One of the things I've learned from hanging out at the pub these last few months is that I have a lot to learn from people who think differently than I do.
One of the unfortunate tendencies of religion, from my own experience, is that we tend to surround ourselves only with people who think like we do. This limits our own ability to think, to learn, to ask questions, to grow.
It's hard to be objective about something when you never hear another perspective. It's also easy to start thinking that you've got all the answers, or that your answers are the best and truest answers, and therefore you only need to engage others in the sense that you need to tell them how it is.
This is a rather arrogant and unfortunate position to be in, yet one that is all too familiar to many people of faith and it's one I've been guilty of holding.
Certainly we should have enthusiasm about the things that we believe and a desire to share those things with others; yet we are short-sighted and ignorant if we think we've got the whole world figured out. And there are few people who enjoy conversation with someone who thinks he or she has all the answers. It tends to be a bit one-sided.
Sitting at the table with agnostics, atheists, Catholics, Methodists, Baptists and others has broadened my perspective in a healthy way. I've learned things about other faith traditions, other ways of seeing the world. I've been forced to examine the things I believe and have often taken for granted. This is a good and healthy thing.
There are spiritual practices I can learn from Catholics, nuances of the theory of evolution I can learn from atheists, meditation practices from Buddhists, and so on.
I've also learned that more people want good things to happen in the world than just Christians who come from the same tradition I do. There are many people out there who want good things to happen in our world. We may have different motivations for doing good and different reasons as to why we should do good, but we can agree on far more than we think.
People of non-belief are one of the fastest growing elements of the population. We ought not to see that statistic and be afraid. We ought to see it as an opportunity to meet someone who sees the world a bit differently, yet cares for it equally.
Today, when believers are increasingly portrayed as "delusional" and atheists commonly caricatured as "evil," we need more than ever to sit at the same table, ready to learn.
Then, instead of an imaginary enemy, I have a real friend, a potential partner for doing good in the world.
Bryan Berghoef is the pastor of Watershed Church in Traverse City. He also facilitates weekly Pub Theology meetings at Right Brain Brewery in Traverse City, Thursdays at 8:30 p.m.
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