#STRask - Should I Attend the Wedding of Someone Who Is into New Thought and Against Christianity?

Episode Date: March 30, 2026

Questions about whether to attend the wedding of someone who is into the New Thought movement and will have New Age items at the wedding location, whether one should not listen to hymns sung by Latter-day Saints, and how to respond to the Buddhist “Walk for Peace.”   Should I attend the wedding of my sister, who is into the New Thought movement and will have a meditation yurt, a drum circle, and other New Age items at the wedding location and is very outspoken against Christianity? I’ve found that Latter-day Saint singers sing hymns that I like, and I get disturbed by that. Should I not listen? How should Christians respond to the Buddhist “Walk for Peace” and the people and churches excited to see and support it?

You're listening to the hashtag STRASC podcast coming to you from Stan to Reason. And Greg, this first question comes from Kimberly. Kimberly, got it. My sister, who is heavily in the new thought occultist movement, is getting married. The venue will be on their property where they have a meditation yurt, drum, campfire circle, and other new age things. She is very outspoken against Christianity. Should I attend her wedding? Well, when we've talked about this kind of thing before, we have taken into consideration the nature of the thing that you are celebrating.

When we talk about same-sex marriage, we've recommended that people not attend same-sex weddings, so-called, because a wedding is a celebration. and a same-sex union is not the kind of thing that a Christian can celebrate. Now, I know there are reasons why people have given maybe you should, and there's been some controversy about some statements in the last year or so, but we've been pretty consistent about this and think that you can't celebrate same-sex unions, weddings are celebrations of same-sex unions, therefore you can't go to same-sex wedding celebrations. And I think that's sound. Now, when you have other religious beliefs that are involved, it's not clear to me that

if you go to the wedding of somebody who has other views, that you are celebrating those views. So we wouldn't accept or hold to modern Judaism. But if I were invited to go to a wedding of two Jewish people, I wouldn't have any qualms about that. Because I'm not affirming Judaism. I'm affirming the relationship and the wedding and the union. And so, I mean, one might be a bit uncomfortable with that kind of, of environment. I actually went to a wedding at Wayfarist Chapel that's here in Southern California,

and that's all Swedenborgianism or something like that. I saw a new thought. That's up in Palis Verde, a little bitty thing. But I didn't have any difficulties, theoretically or morally with doing that because I wasn't celebrating Swedenborgianism. I was just going to a wedding and participate in the celebration of that. that union. It was a little weird, though.

So I think that our friend here, Kimberly, might feel odd in that environment, but I don't think she's compromising from what she's told me her Christianity by going. And I think it would be really odd if this is her sister, right? And she's not going to go to her sister's wedding because she's got, that will really set her against even more Christianity without good reason. I don't have a problem with being against Christianity as long as it's for the right reasons. Yeah, I agree with you. The marriage itself is legitimate, and that's what you're there to celebrate.

So I don't have any problems regardless of her beliefs or even things that are happening there. The only reasons why I would object, and you'll have to assess on your own if this will happen. But number one, if you think that you'll be required to participate in some sort of religious ritual, then I would not attend. That seems pretty unlikely to me. I doubt that will happen. But that would be one reason not to attend. The second is if you think you will be harmed spiritually in some way, and again, you'll have to assess. I don't know what's going to be going on there, what she's going to do. Maybe you have a better idea. You might even ask her, hey, I'm just curious what kind of religious things are you going to involve, just so you can assess what will be happening there. And if you think, now, for example, let's say you think they're going to be doing some sort of ritual to call in certain gods or something. I mean, that seems a little extreme. You might not want to be there for that.

I don't know. So you might want to get more information about what she'll be doing. And the third reason why not to attend would be if you think the whole thing is going to be framed as an act against Christianity. Also seems very unlikely to me. But you mentioned that she was anti-Christian. If the entire service is going to be framed in that way, again, seems very unlikely. But if that would be one reason not to attend. So if you think you can observe without participating, I think that's totally fine.

