Dr. Robert M. Franklin is an ordained minister and President Emeritus of Morehouse College. He now is the special advisor on diversity at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Dr. Franklin has appeared on national media roundtables and as a frequent special guest on NPR. Rolling Out asked Dr. Franklin our 3 questions regarding Relevance, God and being spiritual for this week.
How have you made God relevant in your community?
Relevance: God is an abstract idea unless embodied in loving action. I humbly seek to bring that loving reality to my global community by speaking truth to power, working with unlikely partners and coalitions for justice, and helping to empower the ‘least advantaged members of the community,’ i.e., boys and girls of color.
With all that is going on in the world in matters of faith and life circumstances, why God and why now?
Why? The question almost answers itself. Humans are wired to ask ‘why?’ Our responses are religious whether we use traditional language or not. Indeed, it’s not just the answer but the actual question is fundamentally religious because it pertains to human limits. Whenever we are at our limits, we are in a religious zone.
If you don’t go to church regularly, is being spiritual enough? Why or why not?
Spiritual —Yes, kind of, if spiritual means possessing an intimate and interactive relationship with the Great Other. So, that counts for a lot. Being spiritual is necessary (otherwise you’re just following rules or grasping at superstitions) but it is not sufficient, in my view. That is the crux of your question, isn’t it? I worry about people who are ‘spiritual’ all by themselves, isolated and detached. Religion provides (insists upon) community. Community keeps us from drifting into narcissism, tailor made ethics, and psychopathology. Religions holds us accountable. But, and here is the genius of dynamic faith, religion needs spirituality to keep it authentic, relevant, life-affirming and courageous enough to confront its own evil … yes, religious evil is the stuff that gives faith a bad name (child abuse, kidnapping girls, crusades, etc.) This is called ‘the dialectics of faith.’
