C. S. Lewis talked about the unfortunate degradation of language in which words ceased to express unique ideas and only became further terms for ‘good’ and ‘bad’.

It’s sad to see this happen to the word ‘religion’.  I appreciate Keller trying to reach his audience, but participating in the degradation of words, which is really just a sneak attack on traditions that were really good, is not Christian leadership.  Sometimes your audience drank bad Kool-Aid and they need to be instructed on a better way.

Religion had two senses, the general practice of a faith and an aspect of Christianity.  These are reflected in the more specific definitions from Webster’s 1828 dictionary.  The first three definitions reflect the Christian culture in which this was written and the word understood, the fourth the general sense.These definitions weren’t attacked because Christianity was doing so badly, they were attacked because it was doing so well.  People hate Christianity.  Any stick is good enough to beach Christianity with as Chesterton said.

We had plenty of words already to express badness and plenty of words to express badness as one relates to his Creator.  Hypocrite, pretender, sham, fake, false teacher, anti-Christ, Pharisee, Judaizer, Legalist and on and on.  But what words are we left with to describe an aspect of our relationship with God that is not theology and not moral virtues?  Piety?  Reverent?  Hardly words in common use.  They also seem to lack a certain joy.

The fact is that saying “I don’t have a religion I have a relationship” is a religious statement.  And as such it is a lie.  Humans are religious beings.  You can see this all around as the religious rites of COVID take hold.  If you don’t use the proper word, wear the proper things or act the proper way, you are a heretic, and are banned, shunned, your bank accounts will be cancelled and you will be erased from the internet. Anti-religion religion is self contradictory and hypocritical.  On two levels.  It is doing what it is accusing others of doing and doing it badly.

And the main problem is all the Christians who think that obeying what God says is somehow a problem.  It justifies ever worsening behavior.  It is a race to the bottom.  It makes good religion the enemy.  It enables sin and demonizes those who are better than you in practice.  It is sinning so that grace may abound as Paul says.

We have gotten rid of the word and the practice.  Language is inextricably connected with our thinking and actions.  Do you compare your actions with that of your Christian brother and try to love God more than they do?  Is bringing his will to earth as it is in heaven a priority for you in every area of life?  Or do you criticize people who are better than you? Do you make up excuses for why your behavior is fine?  That is not for us “certainly not!”.

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” -Jesus the Christ