Christian Liberals & Progressive People of Faith

I have been ruminating about how, in politics especially, we can substitute an understanding of the hero's journey for traditional morality and religion, which are too contentious, and often at odds with the impulse for personal heroism. An instinctive model for a meaningful life, the heroic cycle, as established in myth and literature, acts as a guide for becoming a mature, empowered adult, the sort of adult that I think the Founding Fathers envisioned as necessary for a stable democracy. Bishop Spong nails it when he says that "the church doesn't like people growing up," which is contrary to the heroic impulse, the very impulse to grow up, discover one's powers and use them to transform the world into a safe place for the innocent to thrive, mature and continue the cycle anew. I see the choice as binary: grow up by becoming this protector/hero, or continue past adolescence in a permanent twilight of childhood, a state of no responsibility but also a state of constant fear (including the fear of hell) where one uses the powers of adulthood to protect oneself with more wealth or weaponry or political power—ultimately the path of the villain. In plainer terms, I see most of the problems in society arising from a state of arrested development, which the church actually encourages.