Christianity
Faith Leaders Discuss Christianity in the United States
In early 2022, Los Angeles area Christian leaders joined The Guibord Center to discuss the current state of U.S. Christianity. The conversation started by asking what questions these leaders most often hear from people about the faith. It soon turned to another topic: the differences in how the Eastern and Western Christian churches practice the religion. The discussion took surprising turns and brought eye-opening insights – both into current Christianity and how those of other beliefs perceive it – in the U.S.
How do Christians Experience God?
What question or questions do people most often ask you about Christianity?
The Rev. Karen MacQueen: “One of the questions I get a lot because my primary work these days is interreligious is from people in the yoga and Hindu community:
“Does Christianity have any kind of spiritual practice? Is there a spiritual practice that can help you become a saint, or at least experience God?”
“I grew up in Orthodoxy [Orthodox Christianity], and one of the distinctions between it and traditional Roman Catholicism is that Orthodoxy insists you can directly experience God. And there’s a specific practice tradition – Prayer of the Heart – that is practiced in Eastern Christianity and can really lead to deep spiritual growth and experiencing the Divine.
“The young people I deal with are not primarily interested in theology. They’re especially interested in getting to know God.”
Father Alexei Smith: “One of the questions you had was:
“Is Christianity practiced differently in the West than in its country of origin?”
“And I would say absolutely. Because in the West, it’s become very cerebral. And in the East, it’s much more experiential. You are encouraged and cultured, and cultivated to experience God in your lives. And we do that through the various practices that Karen has just related.”
Rev. Karen: “Certainly the Divine Liturgy is core to that. However, there is a tradition of spiritual practice. I was mentored in that by a woman, a servant of God. Catherine Doherty mentored me for five years in the Prayer of the Heart and in her community.
“… The people that I’m dealing with are people who are going to their temples to bow their head to the floor and experience God. They’re sitting in meditation practice, some specific practices that help them to have an experience of the divine.
“I hear people asking me two questions. How do Christians experience God, if at all? The other question is – and I’ll just say it the way it comes up and not be defensive about it:
“Why is Christianity so awful?”
“And that is coming from people who identify all Christian churches as discriminatory in some way, whether by race, culture, gender, or sexuality. And people are passionately interested in that subject as well.”
Father Alexei: “Echoing what Karen said, I remember as a child – and I’m a product of the Roman Catholic educational system here in LA – we were taught all about God. But we were never taught to know God, to experience God.
“Again, in the churches of the East, the emphasis is on experiencing God in your life. Not intellectually knowing God but experiencing God in your life.”
Rev. Karen: “Some of the practices are praying with icons, recognizing that icons are not only seeing into heaven but also being seen. So when I present myself to venerate an icon, I’m not only looking into heaven, as it were, but heaven and those heavenly beings are looking at me, seeing me. As the person that I am, all of me.
“The other aspect is Prayer of the Heart. It has to be practiced with a spiritual father or in my case, a spiritual mother. It has to be practiced with guidance.”
Father Alexei: “All these spiritual practices are geared toward that experience of God. One of the questions was ‘Are there dietary restrictions?’ I think most Christians would say no, but in the Eastern Church there most certainly are. There are fasting periods – Wednesdays and Fridays are observed as fasting periods, to identify with Christ and his suffering. All these practices are geared to help you to experience Christ in your life.”
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Our Panel
The Rev. Karen MacQueen
An Episcopal priest ordained in June 2004, Karen became fascinated by Indian religion and philosophy in the mid-70s. Rev. MacQueen volunteered for two years with Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity in Calcutta and traveled in her free time. She visited some of India’s great holy cities, including Rishikesh, Varanasi (Benares), Puri, and Vrindavana. In South India, she met Father Bede Griffiths, who changed her life. Father Bede was the spiritual director of a Christian ashram, Shantivanam, in Tamil Nadu state. He showed Rev. MacQueen it was possible to live fully as a disciple of Jesus, while exploring Indian spirituality.
On returning to the United States, Rev. MacQueen committed to deepening her meditation practice with disciples of Paramhansa Yogananda. Since that time, she has continued studying the works of great Indian spiritual teachers, especially Srila Jiva Goswami, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, Sri Ramakrishna, and Sri Aurobindo.
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of Roman Catholicism
Advisor to The Guibord Center the Rt. Rev. Alexei Smith invited us to a special guided tour of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
Be sure to enjoy the video!
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Guibord Center for the hauntingly
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for two thousand long and turbulent years.
Dr. Amy-Jill Levine’s Lectures
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On Common Ground – 2016
Gospel Politics – 2016
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GRATEFUL
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the topic of her next book, in a new way, giving
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Joshua Dubois
Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray
Diana Butler Bass
