The Deed Which Interprets Itself
As Stephen Bullivant has pointed out in his book Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America, for every one convert the church makes we lose five "Nonverts." A Nonvert is a person who was raised in a religious tradition but who now identifies as a None, as in "no religious preference." That is to say, a Nonvert is a person who has left the faith. Nonverts are also called the "Dones," those who were raised in church but are now "done" with church.
Why are people nonverting? Why are more and more people "done" with church?
Following upon the work of Charles Taylor and Andrew Root, the argument of Hunting Magic Eels is that faith in a secular age is difficult for us due to pervasive disenchantment. And while I do think disenchantment is implicated in the rise of the Nonverts, something else is at work as well.
Specifically, after publication of Hunting Magic Eels pastors have shared with me that the biggest factor driving nonverting isn't disenchantment but the moral witness of the church. People are just fed up with the church. From the sex and abuse scandals to the ugly political polarization.
If this is so, re-enchantment won't fix the Nonvert problem. If the problem is that the church has lost its moral credibility, then what are we supposed to do?
My response here has been to turn to the religionless Christianity of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Specifically, in the wasteland that was the German church after the rise of Hitler and WW2, Bonhoeffer sat in prison reflecting upon the future of the Christian witness in Germany. Bonhoeffer was struggling with the same despair we are facing regarding the church: its moral failures and corruption. Given all the things that have gone on in the church in recent decades and years, what is the future of the Christian witness in the world?
Pondering his situation, the compromised moral position of the German church, Bonhoeffer suggested that, going forward, the church must become "religionless" in the world. This was the only way the church could rehabilitate itself and regain the confidence of the world. What does a "religionless" witness in the world look like? I think the key line from Bonhoeffer's letters and papers is this one:
The primary confession of the Christian before the world is the deed which interprets itself.
When the church loses its moral authority its witness in the world must become "religionless." Rather than speech, the church is called to silent righteous action. Having lost the confidence of the world, the only sermon the church can preach is "the deed which interprets itself." Our actions become our witness.
This "religionless Christianity" was how Bonhoeffer felt the church could regain its moral credibility and authority after Hitler. Our actions must speak louder than our sermons. Perhaps, after a season, the world would start caring again about what we have to say. But this is a right that has to be earned. Trust has to be regained.
Here, then, is how I think we need to respond to the Nonvert trend. We can't talk our way into moral credibility. Why would anyone believe us? When the church loses its right to speak the only sermon it has left is the deed which interprets itself. Silent righteous action is how we regain the trust of our children and the world.
Many years ago, growing up in the Arkansas Ozarks, I used to hear people say "You can't talk your way out of what you behaved your way into" and "You can't give what you ain't got no more than you can come back from somewhere you ain't never been".
I believe our words can play a part in religionless Christianity if they are not to convert, but to raise up the morale of our neighbor by expressing confidence in their goodness. I think that the church in focusing on the importance of grace has made the mistake of downplaying the goodness of the human being...we can speak of people's goodness without weakening the power of grace...in fact, acknowledging another's goodness is a message of grace.