Religion vs. Relationship A Harmful Dichotomy By Kelly Klages
H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 10
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t’s been a rallying cry in many Christian circles for some decades now: “Christianity isn’t about religion, it’s about relationship!” It pops up in different contexts. Sometimes it’s thought of as an evangelistic slogan that might attract the interest of unbelievers who have already expressed a dislike for “organized religion.” Often it is used as a weapon against other churches: “Those people are all about dead ritual, dogma, and putting God in a box, but not us! We have a real, living relationship with God.” Regardless of the motives of those making the claim, it has the potential to do real harm. Here are some reasons why:
It uses a self-defined concept of religion not recognized by the Bible, church history, or even the dictionary. The meanings of words matter. Religion has to do with a set of beliefs about God or ultimate questions, recognized by a community engaging in regular rites and practices, and the way that worldview and its morality plays out in a person’s life. Christianity is a religion—the true religion. To define “religion” in general as “a bunch of hypocrites going through boring, empty motions without real faith” or “people trying to work their way to heaven” is to concede to an unbeliever’s hostile and biased definition of religion.
