{"id":13006,"date":"2021-05-27T09:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-05-27T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rationaldoubt\/?p=13006"},"modified":"2021-05-23T17:27:59","modified_gmt":"2021-05-23T21:27:59","slug":"dennetts-still-dangerous-idea-church-as-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rationaldoubt\/2021\/05\/dennetts-still-dangerous-idea-church-as-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennett\u2019s Still Dangerous Idea:\u00a0 Church as Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Editor\u2019s Note<\/u><\/em>: Daniel C. Dennett<\/em><\/strong>, esteemed <\/em>professor<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>author<\/em><\/a> and a co\u2013founder of <\/em>The Clergy Project<\/em><\/a>, shares his innovative idea of how churches could embrace non-believing clergy, increase attendance and fatten the coffers. \u00a0This was originally written in 2014 and is still a good idea. Maybe it\u2019s even a better idea now, as churches reopen after lengthy pandemic closures and <\/em>decreasing religious affiliation<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 Also, The Clergy Project, which<\/em> started<\/em><\/a> in 2011 with 52 members, now has over 1,000 members \u2013 with no advertising. It sure sounds like it\u2019s time for a change \u2013 and has been for a while. \/Linda LaScola, Editor<\/em><\/p>\n

====================<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Daniel C. Dennett<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a 2014 OnFaith<\/a> essay, [no longer on line], \u201cPastors Who Don\u2019t Believe:\u00a0 Can Churches Support Them?\u201d \u00a0I discussed the issue of non-believing clergy:<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019ve ever been lured by your own basic goodness into a situation where you . . . must suffer unjustly, think how your predicament pales next to that of the preachers Linda LaScola and I describe in our 2010 pilot study of five Protestant pastors,\u00a0\u201cPreachers Who are Not Believers,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0and our 2013 book,\u00a0Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind<\/em><\/a>, which reports on 35 participants from diverse religious backgrounds.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How many little white lies, how many whoppers, how much dissembling, how much systemic hypocrisy have they accumulated in their quest to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable?<\/p>\n

I pointed out that we have no way of estimating whether, say, \u201conly\u201d 10% of clergy are caught in this trap, or whether the majority are.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe there is a gentle path out of this institutionalized hypocrisy. We might well hope so, for there is no telling how many clergy are in this predicament today. Many we interviewed believe they are the tip of a gigantic iceberg of secret disbelievers. They have no safe way of checking their hunch. Not a few clergy have confided their secret to a close friend or colleague only to be exposed as frauds and drummed out of their positions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We can get at least a lower-bound estimate of their numbers by noting that The Clergy Project<\/a>, a confidential, mutual-help website for current and former non-believing clergy, started just in 2011 and (three years later) has nearly 600 members \u2014 about a quarter of them still retaining their pulpit and clerical garb.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The solution I proposed was to build upon the concept of church as theatre<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

We wonder if the time has come to start a public movement of support for revisionary \u2014 or we might say, visionary \u2014 churches that gently but firmly remove the presumptions that now trap some of their best leaders in lives of deceit.<\/p>\n

Why might this be a welcome development? With falling membership rolls and rising costs, churches need effective leadership more than ever, but the attractions of the clerical life are not compelling these days. Churches in many denominations \u2014 and not just in mainstream liberal Protestantism \u2014 face not just declining populations of congregants but plummeting populations of able candidates for ordainment.<\/p>\n

How might the transition to a more honest kind of church be propelled?<\/p>\n

There seems to be a continuing and sincere yearning for community, and for moral teamwork, among people who are not now committed to any church. Many of these people miss the traditional ceremonies \u2014 the art and music, the processions and rituals \u2014 and the sheer opportunity for moments of solemnity in their hectic lives. Well, we already have a well-established set of traditions, needing no introduction, no training or reminders, that could serve here: the traditions of the theater.<\/p>\n

Religious institutions already contain many elements of theatre \u2013 think of the re-enactment of the last supper and the presentation of the Torah.\u00a0 Think of the beautiful and complex requiem masses and Bible-based oratorios.\u00a0 Then imagine a theater that presents replicas of these ceremonies, complete with participation by the \u201ccongregation\u201d (and passing the collection plate, and enlisting members in good works projects). This week it\u2019s a Latin mass, and next week a Pentecostal<\/a> prayer meeting complete with glossolalia and fiery preaching, and so forth.<\/p>\n

**Editor\u2019s Questions** <\/strong>1. Would you go to such a production on a Sunday morning, for spiritual refreshment minus the creed?\u00a0 2. If you were\/are a regular church-goer, what did\/do you like best about the experience?<\/p>\n

==============================<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Bio: Daniel C. Dennett<\/strong> is University Professor and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University. He is the author of several books, including \u201cCaught in the Pulpit\u201d (co-authored by Linda LaScola), \u201cBreaking the Spell,\u201d \u201cFreedom Evolves\u201d and \u201cDarwin\u2019s Dangerous Idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

>>>> Photo Credits:\u00a0 By Lumen roma \u2013 Own work, CC BY 3.0, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/w\/index.php?curid=7120984<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s Note: Daniel C. Dennett, esteemed professor, author and a co\u2013founder of The Clergy Project, shares his innovative idea of how churches could embrace non-believing clergy, increase attendance and fatten the coffers. \u00a0This was originally written in 2014 and is still a good idea. Maybe it\u2019s even a better idea now, as churches reopen after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1811,"featured_media":2069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nDennett\u2019s Still Dangerous Idea:\u00a0 Church as Theatre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Editor\u2019s Note: Daniel C. 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