Cafeteria Christianity – Options

Some years ago the term, Cafeteria Catholics made the rounds when followers of Catholicism, those who attended Mass regularly and considered themselves as “Good Catholics,” but could not accept all of the teachings of Catholicism, such as being against abortion, restrictions on artificial birth control or the being against the death penalty. Of course, the term can be applied to all of Christianity as well. Much like in a cafeteria where you an option to select a main course, a side and a drink – Roast beef, mashed potatoes, an apple pie for dessert and a Coke® please – the metaphor is applied to the religion, in this case Christianity – Jesus was the Son of God but his virgin birth might be stretching it a bit. Yes, I’m guaranteed a spot in Heaven if I pronounce his name and am Born Again, and as far as my actions go, they are inconsequential, but I’ll try my best anyway.

Cafeteriaizing Christianity in this manner does seem a bit crude and may seem like a newly acquired method of religious definition, but the practice has been around for some time. Some suggest that it was the cultural shifts that took place in the 20^th and 21^st centuries, highlighting personal autonomy and self-expression, but I don’t think we have to look for any major psychological or sociological changes in history that points to the opening of the cafeteria. In fact, the four Evangelists – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John – the one’s who first recorded the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, practiced a pick and choose the method of presenting the three years of Jesus’ life in the context of a few chapters known as the Gospels. John admits to this in the final words of his Gospel, Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. (21:25) The fact that the Christian Church has several different understandings of Jesus is further proof of Cafeterizing throughout the Centuries. There are Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant branches of Christianity, Protestantism can be split into four major confessions, Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed and Free Church and several different understandings within these groups. Then there are groups such as the Mormons, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and the Jehovah’s Witness, who claim some connection to Jesus Christ, but have selected another group of norms outside the Gospels or the Church Canons to build a religion.

The early Christian Church tried to bring some order to the differing parties by calling together councils of Church leadership, where Creeds and Canons were agreed upon. For instance the Nicene Creed which is recited in churches is a profession of Faith in the Father, Son, Holy Spirit and the Church. Church leadership presented the Creed as a definition of a Christian: A Christian is one who believes in these doctrines of faith. Martin Luther, at the start of the Protestant Reformation, cafeteriaized the Bible by deciding certain books should not be in the Bible, calling them hidden, or Apocrypha.

One of the top theologians and ecumenists of the Armenian Church, Nersess Shnorhali, who was the Chief Bishop, or Catholicos, of the Armenian Church, in the 12^th century, came up with a simple manner in which Christians can understand one another. We must be untied on the essentials, that is the belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. We must grant liberty on secondary items, for instance, the date of Jesus’ birth and charity, that is love, in everything, Unity in essentials, liberty in non-essentials, charity in all things.

Today we listen to the Prayer offered by Jesus Christ at the Last Supper, O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me.  And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:25-26)