"Take repetition of the Apostles' Creed on a Sunday in church. Now, the Apostles' Creed is not part of the Bible; it is not divinely inspired the way that Genesis or Romans is inspired. But it is a brilliant synthesis and summary of the basics of the Christian faith, and, in repeating it each Sunday, the church engages in an act that affirms its own identity—and act that, at the same time, constitutes an act of countercultural rebellion at a variety of different levels.
Firstly, by reciting these clear, doctrinal claims, the church affirms God as creator and as sovereign, and also declares the basics of the gospel. That is as ‘stick it to the man’ as you can get (in the most ‘in your face’ manner possible)!
Secondly, by using words passed down through the ages, the church affirms that Christianity is not reinvented every Sunday, it does not depend for its existence solely upon this generation, but rather that the church learns the faith from previous generations and is called to be the steward who passes on the form of sound words to the next generation.
Thirdly, in affirming the value of their history and the sovereignty of their God, the church stands as a witness against the wider culture, which throws off the claims of God and, from science to teen culture, despises the past as any source of wisdom for the present, let alone the future.
Thus, stuffy and archaic as some would see it, the recitation of the Apostles' Creed is potentially the most dangerously subversive act of cultural terrorism one might engage in on a Sunday. Far from being a hidebound exercise in dusty conservatism, it is potentially an act of absolute rebellion and revolution against the system, the man, the company, the establishment, the corporation or simply ‘them’—however one wishes to characterize those who hold the levers of cultural power."
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