And I've done that. I've been to a Wiccan wedding before. And in fact, this actually might give you a lot of opportunities to talk to people about spiritual things because she's already opened the door. What do you think about this ritual? What are your views? All those opportunities are right there handed to you in your lap that you can use to have great conversations with people. I think this could end up being a really interesting opportunity. A lot of times, I I've been to a lot of different religious organizations just to observe people and to see. One thing I've found is that it really highlights the beauty of our God in that I see that they don't have him. And sometimes just being in that environment will really encourage me to worship and make me realize who I have and how great it is. is that we don't do rituals to manipulate our God because he is great. He's sovereign. He loves us and he's wise and he's not controllable by rituals. And so sometimes just being involved in these other or observing these other religions can have, I mean, to me, it's been very meaningful to me to move me to worship. Yeah. So those are two ways that this might actually be very helpful to you. But that's me talking as someone who's used to this. and who is into this and who does this kind of thing for a living, I don't know that everyone

would benefit that way. So I think you also have to just be aware of what your temptations are or what you think you can handle, what your sensitivities are. Not everyone is equipped or gifted to handle going to things like this. And so you might want to, again, this is why I think it's important to get a little bit more information as she's open to giving that to you. you, so you know how you will feel about it. But if, I don't think there's, there's anything wrong with turning it down if you think there is some sort of harm that you will receive based on kind of the guidelines I gave here. And ultimately, if your conscience bothers you, then I, I wouldn't go. So I tend to agree with that, although I don't know even if it was clear to me the service was

going to be very anti-Christian. I don't know that I would. stay away. Maybe that falls in a category of personal sensitivities or not. I think if the entire thing is framed that way, we are going to do our marriage this way because down with Christianity, well, now you're participating in a down with Christianity. I think there's a, like I said, this seems unlikely. I've never seen this happen, but that would be, I think it would have to go that far for me to say that you should and go. One other little detailedness has to do with participation.

I've gone a lot of Roman Catholic weddings, but with my convictions now, I would not participate in communion at a Roman Catholic Church. I actually used to – I don't do this anymore. I'm not comfortable with anymore, but there was a season where I would actually go on Good Friday to the Stations of the Cross, which is a Roman Catholic practice on Good Friday. contemplative practice and be part of that mass where they did the stations of the cross. But I don't do that anymore. I'd rather go now to a Good Friday service of a church, of a Protestant church,

that didn't have these other trappings that I'm concerned about. But I would never take communion. And the reason is because their understanding of what they're doing with the Lord's Supper is very different from mine, and I would not want to participate in what they mean to be communicating, because by taking the communion wafer, you are participating in my view, at least, the theology that they have about that, and I don't agree with that. And so consequently, I'm just using this as an example of going to a wedding that you're comfortable with, but there might be something about participation that you just choose not to participate in

in the Catholic Communion would be one for me. And by the way, I don't think they would want you to participate in that either. I think they have their – I think they expect people to be on board with their beliefs about that in order to partake. Maybe. I'm not – I'd have to ask a Catholic person. It seemed to me I've been at once before where they generalized it. Oh, interesting. And this has invited people.

This is a fellowship for all of it. Whatever, so I'm not sure, but there's a good point. The reason why I mention it is because it's not, like, insulting. Oh, yeah. It's not insulting. Like, if you understand, look, I just don't believe in this, so I'm not going to participate. That's not rude. You don't have to feel like you're being rude.

I think it's almost an expectation. Actually, at a Catholic wedding, you're probably going to have a number of people that will not participate that way, just because they're not Catholic or they're not even Christian. And there's no expectation that you would. Just say, I know. All right. I'd be interested if you end up going. I would be interested in hearing about it later, so you can shoot us an email, Kimberly, if you end up going.

Okay, here's a question from Samson. I've found that LDS singers sing hymns that I like, and I get disturbed by that. Should I not listen to them? It seems this has come up before, actually it's come up before the context of another Christian group, the Australian group. Hillsong. Hillsong, yes. because that group has kind of gotten weird, theologically, over time.

And I guess there's some question as to whether some of those worship leaders writing these songs were even really Christian at all. What I've said in the past is if the music glorifies God in an accurate way, in a theologically sound way, then it doesn't matter who wrote it. Some have objected in the case of Hillsong that if we sing these songs at the service, and there's that little copyright deal that flashes at the bottom Hill song, this will sound like we're giving kind of the nod to the theology of the group that wrote it.

