O gracious Father, we humbly pray for Your holy universal Church, that You would be pleased to fill it with all truth and all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in er-ror, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it; where it is right, establish it; where it is in need, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it, for the sake of Him who died and rose again, and ever lives to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord. Amen.

Several years ago Anna Quindlen, who has often been a write for the New York Times and Newsweek, was speaking to a group of graduating seniors and she had this to say: “Each of you is as different as your fingertips. Why should you march to any lockstep? Our love of lockstep is our greatest curse, the source of all that bedevils us. It is the source of homophobia, xenophobia, racism, sexism, terrorism, bigotry of every variety and hue because it tells us that there is one right way to do things, to look, to behave, to feel, when the only right way is to feel your heart hammering inside you and to listen to what it’s tympany is saying.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find worst advice for a group of graduating seniors. And I won-der if Ms. Quindlen believes that any longer, for that was given in 2002 and my, how things have changed in not quite 20 years, that I wonder if she would still wish to agree that everyone ought to just be able to look and behave and feel and do as they desire.

One of the great challenges for Christianity in our day is the exclusive claims of Christ. It’s true that most Americans believe in God. Still, 85% or more in all the surveys claim to believe in God in this country, but most people who believe in God in this country, includ-ing most Christians, hold pretty confusing and often contradictory views about God, es-pecially when it comes to heaven and hell. According to research from Lifeway a few years ago, 54% of Americans agree with this statement: “Only those who trust in Jesus Christ alone as their savior receive God’s gift of eternal life.” That was higher than I thought—54%.

But at the same time, 64% of Americans agree with this statement: “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”

So which is it?

In addition, 77% of Americans agree that people must contribute their own effort for their personal salvation.

So Americans by and large hold a lot of confusing and contradictory views about God.

Religion has become personalized, psychologized, and pragmatized.

Personalized, meaning religion is fine as long as it’s just what you personally believe and do.

Psychologized, so religion is simply what helps you feel better.

And it has become pragmatized, religion is what helps you cope with life’s problems. That’s what people mean when they say “I’m spiritual, not religious.” They mean “I’m not interested in church or doctrine or official rights and wrongs, but I believe in a god who exists and helps me cope and feel better and get through with life.”

So there is very little problem with saying you believe in Jesus, that’s fine. Believe in the tooth fairy, that’s fine. I can tell you in our household you’d get much more traction from Jesus than the tooth fairy these days. The tooth fairy is very forgetful. [laughter] And there’s a lot of teeth, frankly. [laughter]

You can believe what you want so long as you don’t believe that what you believe is the only thing to believe. As long as you understand that those beliefs, they’re your beliefs. You can argue anything is right as long as you don’t presume to think it is the only right. You can think whatever you want to think about God and religion, as long as you don’t think that other people ought to think the same things about God and religion. You can sing about Jesus, love Jesus, go ahead and get saved by Jesus,