. Before Mass, people introduced themselves and hugged you a welcome. The priest entered smiling and greeting people along the aisle, while the whole congregation sang a rousing hymn that gave you goose bumps for its enthusiasm. The priest’s affection for the people and theirs for him was obvious, and that came through in homilies that used stories, not all from the Bible, to touch the real lives of listeners.

Not many masses or religious services are going to be that engaging. Most of us must make an effort to be open, strive to understand the liturgy and get into the habit of focusing on the prayers and hymns. And that’s not always easy in today’s world when we’re used to graphics, music, TV shows, videos and movies that make listening to and understanding a story a breeze. In that sense, Piscine Molitor Patel had it easy.

Like everything, religion and religious services are boring only if we allow them to be.