When I was in middle school and early high school, I vaguely remember wearing a shirt that said something along the lines of "I hate religion but I love Christ." This sentiment was for a while, if it isn't still, very prominent in the American Christian zeitgeist. Slogans like "Christ > Religion," "Religion sets rule but Christ sets free," "Relationship not Religion," and other such slogans abound. There have been books written about this view, spoken word pieces uploaded to the tune of 35 million views on YouTube about it, and (ironically enough) Sunday morning sermons preached on it.
This is a really unhelpful thing to say, and for two reasons: it misunderstands what religion is, and it allows people to eschew the Christian community and their obligations to the Church.
First, we need to understand what religion is. Religion, in the most straightforward sense, is a system of belief and worship centered on a particular view of the Divine, usually involving certain practices, devotions, and customs, coming from the Latin word religio. The origin of the word is not very clear, but the current view is that the word comes from combining the word ligare (meaning to bind) with the prefix re- (meaning again), meaning that "religion" literally means "to bind again [to the Divine]". Religion in and of itself does not carry the connotations that those who use the above phrases claim that it has, but is simply what belief systems are.
Second and most importantly, phrases like this can feed into the ever-increasing view that American Christians have which allows them to abandon their communities and religious Christian obligations. What logically follows if Christianity is a relationship with Christ alone in opposition to religious obligation? It means that attending Sunday liturgies and services is not necessary. It means that people will misquote Christ and say "where two or more are gathered, there He is, so I don't need to go to a building on Sunday for worship." It means people will convince themselves that it is perfectly Christian to not go to church.
A big question needs to be asked in the midst of all of this religion-bashing: What is the Church? By this, I do not mean "what is your individual church or parish," but rather, "what is the universal Church?"
Scripture gives us a very clear answer to this: Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior... Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:22-23, 25, 28)
St. Paul gives us the ideal picture of husband and wife by relating the marital relationship to the relationship between Christ and His Church. Christ is the bridegroom, attested to by other Scriptures (Jn. 3:29; Rv. 21:2, 9-10) and there exists a parallel between the role of husband and Christ. Meanwhile the Church is the Bride because the role of a wife mirrors the role of the Church according to St. Paul. The Church is not a mere collection of people gathering in the Name of our Lord. The Church is the intimate partner of our Lord. The Church is His spouse and His mystical body.
This brings us to our central question for those who hate organized religion but love our Lord: how do you love a man and hate his spouse? If your best friend is in a happy marriage, and you decide that it would be a good idea to badmouth the man's wife in front of him, while at the same time proclaiming how close you and this man are as friends, what do you think this man will do? Will he slap you on the back and say "ditto, man!" or will he tell you that no friend of his would badmouth his wife? For most men in a happy marriage, the answer should be the latter.
The relationship of Christ to the Church is inseparable. Just as the man and woman become one flesh, so are Christ and the Church so closely united. "'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church" (Eph. 5:31-32). As St. Augustine says, "But whether Head speaks or whether members speak, Christ speaks: He speaks in the person of the Head, He speaks in the person of the Body. But what has been said? There shall be two in one flesh." Those who say they love Christ and hate religion either need to explain why the Church is not part of their definition of "religion," or they need to love the Bride in a like manner to the Bridegroom.
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