Troubling Religious Cliches
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The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. (v.4)
Clichés are over-used sayings that sometimes contain common sense wisdom. The depression era standard, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or go without,” the World War II aphorism “Loose lips sink ships,” Franklin Roosevelt’s famous declaration, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and the 1960s civil rights cry, “We shall overcome,” are uplifting and meaningful, despite repeated use.
Sports clichés, no matter how banal, can add to the richness of the game. In my favorite scene in the classic 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham, Kevin Costner plays a veteran minor league catcher named Crash Davis. When a wet-behind-the-ears rookie phenom pitcher, named Nuke LaLoosh, gets called up to the big leagues, Davis teaches him the proper clichés he will need to know when he gets interviewed by the big-time sports reporters.
Davis advises LaLoosh to memorize three vital phrases:
"We gotta play 'em one day at a time."
"I'm just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ball club."
"I just wanna give it my best shot, and, the good Lord willing, things will work out."
The great Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra, took baseball clichés to a new level: "Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical." And"If people don’t want to come to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”
These well-worn baseball clichés are a colorful part of the game. Some of the clichés we hear in religious circles are a whole different kettle of fish.
Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, published a list of religious clichés he finds most troubling and explained why they may not be helpful.
1. GOD NEVER GIVES US MORE THAN WE CAN HANDLE
When someone is feeling crushed by life, it can be very difficult to honor the pain and fear they are feeling. It might be helpful to say, “God never gives us more than we can handle,” but to someone in pain it can also feel like we are more protective of our theology than of our wounded friend. Life isn’t always fair. Maybe things balance out in eternity, but sometimes people just need us to sit with them in their pain and let them put things together for themselves.”
2. HATE THE SIN, LOVE THE SINNER
It was actually Gandhi who said this. I suspect he was suggesting that we separate people from the actions we oppose. When people think they get to pick and choose what is a sin they can justify mistreating people in the name of ancient moral codes we only use on certain groups. It is one thing to say 'love the oppressor, hate the oppression," but it is something else to say love the LGBTQIA+ person, but hate LGBTQIA+ relationships. That’s like saying love the fish, but hate their gills.”
3.SPEAKING IN CHRISTIAN-ESE
When we use the same vocabulary for non-Christians that we use in church, we are forcing non-Christians to jump over theological hurdles to be with us. If we realized how easily clichés can put us in a trance we would avoid them like the you know what.
4. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON
When I first began working with survivors of sexual assault, I was astounded by the fact that almost all of them began by blaming themselves. It seems we would rather blame ourselves than to accept that much of life is outside our control. We need to understand that life can be terribly unfair. It really doesn’t help a survivor of trauma to have to figure out some kind of lesson that pain was sent to teach them. If a lifetime of ministry has convinced me of anything it is that we can learn from anything that happens to us, but terrible things don’t happen to us to teach us a lesson.
5. HEAVEN MUST HAVE NEEDED A PLUMBER SO GOD TOOK UNCLE JOE
Christian funerals have some of the worst clichés I have ever heard. One of the most common clichés I’ve heard in funerals is that God takes people from us to serve some function in heaven. It's fine if adults want to say such things tongue in cheek, but when there are children in the room we have to consider how harmful it can be to put someone that child loved in a box and lower them underground. It is understandable that humans want to believe that someone is driving this bus, but the idea that God has "taken" someone from us can greatly complicate the grieving process.
6. THE MIRACLES OF THE BIBLE PROVE THAT GOD EXISTS
Many religious people roll their eyes at the miracles described in other faiths. We should realize that it feels just as ridiculous when we use our own scripture as evidence for our beliefs. The witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection in Christian scripture are no more convincing to an outsider than are the witnesses in the Odyssey to the proposition that Poseidon rules the waves.
7. WE NEED TO PUT GOD BACK IN SCHOOLS
The idea that God is letting school shootings happen because the religious right is not able to dominate the public sector is incredibly toxic. Again, if Jesus is to be believed, the heart of Christianity is being a good neighbor. It is an obvious fact of history that when ANY religion gains domination over a nation's political structure it becomes deadly, first for its enemies, then for the nation, and ultimately for that religion.
Which religious clichés would you add to this list? What are some helpful religious clichés?
