Last week I attended an annual marketing “boot camp” for managed I.T. service providers. I always enjoy this event for its motivation, collaboration and vision building. Each year the speakers are excellent and encouraging, representing a variety of disciplines. This year’s roster included, among others, David Allen (author, Getting Things Done), Diana Nyad (recently swam successfully from Cuba to Florida on her 5th attempt at age 64), and comedian Joe Malarkey (“Worst Motivational Speaker in America”).

I am stretched by the “success” and “wealth” messages I hear at this event because they cause me to evaluate my presuppositions in those areas. Many of those presuppositions were shaped early in life: some biblical, many cultural, and many others arising from my own depravity. At least none of the speakers pretended to “have a message from God” on the subject.  There was,however, a recurring phrase this year which I don’t recall hearing in previous years.

In the course of their presentations last week several speakers made it a point to tell the audience, “I’m not religious.”

This is a secular event and I don’t expect any reference to God, though there’s usually some allusion to the blessings we all enjoy.  I would not have been surprised if only one speaker had told us that he was not religious, but the phrase was repeated by 3-4 throughout the event, and in each case, the statement was irrelevant to the context of the message (as in “I’m not religious, but …..”) I was not surprised that the speakers had a non-religious orientation, but that their proclamation was served up as a badge of honor and was considered important enough to include in their presentations.

A professional speaker chooses each word carefully, assembling each one into sentences in order to deliver maximum impact. These speakers achieve their level of success with a lot of practice, honing their craft just as any professional musician or artist.  Speakers at this level command large fees for each performance (e.g. $10 – $25K). Why, then, would several of these professionals include this same phrase in their message?

My point is not to split hairs on their meaning of not “being religious.”   I don’t think their intent was one of verbal smoke and mirrors as Fritz Ridenour’s book, How to be a Christian Without Being Religious, but on the other hand, even a humanist is religious in his self-worship.  It seems to me, then, that the statement is just another way of saying, “I don’t need God, and…,”  by implication and illustration, ” neither do you.”

I don’t pretend to be an astute watcher of culture — that would require me watching television — but it seems to me that these professionals were proclaiming  “I’m not religious” to endear themselves with an increasingly secularized audience.

It was as if in pointing to God, they say, “I’m not with Him.”

Sad.

Psalm 14:1 “The fool says in his heart, there is no God.”