Originally attributed to Aristotle around 300 B.C., the phrase has been fleshed out and practiced over the years by the likes of Spinoza, Thoreau, and a slew of conspiracy theorists. It means, simply, that where there is space or emptiness, something will fill it – like an empty closet or mind. Whether it is a lack of leadership or a lack of talent, something will take the place of something else that is missing. Take religion, for example. For almost 200 years, Mainline Protestants ran America. Some of it was good and some of it was bad, but the results were often positive, at least from an economic point of view. Part of the Protestant ethos was about working hard, saving money, and being in charge. Which was great, as long as you were a WASP (White American Anglo-Saxon) and heterosexual.
Then the 1960’s happened and Mainline religion began to crumble. The cultural shifts, accusations of churches playing politics, and other factors began the demise of religion as usual. As we WASPS began to lose our cultural power, other religious forces, previously kept at the fringes, crept in. The resurgence of prosperity preaching, Fundamentalism, and Evangelicalism took hold politically in ways that made the Mainline Church look downright non-political. The Moral Majority (which was neither) and other groups like it began to hold sway, controlling the conversation and guiding presidents. The void left by the shrinking middle was filled with fringe theology and politics, and today’s mess is a result of that vacuum being filled.
If you say you are a Christian but are not active in a faith community, you may be protesting too much. Part of the reason we are in this mess is that too many people of faith gave up practicing their religion for the brighter vistas of Sunday morning sports and brunches with bottomless mimosas. Without the spiritual strength of our members, our churches have withered, and the void left by inactive church folks has allowed more sinister and violent forms of religion to take hold. With the exodus of critical thinking and acceptance of diversity from the public conversation, the vacuum has been filled with poison and vitriol. You want to make things better? Push back on the vacuum and get to a house of worship that doesn’t want to control people or politicians. Go to church or another house of worship where people focus on love, not hate. Be part of the solution, not the problem.
Prayer – Holy God, You have given us hearts, minds, and spirits made to care. Open all of them, for Your sake. Amen.
Today’s art is “Nature Abhors a Vacuum” by Helen Frankenthaler.