Clichés are over-used sayings that sometimes contain common sense wisdom. The depression era standard, “Use it up, wear it out, make it do or go without,” the World War II aphorism “Loose lips sink ships,” Franklin Roosevelt’s famous declaration, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and the 1960s civil rights cry, “We shall overcome,” are uplifting and meaningful, despite repeated use.
Sports clichés, no matter how banal, can add to the richness of the game. In my favorite scene in the classic 1988 baseball movie Bull Durham, Kevin Costner plays a veteran minor league catcher named Crash Davis. When a wet-behind-the-ears rookie phenom pitcher, named Nuke LaLoosh, gets called up to the big leagues, Davis teaches him the proper clichés he will need to know when he gets interviewed by the big-time sports reporters.
Davis advises LaLoosh to memorize three vital phrases:
"We gotta play 'em one day at a time."
"I'm just happy to be here. Hope I can help the ball club."
"I just wanna give it my best shot, and, the good Lord willing, things will work out."
The great Yankee catcher, Yogi Berra, took baseball clichés to a new level: "Baseball is 90% mental and the other half is physical." And"If people don’t want to come to the ballpark, nobody’s going to stop them.”
These well-worn baseball clichés are a colorful part of the game. Some of the clichés we hear in religious circles are a whole different kettle of fish.
Jim Rigby, pastor of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, published a list of religious clichés he finds most troubling and explained why they may not be helpful.
1. GOD NEVER GIVES US MORE THAN WE CAN HANDLE
When someone is feeling crushed by life, it can be very difficult to honor the pain and fear they are feeling. It might be helpful to say, “God never gives us more than we can handle,” but to someone in pain it can also feel like we are more protective of our theology than of our wounded friend. Life isn’t always fair. Maybe things balance out in eternity, but sometimes people just need us to sit with them in their pain and let them put things together for themselves.”
2. HATE THE SIN, LOVE THE SINNER
It was actually Gandhi who said this. I suspect he was suggesting that we separate people from the actions we oppose. When people think they get to pick and choose what is a sin they can justify mistreating people in the name of ancient moral codes we only use on certain groups. It is one thing to say 'love the oppressor, hate the oppression," but it is something else to say love the LGBTQIA+ person, but hate LGBTQIA+ relationships. That’s like saying love the fish, but hate their gills.”
3.SPEAKING IN CHRISTIAN-ESE
When we use the same vocabulary for non-Christians that we use in church, we are forcing non-Christians to jump over theological hurdles to be with us. If we realized how easily clichés can put us in a trance we would avoid them like the you know what.
4. EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON
When I first began working with survivors of sexual assault, I was astounded by the fact that almost all of them began by blaming themselves. It seems we would rather blame ourselves than to accept that much of life is outside our control. We need to understand that life can be terribly unfair. It really doesn’t help a survivor of trauma to have to figure out some kind of lesson that pain was sent to teach them. If a lifetime of ministry has convinced me of anything it is that we can learn from anything that happens to us, but terrible things don’t happen to us to teach us a lesson.
5. HEAVEN MUST HAVE NEEDED A PLUMBER SO GOD TOOK UNCLE JOE
Christian funerals have some of the worst clichés I have ever heard. One of the most common clichés I’ve heard in funerals is that God takes people from us to serve some function in heaven. It's fine if adults want to say such things tongue in cheek, but when there are children in the room we have to consider how harmful it can be to put someone that child loved in a box and lower them underground. It is understandable that humans want to believe that someone is driving this bus, but the idea that God has "taken" someone from us can greatly complicate the grieving process.
6. THE MIRACLES OF THE BIBLE PROVE THAT GOD EXISTS
Many religious people roll their eyes at the miracles described in other faiths. We should realize that it feels just as ridiculous when we use our own scripture as evidence for our beliefs. The witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection in Christian scripture are no more convincing to an outsider than are the witnesses in the Odyssey to the proposition that Poseidon rules the waves.
7. WE NEED TO PUT GOD BACK IN SCHOOLS
The idea that God is letting school shootings happen because the religious right is not able to dominate the public sector is incredibly toxic. Again, if Jesus is to be believed, the heart of Christianity is being a good neighbor. It is an obvious fact of history that when ANY religion gains domination over a nation's political structure it becomes deadly, first for its enemies, then for the nation, and ultimately for that religion.
Which religious clichés would you add to this list? What are some helpful religious clichés?
