The Fruits of Misbelief

Three out of every four U.S. Lutherans do not believe that Jesus told jokes. Eight out of ten do not think that he felt sexual attraction. More than half, on the other hand, have no trouble believing that Christ "knew everything all of the time," seven out of ten have no doubts about his divinity, and eight out of ten believe that he rose physically from the dead. In short, conclude the authors of the remarkable new study from which these statistics are taken, Lutherans in the U.S. "reflect the ancient heresy of separating the two natures of Jesus Christ .., [They] overemphasize the divinity of Jesus almost to the exclusion of his humanity."

The distinction is not academic, the authors say; it is crucial. They found that "those who most emphatically deemphasized the humanity of Jesus tended to be more generally resistant to change, more authoritarian and more prejudicial in their attitudes toward others; while those who more clearly recognized our Lord's humanity or kept their view of his two natures in balance, tended generally to be more ready to take the initiative on church and public issues and to be more forgiving in their relationships with others."

Assured Classic. Called A Study of Generations (Augsburg Publishing House of Minneapolis; $ 12.50), the new study is probably the most exhaustive ever made of an American denomination and seems assured of becoming a classic. It cost $425,000, took 2 1/2 years to complete, and drew on a nationwide sample of 4,745 Lutherans between the ages of 15 and 65, representing the three major Lutheran denominations: the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. In all, the lengthy questionnaires answered by the respondents produced some 7,000,000 pieces of information. The four researchers who compiled it all, Lutheran Clergymen-Psychologists Merton P. Strommen, Milo L. Brekke and Ralph C. Underwager and University of Minnesota Sociologist Arthur L. Johnson, contend that the findings can be applied accurately to all 6,000,000 confirmed members of the three denominations.

The most provocative sections of the study deal with what the authors call "misbelief"--various Lutheran attitudes that seem to be responsible for what they regard as serious Lutheran faults. In a much-publicized 1966 work, Christian Beliefs and Anti-Semitism, Sociologists Charles Clock and Rodney Stark maintained that orthodox Christian beliefs--measured by such doctrines as miracles, life after death and a personal evil force--lead circuitously to antiSemitism. The Lutheran survey, say its authors, shows to the contrary that Christian orthodoxy and anti-Semitism are not related, but that prejudice, including antiSemitism, is clearly linked to various kinds of misbelief.

The Lutheran investigators say that Glock and Stark did not use correct standards for Christian orthodoxy, since belief in miracles, in life after death and a personal evil spirit is common to many religions. Instead, the Minneapolis researchers used a larger set of indices to define the "heart of Lutheran piety." These include a definite belief in a transcendent order of being (encompassing life after death and the miraculous) but centered strongly on a loving God who provides for man through the saving grace of Jesus Christ. This "Gospel-oriented" orthodoxy, as the authors call it, apparently produces greater compassion toward his fellow man on the part of the believer.

The Lutheran study does not deny that prejudice exists. About two out of five Lutherans reject people who differ from them in lifestyle, values or belief; Communists, homosexuals, drug addicts, "hippies" and Students for a Democratic Society are their most despised targets. About one out of five Lutherans shows some prejudice toward Jews. But the prejudiced Lutherans, A Study of Generations asserts, are not authentically orthodox. They tend to be "law-oriented" rather than Gospel-oriented. Law-oriented Lutherans show a distinct need for religious absolutism and a marked intolerance for change. In the authors' stinging words, they are people who would exploit both religion and society "for personal peace and pleasure." They would also "tyrannize man, impose a Utopia, and win heaven by doing the works of the law." Such attitudes, the authors conclude, exemplify what Lutherans have historically feared as "practical atheism."

Sociologists and students of religion will be studying and arguing over the survey's findings (and some of its admitted inconsistencies) for years. Already the study seems to give the lie to one cherished American cliche--that sincerity, not content, is the test of belief. If the findings successfully stand up to rigorous examination, modern sociology will have demonstrated what traditional Christian thinkers have long contended: that the fruits of misbelief may be harmful social attitudes.

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