And that's not my view, but people have raised that. In any event, generally speaking, I don't think there's a liability there with singing, songs that are written with someone who doesn't share your theology, but the theology of the music is your theology. It is sound. I don't have a problem with that. So my question from this question is it's not clear to me if he's saying the LDS singers are singing Christian hymns or they're singing LDS hymns. That's actually not clear to me. So if I would say, If there is an LDS person who sings, because he just says hymns that I like, does that mean how great thou art?

Oh, I see what you're saying. That's not clear to me. So I'm going to make a distinction between those two things. If they're singing Christian hymns, I don't have any problem at all. So let's say you, let's say there's an LDS singer who has all these Christian hymns. that's I don't have a problem with that let's say there's an LDS singer who's written their own hymns and this is where I might have a different view from you

and I'll explain why here whereas in a case like let's say there's a Christian group that's has some elements that that we would strongly disagree with there's still there I think you could still find songs that would you wouldn't have anything you would disagree with.

Like Hill's song you're talking about. Yes. When it comes to something like the Latter-day Saints, if they're writing hymns, I think there are two issues with that that give me pause and one of them is you

might not be aware of how their worldview has affected that song. They have a radically different worldview from us as Christian. in their view of God, in their view of the gospel. And sometimes, like, sometimes I will be reading a book. This has happened to me before.

And just by reading this novel, I will say, I think this person is LDS. And I will look it up. And sure enough, they're LDS. That has happened to me before. Because I know their worldview so well, I can recognize it. But not everyone has that ability. So let's say you go and you're listening to a bunch of LDS hymns, In other words, written by...

Written by LDS for the LDS God. My first concern is you, I don't, you might not know how they're shaping your view of God. There might be subtle things that you're not recognizing, that's shaping your view without you're realizing it. Because their view is so radically different. Unless you're trained, unless you're very familiar with how they use language and terms and what they're saying, they could be shaping you in ways. that you don't want to be shaped. And secondly, they are written for a different God. Their God used to be a man, became a God, by following certain rules.

They have a – that God has a God, that God has a God, et cetera, et cetera. Kind of an infinite regression. Yes. So they have a different God. They have a different gospel, and they call their plan of sense. salvation is a list of rules. It's not about grace, although they would say it is, but when you drill down on what they mean by that, it's radically different from our meaning. And we've talked about this before on the show. So I don't want people to be shaped by their poetry and their

worldview, because especially if you don't, if you're not aware of it. That doesn't mean you should never read it. I mean, I think it's interesting to read that, but I think you need to be aware that it's not, it's not going to match our worldview. So I think, I think my final thing would be to say, if you're disturbed by it, you mentioned you're disturbed by it, then just don't do it. Because there might be a reason you're disturbed by it, and maybe you can't put your finger on it. Again, this goes back to not being able to recognize, like, things feel a little bit different, but you're not sure why. And maybe, you know, Paul talks about how this isn't exactly the same, but Paul talks about how he doesn't want us to partake in the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons,

because he's talking about not being part of their religious rituals. And in a way, if you are worshipping with an L-D-S song, again, this isn't a Christian song sung by an L-D-S, but an actual LDS song, there is a sense in which you're kind of participating in the worship of this other God. Even if the words are correct, like I just, I don't know. I don't think I would feel comfortable with that. Even if you could interpret the words you're singing in light of your own spiritual convictions, you're still dangerously close to. Yeah, and it's funny because I don't feel that way if it's a, if it's an LDS person singing Christian hymns.

even though they're singing to a different God, I don't feel that way. But if it's coming from them and it's coming from their writing, I feel like that is, I would feel like I was worshipping their God by singing those. We have this whole genre of music called gospel, where there's all kinds of legitimate gospel themes and content being sung by a lot of people who probably aren't Christian. You know, this is more in the late 50s, early 60s, and people like Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley and Bob. Dylan were deeply influenced by this genre, but you can sing those. These are secular folk that are singing religious stuff, but it's within the context of a Christian worldview. So that's very different. Okay, so here is a question from Michael. Many people in churches are excited to see

and support the Buddhist monk, quote, walk for peace. How should Christians respond? And in case you didn't hear about this, I had to look it up because I hadn't heard about this. It was a a 2,000-mile pilgrimage that some Buddhist monks did. They started in Fort Worth, Texas, and then they went to D.C. And it says that they were, this was to symbolize unity and compassion and nonviolence in a divided nation. So they were, let's see, what else does it say here? They were fostering human connection through simple, steady, walking, and shared messages of inner peace. So this was going on.

