God Hates Religion: How the Gospels Condemn False Religious Practice

A.J. Pell is the rector of Holy Trinity Cathedral, Diocese of New
Westminster in British Columbia.

“God” and “religion” are traditionally viewed as synonymous, so
how can God hate religion? According to Christopher Levan, the religion
God hates is institutional religion—the limiting of God by human
constructs and presuppositions.

In his introduction, Levan asserts: “God may not be dead, but the
church ... looks like it is in need of palliative care.” The
“radical sects” (Levan’s term for fundamentalist and evangelical
denominations) are overtaking the “older, traditional
denominations,” a trend that disturbs the author, who is himself
affiliated with the United Church of Canada.

The book unfolds as Levan seeks to explore what it would mean to
re-invent the church—to take the loosely structured, relatively
democratic church of the first century and translate it into meaningful
1990s concepts and realities. His views on such topics as sin,
unanswered prayer, and legalism are engaging, if not always well thought
out, and could provide interesting ways for church members to examine
their churches and themselves. In the final analysis, however, what
could have been a valuable reassessment of the ways churches operate is
compromised by the gratuitous venom Levan directs at evangelical and
conservative churches. His second chapter, entitled “The Subversive
Minority Movement,” reads more as a heated apologia for declining
membership in liberal churches than as an exposition of a theme of
relevance to all Christians.