Has Religion Run Its Course?

By Martha Woodroof

Have organized religions simply run their course?

We're not stuck with them, you know, just because they've been around for thousands of years, employ masses of people, convene community, exercise formidable political clout, declare dominion over science, control valuable real estate, and claim their sacred texts to be direct from God.

As a person of faith who is not religious, I do honor religions for offering us ways to come together in recognition that God is, and I fully acknowledge the good work these institutions do. But organized religions also generate a sense of arrogant entitlement and false righteousness in followers that, in God's name, excuses discord and violence - as well as making followers vulnerable to political, social and sexual exploitation by the diverse likes of Glenn Beck, Pope Benedict XVI, and Osama bin Laden.

Isn't it time we ask ourselves if organized religions, as they are currently at work in the world, are still the best ways for us to come together in God's presence--or are they are simply the way we're most used to? [...]

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Jesus Is Not a "Christian"

So it appears that what I'm reading alot about lately is the spiritual categorization of people into two primary groups.

1. Believers maintaining their traditional understanding of what it means to honor, serve, and worship a true and living God via the institutional organized system of religion known at "church" / Christianity.
2. Non-believers rejecting a system of organized religion which is in the throws of a massive systemic shutdown of vital organs.

The church-going believers are dealing with real life issues involving faith, family, and financial survival. These are real people that pray for help, struggle with their faith, and wrestle with the purpose of it all. They are not delusional or stupid or ignorant of how the world operates. They're trying to do the best they can with managing their marriages, raising their kiddos, and dealing with all the struggles and challenges which come with life in general. Life isn't easy for these folks. They don't always win. They don't always experience joy or peace or even contentment. They seek help. They seek friendships. They seek love. What defines this group from the other is their hope and belief that there is a greater reality and one who has created that reality that they refer to as God.

The non-believer is dealing with life the same as the believer. The difference between these folks and the believer crowd is the absence of a belief in a greater reality. What you see is what you get. Seems pretty

American Christianity is NOT Well

The Anne Rice defection: It's the tip of the religious iceberg - LA Times - August 08, 2010
By William Lobdell

"American Christianity is not well, and there's evidence to indicate that its condition is more critical than most realize — or at least want to admit." 

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Barna isn't the only worried evangelical. Christian activist Ronald J. Sider writes in his book, "The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience": "By their daily activity, most 'Christians' regularly commit treason. With their mouths they claim that Jesus is their Lord, but with their actions they demonstrate their allegiance to money, sex, and personal self-fulfillment."

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Faulty Logic at the Core of Religious Authority

Separation of Church (organized religion) and God...maybe that should be the subtitle to this book. Having programmed into our spiritual DNA the concept that God and the organized institution of church cannot be separated, we've done ourselves a huge injustice. There are scores and scores of people out there who resent and abhor Christianity while mocking the thought of an omniscient being who created the heavens and the earth. Why? Are they stupid? Are they in denial? Are they perverts trying to escape the moral and ethical values which constrain their thoughts and desires? Or, are they pragmatic realists who have tired of the process of watching Christian communities implode through the fostering of intolerance? Haven't we, Christians, proven time and time again that we can be very manipulative, self-serving, self righteous, condescending, arrogant, apathetic, and irrelevant? Now, I'm not suggesting that this is an accurate description of all of our communities or individuals, but to the scores of "anti-Christians" it doesn't matter. Whine as we might about the "unfairness" of their conclusions, we cannot explain away the despicable behavior of some of our wayward brethren.

See, as long as we insist on promoting the idea that a relationship with God, the Father, is in some way contingent upon and facilitated by our involvement within an organized system of religion (be that a church, or denomination, or any type of extraneous organization) we are promoting the idea that God and that organization are one and the same. The reason it is so important for someone like Anne Rice to come out in defiance of the continuation of this system-godhead consortium in her own life is that those of us Christians uncomfortable with the traditional system-godhead can begin to speak out in defiance as well.

Furthermore, as long as God is consistently presented as a conjoined twin with the religious institution of church, if a single Christian community calling itself a "church" behaves despicably then the "anti-Christians" have every right to reject God as a ridiculous combination of mysticism and frivolity.

The sidenote to this topic is that a great deal of the "churchy" advice given to a Christian who staves off involvement in organized religion is that one shouldn't let the behavior or demeanor of offending "church" members be used as an excuse to flee from the congregation. More often than not, a congregational member critical of other members or cliques within the "church" is told to focus on their own relationship with God and not use other's misgivings as an excuse to "turn from God". This is inherently flawed reasoning at a very basic level.

First, one is told that the well-being of their faith is dependant upon their involvement with the "church." Next, one is told that their involvement within the "church" should not be contingent upon other members' bad behavior. Finally, one is told that if said bad behavior is a deterrent to their continued committment to the "church" then they should focus on the core value of ensuring the well-being of their faith---which, as we established before, is supposedly dependant upon their involvement with the "church". I'm not making this up! This circular reasoning is one of the fundamental reasons for the current crisis of confidence in Christianity and Christian religious institutions.

Circular Reasoning – supporting a premise with the premise rather than a conclusion.

Major Outlets Running "Throwing Hammers" Press Release

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