28 - Sunday, Aprif 22, 1990 - North Shore News AO eA SPIRITUALLY SPEAKING NEWS photo Mike Wakefield DR. LOREN Wilkinson, a Christian theologian and professor at Regent College, spoke recently at a meeting of the North Shore Clergy Association about ‘‘A Christian Response to the New Age Movement.”* He believes New Ageism can be seen as a reaction against a sterile, technological society and a search for planetary and personal healing. Christian churches grapple with New Age movement MOST PEOPLE by now have heard of the New Age movement —- but what it is, exactly, remains a mystery. While some of its adherents work with channellers, crystals or past lives, others may shun such practices and choose instead meditation, goddess worship, en- vironmental spirituality or any number of other mystical activi- ties. The New Age Movement may, by its very nature, be difficult to define, but it can claim a growing number of followers intent on forging new spiritual paths, and its growing popularity presents a challenge to Western society’s traditional, established religions. Dr. Loren Wilkinson, a Chris- tian theologian and professor at Regent College, spoke recentiy at a meeting of the North Shore Clergy Association about ‘“‘A Christian Response co the New Age Move- ment.” According to Wilkinson, New Ageism can be seen as a reaction against a sterile, overly technologi- cal society and a search for planetary and personal healing. But he says some of the practices and concepts encompassed by the loosely defined spiritual movement can present dangers to unwary seekers, “There are tots of very good things about the New Age move- ment, but we have to be discern- ing,” Wilkinson said. He likened the movement to a long hallway with many doors, at the end of which stands the final goal of spirituai maturity and a true relationship with God. “The New Age movement is a hallway through which people pass. | don’t think people stay very long with any one thing in the the New Age movement,"’ Wilkinson said. “TI think it is a very good thing to enter that hallway from a facile secular world, | think it is a bad thing to enter it from a place of Christian commitment,”’ he noted. “Qur goal is to get them through the hallway as quickiy as possi- ble.” In criticizing some philosophies of the New Age movement, Wilkinson points to what he sees By PEGGY TRENDELL-WHITTAKER News Reporter as an “uncritical acceptance of spirituality — an ‘if it’s spiritual, it’s good’ attitude’ and the ‘‘un- willingness to admit the reality of sin. There’s a distressing tendency to say that good and evil are two sides of the same coin.”’ As leader of the North Shore Unitarian Church, Rev. Harold This week's religious events THURSDAY: The Islamic holiday, Eid-ul-Fitr, or The Festival of the Breaking of the Fast, celebrates the end of Ramadan, the month of fasting. SUNDAY: © Hillside Baptist Church hears guest Dr. Terry Winter speak on The Meaning and Purpose of Life at the 11 a.m. service. 870 Lynn Valley Rd., N. Vancouver. Winter is the host of a highly respected national television pro- gram, and each week he interviews very respected and articulate guests from the Christian world. He has also authored a book, ‘*Evidence, the Truth About Christianity,”’ and does speaking tours across Canada. © David Kennedy speaks at the North Shore Unitarian Church about artificial intelligence. What impact do computers have on the soul? 10:30 a.m., 370 Mathers Ave., West Vancouver, 926-1621. Rosen could be expected to have a more liberal viewpoint than those found in traditional Christian churches. Although Unitarianism evolved from Christian and Jewish roots, today the church does not ask its members to adhere to a creed cen- tred around the Christian concept of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and acts instead as a medi- um in which members can engage in spiritual questioning that in- volves studying a multitude of faiths and philosophies. Asked for his comments on the New Age movement, Rosen says “we find a lot of wisdom and creativity happening in the New Age movement. Basically, I think it’s a positive thing. It opens more doors than it closes.”’ Rosen doesn’t agree with Wilkinson that New Age followers reject the concept of evil, but says they do redefine it. “Evil becomes an ignorance of the wisdom within,’ says Rosen. ‘It becomes an inner block against one’s own potential.” But he sees reason for caution because the movement at times can be ‘‘cheap and sensationalist and offer false promises.”’ One problem he sees is that New Ageism may promote ‘spiritual hedonism that emphasizes your own pleasure to the exclusion of others.*’ Rosen says that people who adhere to some New Age philosophies that imply that you “create your own reality’ through thought and action may ignore the fact that other people in the world cannot necessarily ‘‘create their own reality’? when oppressed by poverty or institutionalized repres- sion. He recommends the works of Matthew Fox, a Roman Catholic theologian who was officially silenced by the Vatican for six months for his outspoken — but increasingly popular — views, as an excellent way for Christian peopic to introduce themselves to New Age philosophies. Fox, who wrote the books Orig- inal Blessing and The Coming of the Cosmic Christ, discusses issues of environmentalism, feminism and New Age spirituality within a Christian framework. But while Wiikinson agrees that much of Fox’s work is very good, he says it is too uncritically accep- ting of New Age thought. Clearly, the reactions of estab- lished Western churches to the New Age movement are as diverse as the many aspects of the move- ment itself. 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