“It’s so dogmatic” and “It seems like Christianity is built on guilt and hierarchy,” are a few statements made on stage at the March 24 performance presented by Faith and Arts Ottawa.
The god Monologues is an original piece of theatre based on Listening to The Echo, a national study of young adult spirituality. Tom Sherwood, an ordained minister and a sociology professor at Ottawa’s Carleton University, was commissioned by the United Church “to conduct an ethnography of young adults in Canada, giving voice to their perspective on church and society,” said a media release.
He collected more than 400 reports on faith from young people across Canada.
These reports — along with the personal perspectives of the cast members — became the basis for the play’s script. Everything in the play is “an honest reflection of some young person’s perspective on spirituality,” said David Sherwin, director of Faith and Arts Ottawa.
The sad reality is that the “honest reflection” is a very negative one. The actors portrayed young people who saw religion as hypocritical, oppressive and outdated. Their characters focused on suffering in the world. They talked about intolerance. They talked about having religion forced upon them. They didn’t, however, mention Jesus that much.
The small sample — out of the 400 research subjects — used for the play may not have been entirely representative. However, the claims people made against religion were familiar. We hear them often among youth.
Other parts of the show were more questionable and could lead naïve listeners astray.
“People don’t often hear religious statements without feeling that someone is trying to convert them,” said Anna Lewis, one of the show’s directors. “That’s not what this is about. It’s about sharing an experience.”
However, the show appeared to have a clear message. It seemed to promote the idea that all religions are relative and you should believe what makes you feel good. Characters spoke about how they had rejected the religion of their parents and instead found joy in Buddhism and Wicca.
The show ended with the cast chanting, “I respect a belief in a god, any god.”
As Catholics, we are called to respect those of other faiths. However, the Church also affirms that there is only one truth. The YouCat says, “The Church respects everything in other religions that is good and true… Yet she knows that Jesus Christ is the sole redeemer of all mankind. He alone is ‘the way, and the truth, and the life.’ ”
Although the show seemed to have a negative perspective, it does signal hope because it indicates a searching, a questioning among young people.
One elderly audience member said this generation of youth seems to be much more open to discussing matters of faith than his generation.
The cast of 13 young people alone illustrates a hunger in young people to talk about spirituality.
“It was really nice to hear that other young people have the same questions as me,” said cast member Christina Anderson.
Being isolated in our spiritual lives and not talking to others about important questions is harmful. However, personal beliefs about faith and God are difficult to talk about because they are so closely connected to individual identity. The show ended with a powerful sequence of voices admitting, “Sometimes I feel like an alien….”
In sharing personal beliefs, a young person can often feel like an alien. The show encouraged people to be more open and discuss these important questions with others. Hopefully, youth can move beyond The god Monologues toward dialogue.
(Brown, 19, is second-year journalism student at Carleton University in Ottawa.)