Have you ever done one of those DNA ancestry testing kits?
Basically, you take a sample of your DNA, send it in for testing and you get back a description of your ancestry in terms of where in the world those who came before you in your biological line, came from themselves. Apparently the data is not static. That is, you get your initial report, but once that report is done, you have an account and a file and the details and percentages can be changed and updated according the the data that the company continues to compile.
A friend of mine found his biological father through this type of testing. This friend also found out that he was “part Jewish” never before having known that he had any biological connection to the Jewish people.
The DNA ancestry testing companies have done well. Many people, apparently, like to find out about their heritage. In some cases important information might be found. In most cases people seem to be interested and intrigued to discover things about themselves that they had not known until taking such a test.
Here is my business proposal. We offer a service which helps people to discover their theological DNA. For the ancestry kits the idea is that knowing where you came from can give insight into where you are at and where you might be headed. For theological DNA it would be somewhat the same and arguably more consequential than actual biological DNA. Such information could be very helpful for people trying to make sense of faith and religion. Theological deconstruction is going on all over the place right now. People are pushing away from religious institutions and organized religions for a whole host of reasons.
A recent article from Global News looked at the religious landscape in Canada and presented findings that show connection to church is diminishing in Canada as is religious affiliation. While this is happening across the board in the Christian Church, mainline (Presbyterian, United, Anglican) churches faced the decline earlier and are perhaps closer to non-existence than some other more evangelical denominations. Having said that, evangelical churches have not bucked the trend of decline. The article used for its headline the term “Gone by 2040” which was originally used in an article for a journal of the Anglican Church which pointed out that if current trends continue, the Anglican Church in Canada may functionally cease to exist in less than 20 years. The way that I describe the decline in church attendance is to say, “Even people who go to church don’t go to church anymore.” Deconstruction is continuing and I think that there is actually much about it that is good. The church as we have known it will not be the church as it was 50 or 25 or even 5 years ago. People are questioning their beliefs and some are rejecting religion that they see as fearful, misogynistic, and divisive.
My business proposal is to help people discover their theological ancestry. If, for example, you attend a conservative Baptist church (or used to) and you remember hearing in that church about hell and sin and praying the prayer and abortion, then a little information run through the theological ancestry programme could tell you some of what came before. You would likely discover some encouraging things. You would also likely discover some terrible things. A sample response could be the following;
“It says 20% abolitionist supporter of human rights, but also that my background is 15% racist religious asshole and 5% super whacky Christian cult type thing.”
I listened recently to an interesting podcast. It is called, “The Flamethrowers”. It traces the rise of right wing radio in the United States. The podcast is actually a Canadian production and it does note that some of the early ancestors of right wing talk radio come from Canada. It’s fascinating to hear about some of the forebears of what has become conservative talk radio (Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Alex Jones).
A Catholic Priest from Hamilton Ontario who was assigned to a parish near Detroit before becoming an early radio personality was named Father Charles Coughlin. At first, Coughlin used radio to present sermons. Later he turned to political populism and at one time had an estimated 40 million regular listeners. At the time, that amounted to fully one third of the population of the United States. Rush Limbaugh would never come close to that. Coughlin got the nickname “Father of Hate Radio” as he turned against Franklin Roosevelt and began praising Adolf Hitler and saying that the Jews in Germany were to blame for their own persecution. Whatever conservative talk radio makes it self out to be now, these are its roots.
My religious heritage (as much as I know it) is Anabaptist (Mennonite), Baptist and Plymouth Brethren. I became pastor of a Plymouth Brethren Church and was so for 25 years. My religious heritage includes pacifism, persecution, intense focus on “end times” and the “rapture”, revivalist, conversionist thinking in terms of salvation, a focus on biblical literacy and learning (with particular interpretations), a human centred view of spiritual growth and sanctification, a strong view of insider and outsider and emphasis on certain practices around communion and baptism. I would be interested in helping you discover you theological DNA so that (one or more of the following):
you can positively appreciate the good in your religious/theological heritage
you can more honestly assess the bad
you can experience more freedom in walking away from beliefs that you were told were essential (but almost certainly are not)
you can better understand other people and the fear that is a powerful motivation of behaviour
you can believe better (if you so choose)
you can have a clearer view of Christian faith (whether or not you count yourself as Christian)
you can better understand that your religious and theological understanding are not the only way of seeing things (not even the only Christian way of seeing things)
you can have a better understanding of how particular interpretations of the Bible dominated your thinking so much that you have had to walk away from the Bible altogether
you can (if you so choose) begin to see different, more hopeful ways of reading the Bible
you can better see the positive impact of some theology and religion on the world as a whole (there is a great deal of positive impact)
you can see that this positive impact often comes within a context that often contains fear, hate, racism, and misogyny (these things are not exclusive to religion)
ultimately, you can see that what you believe can have a great and lasting impact on your life and on the world
My Christian faith matters to me a great deal. In fact, what I do for a living is defined largely by seeking to help others let go of fearful faith and move towards hopeful faith. My theological DNA shows me that my religious ancestry includes homophobia, racism, views that men could be spiritual leaders but women could not be (at least not in authority over any man). It includes a too often held worldview in which most of the people who ever lived are damned for all eternity.
My Christian faith matters a great deal to me, but I do not believe or subscribe to ANY of the things listed above. I have come to see where many of the views came from, what gave them their energy and how they were taught to people like me. I am also deeply grateful for the people that I knew and shared life with in the churches of which I was a part. I met, in those places, some of the most loving, generous and thoughtful people. I think that discovering our theological DNA would be most helpful for people who are committed to the Christian Church. Many churchgoing Christians could find tremendous freedom in realizing why what they been told is “certain” for so long, is often one way of interpreting scripture and history. It is possible to have a different view and still have faith.
So, consider this the initial pitch. If you are interested in helping design an “Theological DNA” testing kit, send me a note. We will likely need a couple of historians, a pastor or two, maybe a psychologist. It won’t be as simple as a DNA sample, but this could be really really helpful.
A good place to start to understand your religious heritage if you have been part of evangelical Christianity is Matthew Sutton’s great book, “American Apocalypse”.
I'll sponsor you for $5M (CAD). Also I'm sending in my saliva sample for you to analyze (is that how it works?). More seriously, I'm taking a Baptist identity class that has a good bit of history early on and, to echo your point, it's really fascinating and helpful to see the roots of how and why my church is the way it is as well as the roots of the Christian culture I grew up in and have related to in various ways over the years.