How to Avoid Borat’s Elevator
Hello, my name is Gail Nords Ginsburg.
In the 2006 hit movie Borat, there was a scene in which the title character played by Sacha Baron Cohen enters a hotel elevator. Being a naïve rustic borat hilariously mistakes the elevator for his room and begins to unpack his bag, in other words, mistaking the means of transportation for the destination.
What does this have to do with religion? I will begin with an illustration. There was an article in the New York Times recently about a lovely young woman who works as a lobbyist for atheist causes and who is an atheist, herself. She was raised in a Christian home but eventually was turned of by the misogynistic or anti-woman writings in the bible.
First, I would love to have a conversation with this young woman about her reading of scripture in its proper historical culture context, but my point here is different. What is of interest is her jump from religion to atheist?
Let us look for a minute at the word “religion.” Its Greek root “lig” refers to connection and is the same route from which we get the word ligament. As the function of the ligament in the body is to connect muscle to bone, so to the proper connect function of a religion is to connect an individual to the ultimate reality, which goes by many names in the various religious traditions. Just as an elevator is a means of transport connecting one floor of a building with another, religion in a sense is also a means of transport, a way of connecting humans with the divine reality.
Just as Borat mistook the means of transportation with the destination, many mistake their religion their spiritual elevator with its goal, making of religion and ending itself. This leads to all kinds of trouble and spiritual dislocation. For example, one may believed that their particular religious tradition is the ultimate barrier of divine truth and therefore may feel that they are justified in knocking on peoples doors and trying to convince them that they are right and you are wrong.
Well this might be irritating and disrespectful at its purpose to extend this kind of thinking can lead to the type of fanaticism that justifies forced conversion and even killing in the belief that one possesses God’s one and only ultimate truth.
We also see cases such as the young woman who is overly literally reading of the bible let her not only away from Christianity but sadly away from a belief in God. It is as if your car breaks down on your way to Chicago and you therefore decide that Chicago does not exist. A more mature view comes in understanding religion is a more or less human device means for connecting the individual with the one very real, ultimate reality that lies behind all true religions.
There are many elevators, all leading to the same destination. Another recent news article stated that today, about 40% of Americans will move religious traditions during their lifetime. My suggestion is if your current elevator is not working for you. Do not make the mistake of giving up on the destination. Do not be like Borat and mistake the elevator for the room. Instead find an elevator that works for you!
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