It ended like a month or so ago, and it took them a few months to get through the whole thing. So apparently, Michael was seeing churches being excited about this. So how would you respond to that? Well, I think participation is maybe innocuous, but it does strike me as a little bit dubious. And a lot depends. Look, we have no trouble making common cause. for an appropriate moral purpose with people who don't share our views. So we get up pro-life march.

It's organized by atheistic pro-lifers. I mean, that's not too many of those. But there were some. I mean, Bernard Nathanson famously, one of the biggest abortion providers in New York many years ago, then became a Christian, Roman Catholic Christian. But I don't have any difficulty. If LDS were marching for life, I could do that

because we share the same goal, even though we don't share the same theology. The march is for the goal, not for the theology. Now, as you read that description, I wasn't quite sure what was entirely involved. If it's just we want there to be more communion between Americans and peacefulness, and we want to encourage, can't we all get along or something along that line? okay. However, there are some distinctions that we make, both morally and subsequently, in terms of policy, that are morally weighty. And we can campaign for graciousness and good manners, yet at the same time, strongly disagree and divide. And I mean that word in its most literal sense, you know, divide from people who hold views,

that are not just contrary to ours, but are morally consequential. And so when you have this kind of march, I'm not exactly sure what it's meant to communicate. And words like unity and inner peace, now these all have kind of religious connotations to them tied to Buddhism. It isn't just a bunch of religious folk, it's Buddhist monks. you could join the Buddhist monks. Okay. So exactly what are we saying in this march? That would be the question. And I think churches should be asking that. It's not wrong to make common cause on some moral issue with a non-Christian or non-Christian religion's group. But what is the common cause

in this particular case? That's the question. And there are probably our element similar to what we talked about in the last question where you're participating in a worldview or you're promoting a worldview that you would disagree with and maybe not realizing how you're promoting that. But I think what I would do if I, you know, how should we respond to the people who are excited to see? I think I would ask why they were excited about it. And then you respond to the specifics because it depends on what they're excited about. Yeah. What is it that they are looking to accomplish or why are they supporting it? I think that's a good place to start with this if you want to know how to respond. What's the nature of the statement you're making?

Because, again, this is a great opportunity to start talking and having conversations with people about evil and fairness and what peace is and what are grounds for peace are. the failure of other solutions, the Christian worldview. I mean, again, you're putting yourself when you see people excited about this and you start a conversation about it, this is a fantastic place to start a conversation about Christianity and other worldviews. And I think you can do that without just coming out them and saying, you shouldn't go to this, which it may come to that. But I suspect churches that are excited about this are probably going to be a little little bit leftward already. So you might have some significant disagreements with them. So if this comes up, what a great opportunity to talk about the Christian worldview with them. So I would say,

I wouldn't participate in this, but if somebody brought it up, I would definitely take advantage of having a really great conversation about peace and our need for peace with God and how that's, how God is managed to do that and what our hope is in the society and where our society came from and what's fallen apart and what the problems are and how we can fix them. I mean, this opens up such interesting conversations. I think there's a tendency of Americans to over glamorize Buddhism, and they have a very superficial understanding of it and not realizing it as a comprehensive worldview, which, by the way, is non-theistic. There is no God that's central to Buddhism at all. It's not atheistic.

It's just non-theistic. So certainly since the 60s that there is this trend, oh, Buddhism, cool. What's that? You know, peace and love and serenity and reincarnation, blah, blah, blah. It's like, well, there's a whole lot more to it than that. And the foundational tenets are very specific, and they are not consistent. consistent with Christianity. Well, we are at a time, Greg.

So I'm just going to thank you Kimberly and Samson and Michael. And those were great questions. You can send us your question on X with the hashtag SDR ask or go to our website at STR.org. And just so you know, if we do answer your question, I will let you know as long as you have, as long as I have a way to let you know. If I have your email address, sometimes people don't leave their email address or I can't respond to them on X because they haven't made that possible. But whenever I can, I will let you know.

So hopefully we'll hear from you and then you'll hear from us. The best thing to do is just listen to all the shows. Yeah. Don't miss a show. And then you'll be excited when you hear your question. All right. Thanks so much for listening. This is Amy Hall and Greg Cookell for Stand to Reason.