Dr. Warnock,

I was hoping you might be able to give me a little insight into a
difficult issue my wife is facing at work. She enjoys her job, though the atmosphere of the place has a distinct New Age flavor (aroma therapy, soothing music, etc.). She is, of course, accustomed to working in a non-Christian environment, so she goes about her day not imposing her beliefs on anyone but also not compromising herself.

One thing, though, rubs her the wrong way terribly. Every morning, the staff meet to discuss the day's business, then they close the meeting with a "meditation." It works almost exactly like a group prayer, but they don't call it prayer and they certainly don't pray to the one true God. Her bosses insist that it is clinically therapeutic in nature, and in no way religious. We know knowledgeable Christians and knowledgeable therapists, but no one who can see the issue from both perspectives and offer a trained opinion. I thought of you since you're a Christian psychiatrist. Maybe, as I said, you might have some insight.

The meditation takes the form of asking how peoples days were, finding a focus for meditation such as images from nature or a finding a positive feature of onself. Then people are asked to state a feeling that everyone can relate to as a focus.

My wife is uncomfortable with it, but she decided that she could use
the time to pray to God without interfering with others' meditation.
The problem is that the staff take it in turns to lead the meditation,
something she doesn't feel she can do without committing sacrilege.

Looking objectively at the protocol on paper, neither of us see
anything particularly evil about it. Each step taken alone is fairly
innocuous. Nothing wrong with focusing on an emotion, nothing wrong with ringing a chime, nothing wrong with sharing feelings with a group, etc. Put together, though, along with the New Age atmosphere (though New Age philosophy is never explicitly stated and sometimes explicitly denied) and an executive director with something of a god complex, it feels wrong.

My wife's professional colleagues don't understand her religious
perspective, and her Christian friends (including me) don't understand the clinical perspective. Do you have any thoughts that might help?

I think it's been pretty obvious when dealing with Iraq that the carrot doesn't work. Especially since every bit of carrot that was dangled went directly into the pockets of the dictators, and the sick, hungry Iraqis didn't see any of it. I'm not saying I'm in favor of the stick, but sometimes it's the only thing that works.

Regarding the type of demonstration you see in Spain, I don't think you see much of it in the United States at this point, although it may come to that. We have our share of demonstrations, but instead of being unifying, they are usually "against" something and often include a number of people from other countries. One example, the violent demonstrations in the cities where the World Trade Organization meetings are held. Another example, the 1-1/2 million people who are expected from other countries to demonstrate at the Republican Convention this summer. Or the pro-abortion groups that demonstrate in Washington DC on a regular basis. For a totally different reason, you see demonstrations in the cities of both the winners and the losers after the Superbowl or the World Series, often resulting in outrageous vandalism, injury and death.

After 9/11, Americans reacted by hoisting the American flag (for which we were roundly critized by our neighbors across the sea), attending church on the day of mourning, memorial services, and greater attendance at Independence day and Memorial day parades.

After the invasion (or rescue) of Iraq, anti-war demonstrations and counter-demonstrations were held in almost every major city in the country. I attended one out of curiousity and talked to a lot of the demonstrators. Most of the anti-war group were self-proclaimed anarchists who wanted to move to Europe where there "are no laws" (an interesting thought), but the rest seemed to be upset over other issues, like the economy (one woman was demonstrating against the war, but she was really just upset that her 401K had lost $50,000).

Having said all that in defense of America, you will have a hard time finding American Christians who are willing to inconvenience themselves for each other. There is no feeling of being unison -- no mandate to take care of each other or support each other. Every now and then there is a cause or a bandwagon that people get on, and it's in the news for awhile, but the average Christian in America really doesn't care if their neighbor has enough to eat or stays warm at night. This is a complete turn-around from the way it was 10 to 20 years ago, and it might be traceable to the advent of the "mega-church." Now the average church is looking for people from the upper-middle to upper class to fill up their empty pews and are competing with each other to see who can bring in the most superstars to perform on Sunday morning. To see the "must read" movies or see the "must read" books or go to the "must attend" conferenc or ingest the "God-ordained" vitamin supplement you have to have big dollars.

The other thing that happened during the last ten years to disconnect us from each other was the 8-year presidency of Bill Clinton who, doing what he does best, divided the country radically along political lines, creating a new standard for divisiveness and hatred. He reveled in making enemies where there used to be friends and breeding intolerance where we used to be able to co-exist. Because he called himself a Christian, he set a standard that didn't stay in secular America but carried over into the church.

We are living in such a disconnected, fragmented country, that I don't know if it can be saved. We just don't care about each other any more. On those rare occasions (like 911) when we are able to muster some unity and connectedness, we are mocked by other nations.

I realize this I am writing not only in response to this post, but to several of your recent posts about the church, but there does seem to be some connection, at least in my mind. At any rate, what you said struck a nerve with me today, and I had to get this off my chest.

"Believe me, I understand your frustrations, perhaps more than many others probably do, but going off on a tirade on a daily basis is simply an unprofitable venture. I do it myself, but I recognize that it's the wrong thing to do, so I struggle ever onward towards a spiritual walk that is more meek and gentle, and befitting my LORD.

It makes little sense to get so worked up over the evil and apostasy in this world ALL the time, which is why we're admonished according to Scripture:

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.

Of course, I apply this to myself as well. So I ask, please calm down, and rejoice in that God has given you eyes to see. If not, I may have no choice but to start moderating your comments, and I really do not want to have to do that."