I think religion is a part of my walk with God. I like the faith community but I do not define myself by it. I seek God in all aspects of my life. In the ups and the downs and believe me the downs are far surpassing the ups right now. It is easier to forget about God when things are going well. I try really hard to keep God close to me when I am on the top of the mountain because God is there no matter what he is just easier to see in the valleys.

Religions are cultural responses to experiences of mystery. They are a culture's discourse about the meaning of mystery and each has pulled together its share of valuable insights, especially for members of the culture concerned. And so they have survived the tests and trials of generations. A good religion, working well, helps to sustain a vibrant culture. Gone wrong, it can destroy it.

But a religion's ties to its culture expose it to all of the stresses, impulses and dangers that a culture generates and experiences, not least to a temptation towards the tidiness that orthodoxy promises. Orthodoxy is the sin of "kings" (or would-be kings) and administrators, not "god". "God" is not ruled by "kings", but religions can be. The head of the Anglican Church of England is the Queen. Popes used to be appointed by rulers. Until Methodism, British churches were routinely run by landowner-appointed priests. That's what the great 1843 rift in the Church of Scotland (the so-called "Disruption") was largely about.

But orthodoxy is also vulnerable to cultural dynamics, so the "great religions" have all produced splits, divisions and revisionist overhauls. 

Some cultures have more issues to ace than others. A lot of primal religions have suffered massive environmental and social change and have fallen apart or syncretised around half-remembered ways, but the forces and experiences that first shaped them are often no longer available. 

Religion is ALWAYS wrong and ALWAYS right: wrong in its social manifestations (which is why so many congregants have left Christian churches), and right in its impulse, origins and longings… and at its core.

To the extent that the core has become hard to access, Christian churches struggle to show that they mean very much. And that's the worst of it all… they mostly mean very little.

Tongue in my cheek, so sticks removed....

I experienced God.
Heretic!
Let me tell you about it.
Wow! I want to experience it.
Come over here.
I'm here.
No, not you.
Me?
No, not you either, you over there...
Yeah
I experienced God.
Really?
Let me tell you about it.
Wow! I want to experience it.
Come over here.
Me too?
No, not you.
I'm here.
Do you experience it?
No.
You are not trying hard enough.
Still nothing.
Do what I did.
I am.
Then you are impure or not good enough.
I experienced it!
You can't. Get out!
How about me?
Not you either. Quit asking.
I experienced it.
No, no, no... you didn't. You are evil lying.
I am leaving. I don't have to take this.
Good riddance! I knew you were a heretic!
I experienced it.
That was NOT God.
I experienced God.
How?
Like this...
No you can't like that.
I did
Stop!
But I experienced God this way
You can't! Stop! Heretic!
This is ridiculous, I am leaving.
You cannot leave or else
I experienced it.
Heretic! Out with you too
You know what? I get more staying home.
You do that, God will be waiting.
Anyone home?
Of course, come in, experience God.
Nothing
Try harder.
I experienced it.
You folks don't experience God.
Yes we do
I am not convinced
See?
Hmmm...
I experience God...
We don't do that here
Not feeling it
Try harder
Still not feeling it, can we try...
Not now.
Can you experience God here?
Yeah, yeah, yeah... sure you can
I experienced God
You folks don't experience God.
Yes we do
I am not convinced
See?
Hmmm...
I want to experience God
Come in
Where?
Here?
Really? Not feeling it.
Go where you are fed.
Can you experience God here?
Yes, yes, of course you can
I experience God...
We don't do that here
Not feeling it
Try harder
Still not feeling it, can we try...
Not now.
No still not feeling it. I think I will be on my way.
Go where you are fed.
Can you experience God here?
Yes, yes, of course you can
I experience God...
We don't do that here
 

Hello? Why don't we try that thing? Hello? Hello?

Why isn't anyone willing to come here and experience God?

We experience God, just not there.
 

Yeah I know you can, but you need to do it in community.
Hello? Hello?

Isn't that also rather like what people mean by "spiritual not religious"… ? A bit like "throwing the baby out with the bath water" because the water's got all icky? It this age of entitlement and "fast", everything has to be easy-peasy and immediately accessible. 

MikePaterson,

I guess it depends on the person and the definitions used.

IMO you can be pious, devout, concerned with religion, faithful, conscientious... and be unchurched or make random or rare appearances in church.

My background is rooted in those who had to hide their faith. I know rejection. I know of faiths where church or appearing there is not of much or any importance.

Being churched or unchurched is only a conversation for some. For some, their faith and their worship has never meant a roof or a public service or gathering or even community of believers. 

When some are unchurched, they are spiritual only. When others are unchurched, they are spiritual and religious. Some are churched and focus more on religion, others more on spiritual... all kinds of possibilites.

I do not discount those who are not free to practice their religion, those not welcome, those who are monastic,  those whose religion does not require attendance be taken....

There are all the other possible combos, including agnostic with or without religion, atheist with or without religion....

Endless possiblities. Baby out with the bathwater is one option but there are many others.

Hi Mike,

You said "Religion is ALWAYS wrong and ALWAYS right".  If we understand religion to mean "reuniting with God" then it is ALWAYS right and never WRONG.

Not withstanding the foregoing, I am always impressed by your measured responses.  It is a privledge to interact with you on this site.

Thanks Pouru.

I agree with you… with your "if". It's a very big "if" and, in my experience, all of the big religions are contaminated with cultural accretions that have been intended to serve social, political and administrative ends.

To check it out in Christianity, just look at the history of church architecture and furnishings. Pews are relativcely recent (congregants used to stand for hours)… and churches were provided locj stock and barrel by wealthy landowners who appointed and paid the priests … and fired them if they got out of "line". A lot of  baggage from those earlier times still clings to the church — even though congrations try to sustain archtitecture calculated to flatter aristocrats but without the aristocarts' cashflow. We even tend to replicate their seating plans.

So church communities have become focused on maintaining buildings and not getting too "political" about anything. Why? Tradition? Well, all that "tradition" was "innovation" not as long ago as we mightr think.

Jesus was an itinerant, the early church memmbers met in each others' homes and shared a common purse. It was the late Roman emperors who started building churches, then (competitively) cathedrals. Have you been to St Peter's in Rome? It's worth a visit. And you'll see distant echoes in the archtitecture, conventions and art of your average smalltown church in Canada… or New Zealand.

We are touched by the madness of magnates whenever we sit on a pew.