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Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Why are people leaving organized religion? (Oh, and one more thing...)

A kind of, sort of follow-up to my previous posting on this topic (you can read it HERE).

After I finished the posting, as is sometimes the case with many postings, I had one of those "oh, I forgot to include ______" moments.  Never to let a good topic go, or miss an opportunity to be a lazy blogger, I'll add it here.  I'll call it "Reason #6".

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6.   In Crowd
Growing up I always felt somewhat on the outside, looking in, when it came to church.  As I grew older, I began to see why:  In most churches, as I suspect is the case with most organizations for that matter, there was a certain "in crowd".  It's easily understood on many levels in that we humans are social creatures; we like finding people like us to hang out and associate with.  In the context of church that could very well mean that pastors enjoy the company of those who are the most active in the church, but yet is that healthy?

I'd like to propose that there is a certain club of sorts in church today.  The problem though is that such a club is great for the established, but really, really bad for the un-established.  If we think about those who are seeking a greater connection with God in organized religion, how much more difficult is establishing that connection when you can't seem to figuratively get through the front door?  If the ear of a pastor is almost perpetually taken the by established, what capacity is left for anyone else?

In older days, you know when the concepts of blind obedience and command & control were in force, it was accepted that younger folks needed to play by the rules and then simply wait their turn to be at the front of the line.  That's not the case now, thankfully I might add.  Instead, modern society has created something of a democratization when it comes to spirituality; folks these days have this crazy notion that all might in fact be equal before the eyes of God.  The problem though is that such as concept is the antithesis of how organized religion actually seems to work.

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