Robert Bellah, who was one of the most influential sociologists of religion, died in 2013. Running across his name recently got me thinking about a piece he wrote about that he called Sheilaism. Maybe you know about it. If not the name, then you have probably seen it in practice. Bellah helped write a 1985 best seller called Habits of the Heart. In it, he argued that religion in America had gone from something public and corporate to something extremely private. Bellah did a lot of interviews with everyday people. He combined his findings with a fictitious interview of a young nurse he called “Sheila Larson.”
Sheila said: “I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice… It’s just trying to love yourself and be gentle with yourself. You know, I guess, take care of each other. I think He would want us to take care of each other.”
Bellah told us way back then that Sheilaism could create as many different religions as there were American people. He speculated that many people who are in pews on Sunday are really just practicing their own version of Sheilaism, and believe that religion is a private matter. They don’t think there is any constraint placed on them by the historic church or even by the Bible—none that counts, anyway.
I am convinced that Sheilaism is the dominant religion of South Florida, including the folks who will tell me that they are “spiritual but not religious.” A religion like that will not make demands of them. It is much more about finding inner peace, calming themselves down, and insulating themselves from the chaos of the world.
That got me thinking about Micah 6:8—“[God] has told you, human, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?”
Don’t get thrown by the word “require.” It doesn’t mean require like a police officer requiring you to take a field sobriety test. The word darash typically means “to seek;” it’s used of lovers seeking each other and a shepherd seeking a lost sheep. The question is, “What is God seeking or looking for from you?”
First, He wants you to do justice. Scriptural justice isn’t referring to fairness or punishing evildoers. It means ensuring that everyone has what they need. It refers to a people or community where people share and the poor are not deprived of their share. You can’t do justice in private. We do it together.
Next, God is looking for us to “love mercy”—acts of love and kindness to others who need help. He is looking for people who forgive those who have been bad. This isn’t about the currently popular “forgiving and being good to ourselves.” We do this together as well.
Then the prophet tells us we should walk humbly with God. This third point is what we talk about all the time in our prayer letter. You might call it the inward journey. God, through the prophet, calls us to humble ourselves, remembering that He is the high and holy God, and we are not. If you are the one who gets to decide the rules for your own life wouldn’t that make you God? Are we the ones who judge God (or anyone else), or is that his job? We ought to walk alongside God as our companion—or better, becoming God’s companion on God’s journey.
Most of us, I’m afraid, practice a little Shelaism at times, but God calls us to so much more. It may be worth attending to how we might do more justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God. It also might be worth noticing where we are walking all alone.
Photo by Markus Gjengaar on Unsplash