Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - July/70

Contributor - G. Balt

Title - Alienated Youth

Topic - Youth

I would like to add my three cents worth (allowing for inflation) to the current discussion regarding "Alienated Youth". First let us take a look at what we mean by the "alienated". One of the foremost experts on alienation, the famous psychoanalyst, Erich Fromm, describes alienation as follows: "By alienation is meant a mode of experience in which the person experiences himself as an alien. He has become, one might say, estranged from himself. He does not experience himself as the center of his world, as the creator of his own acts - but his acts and their consequences have become his masters, whom he obeys or whom he may even worship." Fromm finds that man Ras lost his central place, that he has been made an instrument for the purpose of economic aim, that he to be our increasing reliance on has been estranged from, and lost the concrete relatedness to, his fellow men and to nature, that he has ceased to have a meaningful life". Perhaps this word "meaningful" is somewhat over-used today, nevertheless, the lack of a meaningful life seems to be a great modern problem. It is difficult to point to the causes of modern alienation or meaninglessness. One of the obvious reasons for this phenomenon would seem to be our increasing reliance on large, centralized institutions of various kinds; huge, multi-national corporations, centralized bureaucratic governments, powerful labour unions and large religious denominations. All of these tend by their very nature to become more impersonal as they grow larger. The corporation executive is so far removed from his employees and customers that the effect that his decisions have them does not really penetrate to his emotions. So an executive who in his personal life (if a corporation executive can be said to have a personal life) would not "hurt a fly" can initiate a costly advertising campaign to promote his company's useless or even harmful products. Labour leaders can similarly force a wage settlement which will have a disastrous effect on the economy. Intelligent young people who are -sensitive and aware are beginning to realize how we are sometimes exploited by large, inhuman institutions' They are fed up with having their tastes, values and way of life dictated by General Motors and other large corporations.

Now what does all this have to do with young people being estranged from the church? I think that many young people desperately want a more meaningful way Of life. They are sick and tired of being manipulated by impersonal institutions and being forced by social pressures into what economist J. K. Galbraith has called "conspicuous consumption". Thus, they want to identify with a group of people who want to relate to one another as of human beings, not as objects exploitation, economic or otherwise. The true hippies attempted to achieve this aim and in some small measure were successful in their attempt at communal living. I believe that this is one of the reasons why hundred of thousands of young people flock to peace festivals" where they find a certain sense of community and sharing.

Why can young people not find this type of meaningful community in the church? There appear to be many reasons for this. First, because they may feel exploited by society and submerged in the mass, many young people have rejected any form of authority that they feel is not based on sound rational principles. Thus, they do not feel constrained to accept what Stan Vandermolen so aptly titled "neatly-packaged religious ideals" or any pre-packaged value system formulated by any authoritarian institution. The great psychiatrist, Carl G. Jung has said that to ". . . be the adherent of a creed is not always a religious matter but more often a social one and, as such, it does nothing to give the individual any foundation". Second, the church may not appear to young people to be doing a great deal to change society in the direction of a more meaningful life, and one of greater quality. Youth, I believe, have seen that greater material wealth has not solved many of our social problems, and that it has created one very real new one: the destruction of our environment. They see that the organized institutional church has (with some notable exceptions) not raised a very loud voice against pollution. In short, youth may be impatient with the church's STATUS QUO stand regarding social issues. Third, we who attend church regularly have not demonstrated that we are members of a community of love and concern. It has been said that there is more real fellowship in the local tavern than there is in the church. During the age of the apostles the nonchristians said: "Look, how these Christians love one another." I wonder whether many people outside the church could say that about me and all you other churchgoers out there.

Thus, young people, as I see it, might be more ready to join a church which is a genuinely human, spontaneous group of people, lovingly interested in one another and actively concerned with the quality of life in our greed-dominated society.

But how do we become such a church? Should we all march in protest demonstrations, lobby on Parliament Hill or join anti-pollution groups? I believe we should be involved in such things for the answer to social problems is not to bury our heads in the sand. However,, we do need something more than this to attract youth for there are many groups which they can join in order to engage in this type of activity. Carl Jung has this advice: "The individual who is not anchored in God can offer no resistance on his own resources to the physical and moral blandishments of the world. For this he needs the evidence of inner, transcendent experience which alone can protect him from the otherwise inevitable submersion in the mass." Stan Vandermolen made a somewhat similar call for a personal Christian experience: "An open knowledge of the vitality of Christ can only be gained when we are receptive to learning through personal involvement." While I agree with Stan that the church's task is therefore to help create individuals whose concerns axe social, to mould societies whose goals are human", this should only be one of the tasks of the church and not its chief aim. The church, after all, is the Body of Christ, who commanded his followers: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

Thus, we must offer young people real social, communitarian, human values, but we should also point them to Christ. There is a great deal of satisfaction to be found in joining a group to which we can relate, but as St. Augustine has said there is an emptiness inside us which can only be filled by God. The Rev. Richard Gilbert, chairman of the Division of Mass Media of the Board of National Missions of the United Presbyterian Church was recently quoted in TV Guide as saying: "What we need now is a two-legged gospel the left leg being social concern and the right being salvation! ... What's needed today . . . is body and soul."

Thus we must, in my opinion, achieve a balance between concern for the salvation of men and their ultimate destiny on one hand and the quality of their lives in this present world on the other hand. A church that preaches the love of Christ and shows no real concern for the value of the individual in society is a mockery. Jesus brought the good news of the kingdom of heaven, but he also kicked the greedy moneychangers out of the house of God. If we show this dual concern, I believe we will attract the sensitive, intelligent youth who are actively concerned with social issues yet lack the real satisfaction that only Christ can give. This, of course, is not going to be easy as we will have to become that community of active, outgoing, concerned people, for which youth are searching. And the only successful way to effect this change in ourselves is by drawing closer to God. May God help us.

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