Cafeteria Christianity

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“”Have you ever sat down and read this thing? Technically, we're not allowed to go to the bathroom!

—Reverend Lovejoy, The Simpsons

The phrase "cafeteria Christian" is a snarl word that some Christians use to describe other Christians who do not take a sufficiently strict approach to following their faith. It implies that the person in question cherry-picks which of the principles of Christianity they intend to adhere to and assembles their beliefs from what makes sense for them, rather than letting leaders or a dogmatic or conservative reading of the Bible inform their conduct. The term implies a casual support of the faith, without any genuine identification with its principles.

It can be argued that cafeteria Christianity is not only commonplace, but actually required in order to get any remotely coherent message the Bible in the first place, due to its many contradictions. Even the strictest fundamentalist Christians have to cherry-pick through the Bible's contradictions (i.e., faith alone vs. faith plus works; whether salvation can be lost or not; the law will not pass away vs. the law has been fulfilled; etc.). As such, literally every Christian could be considered a "cafeteria Christian" to some degree.

According to A. J. Jacobs, a writer for Esquire who wrote a book called The Year of Living Biblically^[1] about his attempt to follow every rule in the Bible (no matter how obscure or outlandish) to the letter, every religious person is a cafeteria Christian/Jew/Muslim of some kind, no matter how strict they are about their faith, and cafeteria faith is really the only tenable kind.

Due to the contradictions in Christianity, it's safe to say that not 99%, not 99.9%, but 100% of Christians cherry-pick from the Bible. They have to if they want to actually believe in it.

And yet, the accusation of hypocrisy contained in the term "cafeteria Christian" makes perfect sense on a theological level. As Penn Jillette points out, in reference to the divine authorship of the rules in the Bible:

If you believe it's your God, and your God is infallible, you can't throw out some of the rules, just because you don't like them.^[2]

C and E Christian[edit]

Another term used for "lightweight" adherents is "Christmas and Easter" (or simply C&E) Christians, or "Christers" (a portmanteau of the two holidays). That implies they only pay attention to their faith around Christmas and Easter, i.e. holidays that pay off in presents and chocolate bunnies.

Since "C of E" also refers to the Church of England, this fact gives people the chance to make humorous puns about supposed worldliness and lack of devoutness in some Episcopalians (in the US) and Anglicans (in the UK and Commonwealth of Nations).^{[note 1]}

Catholicism[edit]

The original title of this article was "cafeteria Catholic," which makes the choice of following or abandoning doctrine clearer, since the Roman Catholic Church has clear-cut rules for its followers. "Cafeteria Catholics" are "Catholics in name only", and ignore any aspects of Church doctrine that they disagree with, such as proscriptions against abortion, birth control, divorce, gay marriage, marriage for priests, and ordination of women. Many cafeteria Catholics are devout Christians and ethical people who disagree with parts of Roman Catholic doctrine.

Supporters see cafeteria Catholics as intelligent people who refuse to follow unreasonable dogma blindly.
Opponents believe cafeteria Catholics ignore the church's directives in order to rationalize a sinful lifestyle.^[3]

An alternate, Catholic-specific term to "C and E Christians" is "Lily and Holly Catholics," where, again, the lily refers to Easter and the holly to Christmas.

Committed "cafeteria Christians"[edit]

“”You get cafeteria Christianity, a kind of shopping for ideas you approve of. They turned out to be right for the wrong reasons, because I think that once you admit that there are in scripture large sections that by our standards are not just inappropriate but scarcely moral — such as the justification of slavery.

—Richard Holloway^[4]

People who are accused of being Cafeteria Christians may be quite committed to their faith but are simply choosing to interpret its tenets through their own particular lens. They will focus on those parts of the Bible that support their interpretation while ignoring those that they find to be in conflict with their approach.

External links[edit]

The definition of a “cafeteria Christian”

Notes[edit]

↑ Note that committed members of the Church of England in the UK tend to call themselves Anglicans rather than "C of E."

References[edit]

↑ Here is a TED talk he gave about the subject.
↑ Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, S02E01, The Bible - Fact or Fiction
↑ Cafeteria Catholic;What is a Cafeteria Catholic?
↑ Cafeteria Christianity. catholictt.org, 16 September 2017. Attributed to Richard Holloway in an interview in "Third Way" in 2001.

[3] Note that committed members of the Church of England in the UK tend to call themselves Anglicans rather than "C of E."

[1] Here is a TED talk he gave about the subject.

[2] Penn & Teller: Bullshit!, S02E01, The Bible - Fact or Fiction

[4] Cafeteria Catholic;What is a Cafeteria Catholic?

[5] Cafeteria Christianity. catholictt.org, 16 September 2017. Attributed to Richard Holloway in an interview in "Third Way" in 2001.

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