Questioning "Religion"

"I am more than my religion." I said this to myself a couple weeks ago in my World Christianity class, when we were discussing identity. Our professor was discussing the question, "Who are you?" She talked about how each of us has layers to our identities. We are complex people. We are multilayered, multivalent, and multi-positioned. She expressed to us that we need not pigeonhole ourselves to any one aspect of our identity. I am Gary. I am a son, a husband, a Black man in the U.S., and I am also a Christian (among many other things). I'm not any one thing, and neither are you.

Why is it, though, that so many people seem to limit themselves to their religion? Why does it seem that so many people of faith only think about life in terms of their religion? I am of the belief that religion is a human construction. In no way am I suggesting that we have constructed, or created God. However, we have created religion, the means we use to talk and think about God (and the world). So, if religion provides our foundation for the ways in which we think about God, does it also define the boundaries around the ways we can think about God? If I am Christian, am I only allowed to think about God in certain ways? Can I not conceive of God in ways that are outside of my particular faith tradition? What if I experience God in a way that does not fit within my clearly defined way of making sense of the world? Does religion, to some extent, limit the ways in which we can interact with God?

These questions arise for me out of a place of honesty. I have, honestly, felt the presence of God in ways that do not fit within the strict boundaries of my particular Christian expression. About a year ago we hosted an interfaith dialogue panel in Lawrence, Kansas. God was there. A few years ago, I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand and Myanmar, countries that are predominantly Buddhist. God was there too. I cannot deny that God was present in these situations. Maybe if I was a staunch, conservative, Christian, who was not open to seeing God in various ways, I would have figured out a way to explain away the reality that God was present in these unique experiences. However, my desire is to be honest.

So, to be honest, God is bigger than our religious categories. God transcends our ways of defining ourselves and the ways we categorize the world. God was present in Myanmar, challenging me to broaden the narrow perspective that I was born into, and raised in. God was at our panel discussion, urging us to see how God is involved in reconciliation and mutuality across barriers. God is present in all of our lives, and often times our strict religious categories dictate the ways we can and cannot interact with the Divine.

Too often we get lulled into the tendency to use religion primarily as markers of identity, rather than as a framework for thinking about the Divine. We categorize the world in these terms, and construct "us" and "them" in the process. Because of this, we limit the ways we can interact with others. We assume that Christians and Muslims can't associate with one another, as if we forget that we are all human. Our religious perspectives are an integral part of who we are, but they are not the totality of who we are. They should not encapsulate our identities. We should not limit the question, "Who are you," to, "I'm a Christian / Muslim / Jewish / etc." It seems to me that we will not be able to truly see beyond the ways we have been taught to see, until we keep religion in its place. Albeit an integral place it does have, it is not the ultimate place. I am more than my religion. And this affirmation allows me to see beyond the boundaries of my Christian faith; an aspect of my identity that I value a great deal. But I am still more than my Christian faith. You are too. We all are. We are complex, multivalent, multi-positioned... We are people; human beings. We are not what we've been taught to be, exclusively. We are so much more.

These are just a few of the questions that I am considering. By no means do I have answers. I have questions. But I have found that being liberated enough to ask these kinds of questions is a good place (for me) to start. I'm not afraid of the answers I may get. My hope is that these questions will lead me to make a significant difference in this world. We'll see. I only hope you will join me on the journey. Peace.