“Spirituality without religion” or “Christianity without Jesus?”
TORONTO, ON–Describing itself as "Christian in focus," a new quasi-church community for those who want "spirituality without religion" has begun weekly meetings in downtown Toronto.
The Community of Inner Spirituality held its first meeting on a Monday evening last month, in a rented meeting room blocks from the University of Toronto.
Supported by a radio advertising campaign, the new group is promoting itself as open "to all faiths, all denominations, all sexual orientations." The group's website states they are not out to convert others to Christianity, but to "facilitate the growth and development of one's own unique spirituality."
The group is led by Larry Marshall, 63, a former United Church clergyman, and for several years pastor of a Toronto area non-denominational, evangelical church. Marshall encouraged those in attendance to recognize "the Christ" within them, while saying it is not important whether or not Jesus ever actually existed.
"I am a Christian," says Marshall. "The historicity of Jesus is an open question…I don't discount the historicity [of Jesus]; it's just not a question I'm particularly interested in."
But Bruxy Cavey, teaching pastor at Toronto area church The Meeting House (www.themeetinghouse.ca), says that while he believes one can have spirituality without religion, one can't have Christianity without Jesus. Christianity, says Cavey, "is the trust relationship of following Jesus."
The Meeting House's website boldly proclaims, "God hates religion," a message similar in tone if not in intent to Marshall's "spirituality without religion." It is a message that holds considerable contemporary appeal; Meeting House development pastor Rich Birch says thousands of new people visit the church each year. Over half of the congregation of 2,000 (spread over four sites) is made up of people who have not yet committed themselves to Christ, or who have done so only within the last two years.
Aileen McGaw, 75, has visited The Meeting House.
While she describes herself as a lifelong Anglican, she says she rejects orthodox Christian teachings such as the virgin birth. "I was brought up that there was only one way to the Kingdom of God, and that was through Jesus Christ. And I've never believed that," she says.
McGaw joined the predominantly grey-haired crowd of approximately 50 people at The Community of Inner Spirituality for two hours of singing, meditative prayer and small group discussion of Tom Harpur's recent book, The Pagan Christ.
The book presents the view that there is no evidence for a historical Jesus.
But evangelical scholar Ward Gasque, president of the Pacific Association for Theological Studies, describes The Pagan Christ as telling readers more about Harpur himself "than it does about the origins of Christianity."
When those assembled broke into small discussion groups, people in one group identified themselves as having previous affiliation with various mainline and evangelical churches, as well as other faiths. Many expressed dissatisfaction with the churches with which they have had association.
Cavey says people can be "seeker hypocrites.
"They can say, 'I'm pursuing spirituality, and no one's stepping up to the plate to meet my needs, when really, they're not investing themselves completely," he says.
"They have a very westernized, consumer mentality rather than a participatory mentality. And I think that in itself can be a roadblock. And that's part of where our culture's at."
Diane Leslie, 51, says she has a "great intellectual thirst," but in spite of trying out a wide variety of churches, she hasn't found them to hold the answers she is seeking. "I've been to United, Anglican, Salvation Army and a few others," she says, "[but] I was never able to connect with the divinity that I hoped I would find inside me."
She says she attended a large evangelical church in Toronto a few times and experienced great entertainment, but not spirituality there.
She says she thinks she will go back to the Community of Inner Spirituality.
Marshall says he is not looking to start a new church, "Who knows, I may move towards that, but I'm not really interested in that sort of thing," he says, adding that what he is creating is "a community of seekers."
Cavey says he is puzzled about why anyone would want to maintain a Christian "edifice" once Jesus is removed from Christianity. "It seems to me that whenever the Christian church has not kept Jesus in the centre of its focus, it has gone through some very dark periods," he says.
"The only thing that can keep Christianity authentic is a very strong focus on the historic Jesus and His teachings."
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