Coffee time at the Men’s Shed... and one of the blokes asks, “So John, you claim God made this world, what about the moon?”  “Yes, He made the moon too!”  “Well, what about all the stars... and I read recently that there are as many of them as there is sand on the seashore...?”  “Yes... God made the lot... this whole shebang universe!”  Good grief... what was the name of that book again by J.B. Phillips?  ‘Your God is too Small!’  My Men’s Shed friend sounded like one of those ancient Syrians who believed in localised gods: “Their gods are gods of the hills and not gods of the valleys” (1Kings 20).  Stone the crows!  Why should I trust in a god who is god of the earth but not of the moon and stars?  He might just get gazumped by some more powerful deity from outer space.

In any case our little chat was interrupted by someone else at the table.  “Hey guys, don’t you know there are three things you shouldn’t discuss?  Politics, sex and religion!  Well, it  wasn’t the first time I’d heard of an embargo on those topics.  When my birthdate came up in the National Service ballot back in the 1960’s an older ex-army man warned me of a somewhat similar taboo if I got called up into the army.  “In the army you don’t talk about religion or politics.”  Apparently discussing sex was okay.

I’ll leave politics (and sex) aside for the moment and ask the question: So, why shouldn’t we discuss religion in settings like a Men’s Shed coffee break... or in an army unit?  I can think of several reasons.

I recall one futile attempt to discuss religion with someone many years ago.  This person responded by saying, “My belief in God is a very private matter between me and the Almighty and I don’t care to talk about it.”  That attitude is more common than we might think.  In many churches you’ll find people who, when it comes to the crunch, are sincere Christians.  They pray.  They read their Bible.  But it’s extremely difficult to have any kind of spiritual conversation with them.  Maybe there are times when we just need to respect the deep things of the soul.

A more common reason for putting a taboo on the public discussion of religion (and on politics too) is the fear of a discussion evolving into an argument that alienates people.  In an office where I once worked we had two immigrants from Ireland.  One was from Northern Ireland and the other from the Republic of Ireland.  They had taken their religious and political baggage with them to their new country.  They could not even be civil to each other even though they were now on the other side of the globe.  My parents told of a church split that was so bitter that people in their town would cross the street rather than bump into someone from the opposing side.

My response to the attempt to shut down our Men’s Shed discussion about religion was to suggest that what we need is not an embargo on religious discussions but to learn to discuss with respect and - if need be - to just agree to disagree.

There was an interesting postscript to my Men’s Shed discussion.  That evening my wife, Merle, and I were doing our Bible reading and it ‘just happened’ to be from 1Peter 3.  The apostle says there, “Always be prepared to give an answer to anyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have,”  That was a timely Bible verse, contradicting the idea of an embargo on religious discussions.  However it is worth noting that Peter does show, in this case, where the initiative should come from.  Here is a religious discussion that does not come about by a Christian collaring someone with a “Brother are you saved?” confrontation.  It’s rather that someone has witnessed our Christian lifestyle and wants to know what it is that makes us different.

And that raises another issue: the definition of religion.  Too many of those who don’t want to talk about ‘religion’ see religion in terms of arguments about doctrine and church policies and practices.  Peter makes clear that even though those things have a place, what is of far greater importance is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and the wonderful hope that we have in Him.  There can be no embargo on that.

John Westendorp