Lester Start’s Works

1MAGIC AND RELIGION

06/09/80

L. J. Start

First Baptist Kalamazoo

The religious situation in America today presents a strange paradox. On the one hand recent surveys indicate that religious interest is at an all-time high. Church membership has reached a new record, church building programs are growing, and books on religious themes remain high on the best seller lists. But at the same time those same surveys indicate that there is little evidence of an improved morality on the part of the American people, and little indication of any profound depths of religious feeling. The fact of renewed interest in religion as seen by recent statistical studies is a strong note of encouragement, but at the same time serious questions can be raised about the depth of the movement and the motives for such a renewed religious interest.

It is difficult to assess such a nebulous thing as the motives for religious interest, and certainly it is dangerous to impugn them. Nevertheless, from the evidence we have of religious expression as found in popular books and sermons, the utilitarian motive seems dominant. To be sure, the confusions of our chaotic times provide the conditions in which the religious interest thrives, but the cause of the movement, the basic motive, seems to be utility, the desire to use religion as another method of solving problems. This has been well stated by the editor of the Christian Century who describes the current religious interest as a “Cult of Reassurance”. Religion becomes a technique by means of which one’s personality problems are resolved, worries dispersed and confidence renewed. It becomes a kind of psychological technique for personal success after the pattern of Dale Carnegie’s famous salesmanship program.

This kind of interest in religion is in keeping with the pragmatic spirit of America. Pragmatism, the philosophy which teaches that things are measured by their consequences, that a value is good in so far as it works, has been called the typically American philosophy. And there is no question about its deep influence upon popular thought. What is more natural than the query, “What good is religion unless you can use it?” And with our preoccupation with advertising methods, it is not strange to hear people say, “Why not try God?”, as if He were a new product to be used, if not for whiter teeth, at least for a wider smile.

If this is the motive behind the current religious interest, there is grave cause for concern. The pragmatic, utilitarian motive is the motive behind magic, not profound religion. It may well be that we are becoming unable to distinguish the two. In thinking of God as a kind of celestial bell-boy who can be called upon to solve our problems, we are confusing true religion with magic. Magic and sentimentalized religion may well be confused in our minds, if the current signs of religious interest including the superficial popular songs on religious themes are a fair indication.

This is not a new problem for our age. There is evidence from the New Testament that Jesus faced the same difficulty in His ministry. In the story of the temptations, when He is presented with the suggestions that He use His power to change stones into bread or to hurl Himself from the tower of the temple and not be injured, He rejects the proposals as demonic. Clearly this symbolizes a rejection of the working of wonders as a basis of His ministry. And again, according to the Gospel of Mark, after He had performed His first healings in Capernaum and many had come to be healed, He arose early the next day to pray by Himself. And when Simon told Him that the crowds were seeking Him, He said, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also; for that is why I came out.” (Mark l:38) Throughout His ministry, Jesus seemed concerned lest the people think of His gospel as a kind of wonder-working power rather than the prophetic religion of one who is impelled by the love of God. The feeding of the five thousand marks in a sense the culmination of Jesus’ ministry. After this episode He retires to the north and remains secluded with His disciples. The Gospel of John gives an interesting explanation. When the people seek Jesus again, He says, “You seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” (John 6:26) Surely this marks a clear distinction between true religion and the magical interest in using divine powers for our own use. To make it all the clearer, Jesus goes on to warn about laboring for the food which perishes rather than that which endures to eternal life.

This is not a new problem. All religions, even the greatest ones, have some admixture of magical interest. The reasons for this are clear. There are certain similarities. Both are attempts to deal with forces beyond human powers. It is clear from studies in anthropology and sociology that magic is a strong element in primitive religion. James Frazer in his great study of primitive religion defines it as “a propitiation or conciliation of powers superior to man which are believed to direct and control the course of nature and of human life”. It is essentially practical, having the same aim as magic, the fulfilling of human wishes. Religion comes from magic, broadened by the addition of the concept of personal forces behind the universe. But it is still essentially practical, and with the development of man’s knowledge and control of nature, it will end with science.

Magic, religion and science seem thus to be related, and may well be confused in our minds. Perhaps the religious motive is confused with magic masquerading as science, and so religion becomes a pseudo-science, a kind of psychological technique. Faust, the prototype of modern man, is portrayed by Goethe as rejecting at the beginning of his adventures the study of philosophy and theology, saying, “It is magic which has ravished my soul.” Magic, in the Baconian spirit which teaches that “knowledge is power”, has ravished the soul of modern man. It is not to be wondered at that it has infected the spirit of religion.

But surely there are distinctions to be drawn between religion and magic. If the current interest in religion is to be profound and vital, these distinctions must be drawn. There is a difference between magic and religion, an ancient conflict and antipathy between the priest and the sorcerer which is not due to any simple rivalry. The distinction has been clearly drawn by a famous anthropologist, Branislaw Malinowski. He writes:

“religion refers to the fundamental issues of human

existence, while magic always turns around specific,

concrete, and detailed problems. Religion is con-

cerned with death and immortality, with the worship of

natural forces in an integral general manner, with

the tuning up of man to the rulings of Providence…”

When we use religion as a means for gaining specific ends and solving specific problems, when we forget the larger religious interest, “the tuning up of man to the rulings of Providence”, we are following a magical, rather than a religious, interest. This is why it is dangerous to pray for the specific, and why there is such a world of difference between the rain-making ritual of the American Indian and the prayer of the Psalmist, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! . . . and lead me in the way everlasting”.

There is another important difference between magic and religion. Magic deals with impersonal forces. As such it is a kind of rudimentary science. The sorcerer, by his knowledge of charms, spells and incantations, makes use of the powers inherent in nature to his own ends. Religion, on the other hand, deals with personal powers, with a being akin to man whose will can be made known. The religious belief in God is much more than the conviction that God exists. The religious belief in God involves a commitment to God in a personal relationship which Martin Buber calls the “I-Thou” relationship. To treat religion as a compendium of important psychological truths, as is so popular today in the psychological usage of religion, is to destroy the mystical God-relationship and change religion into a technique of manipulation, different in its development but no different in its motivation from magic.

The difference may perhaps be best summarized in this way. Magic is interest in using God for one’s own ends; religion is interest in being used by God for the highest ends. The current uneasiness about the depth of the prevailing religious interest rests upon an awareness of this distinction. If the interest is an interest in using religion for our own purposes, the spirit of true religion will be destroyed. The high religious interest is illustrated by Jesus’ prayer in Gethsemane, “Thy will be done”. It is illustrated also by a story about Abraham Lincoln. In the dark days of the Civil War, a friend tried to cheer him by saying, “Anyway, Mr. President, we know that God is on our side.” And Lincoln replied, “It is my fervent prayer that we be on God’s side.”

Religion in its deepest sense means devotion to the highest. When we lower our sights, and seek specific ends by using religion, instead of being used by it, we turn it into a monstrous travesty of itself. This is the danger today. It is not that religion will die out in the modern world. The danger is that it will change into magic. The great temptation is to live by faith in less than the highest. And when we do so, we turn religion into a magic technique or at worst into a worship of power for its own sake, as found in the modern religions of the nation-state, fascism, and communism.

The separation of the religious interest from the magical has been clearly made by Jesus. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.”