The Problem With Organized Religion Is That It's Organized

"Give me a chance to speak and then, when I am through, sneer if you like." -Job 21:3

It has been two weeks. I wanted to try and let some time pass before addressing this issue so that I wouldn't just sit down, press CAPS lock, and start cussing. My rage has cooled somewhat into a cold anger and disgust that has settled in my lower intestine like a bad green bean casserole. This was, and is, a hard thing to live through. That being said this will probably be the hardest thing I ever have to write; so here goes.

First, the back story. Besides a prolonged crisis of faith when I was in middle school, I have been a Christian my entire life. Through the various vicissitudes of the last 5 years or so I had been unable (And somewhat unwilling) to attend church. Approximately 12 months ago I started going again. My close, personal friend and tribal shaman Jonathon was the Youth Director at Hermitage United Methodist. My friend Matt approached Jonathon late last year about possibly helping out with the Hermitage youth group. Shortly after Matt began, they both began badgering me about coming (Along with occasional others). I started coming. I started having a good time. Monetarily over the last year, this has meant a lot of time, effort, and money. Jonathon always tried to make sure that since we didn't get paid for being there we wouldn't lose very much money in the process either. But little things like gas to Hermitage twice a week and taking off work for trips probably put a sizable hole in our incomes.

About a month and a half ago Jonathon resigned as the youth pastor. This was very sad, but Matt and I didn't go to hang out with Jonathon. Much to many people's surprise, we kept coming. 2 and a half weeks ago I had a meeting with the pastor and was told that due to new church policy Matt and I (And the other members of the Jon-tourage) would need to become members of the church and attend Sunday morning worship if we wanted to keep working with the youth. I explained that there were reasons we both were unable to attend worship (In my case the issue of membership was silly because while I'm not a member at Hermitage UMC I am a member of the Methodist church). I also felt strongly like I was being bullied into coming to church on Sunday morning. The pastor was unwilling to compromise so I told him that I would give it a good think and get back to him. I wasn't happy about being forced to leave but I respected him for bringing it up to me like a man. After all, it's his church. He can do whatever he wants there. I talked to Matt and we quietly made the decision to make that Sunday night our last attendance. We wanted to have as much fun as humanly possible and then, at the end of the night, tell the kids we would be unable to come back. We weren't going to run down the church or the pastor, just quietly ride out into the sunset.

Unbeknownst to me, Matt showed up that Sunday night after thinking about the situation for a few days and spoke to the pastor on our behalf with well reasoned arguments and compromises while I was having dinner with the kids. They refused to give. Matt then informed them of our decision to leave at the end of the night. This is where things begin to get fucked up.

They told him that this didn't work for them. They said that they thought it would be best if we left right then and didn't say anything to the kids. After twelve months of time, effort, money, and generally giving a damn they made us both drive out to Hermitage to be fired from our volunteer jobs.

I believe now that this was mostly about them getting back at Jonathon for quitting. Or maybe they just wanted to get rid of his supposed influence and we're his friends. I don't know. I don't think anyone will ever know for sure. The point though, is that I was forced out of a church and that's something a church is never supposed to do.

My Great Uncle used to say that, "Churches are people and people ain't perfect." But why not? We are all imperfect but the whole point of it all is to strive for perfection, right? As Christians, we are all taught to emulate Jesus, who is as close to perfection as man is going to get. The church is supposed to be God's "home" on Earth. All are invited, none are to be turned away. I understand that there are the rare circumstances where some one would need to be turned away. Someone who causes outbursts or makes the congregation feel uncomfortable for instance but that should be a last resort after all other avenues have been tried. None of that existed here.

At first my thought was, "How could a church do this?" But then I got to thinking. This wasn't the first time that something messed up has happened to me at one of the Methodist churches that I have attended. This led me to wonder if the problem wasn't with the denomination itself. "Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors." That is the headline on our website. This is one example of closed minds closing doors. I'm sure in the case of Hermitage the pastor would argue that he never told us we couldn't come to church;he just told us that if we didn't we couldn't continue working with the youth and then we made the choice to not come. Yeah, it's way easier to lie to yourself than others. But to get back on track, I've also known Methodist churches where members gossiped so badly that other people felt like there was no longer an environment conducive to worship. In most places nothing ever gets done about this.

As I was pondering over the facets of the denomination I long ago chose as the one that best represented what I believe as a Christian, it occurred to me that I've heard of many different scenarios in many different denominational churches where messed up things have happened. Certain denominations have been known to cover up their clergy touching little boys for instance. So it became apparent to me that this was bigger than one church. It was bigger than one denomination.

Why is there a need for denominations at all? I guess the best answer I can come up with is that the bible is open to interpretation and people want to congregate with like minded individuals. But this divides us as followers of the Bible. That one book governs two whole religions by itself. Within Judaism and Christianity there are many different sects. It's been my experience that the different denominations often judge and hate on one another; I know because I've participated. The Episcopalians don't like the Baptists, the Baptists don't like the Methodists, the Church of Christ hates everyone, and the Unitarians don't know what to believe so they ask the Catholics because they know everything. Not only do we not agree with everyone else; we can't even agree with others of our own faith. What are we all arguing about? Infant baptising? Communion wine? Gay people?

There are basic tenets of Christianity that I consider the real meat and potatoes of the Bible. It doesn't matter who you are or what you did, JC says that all sins are created equal in the eyes of the Lord. You wanna dunk babies? Awesome. You wanna drink alcohol during the sermon? Who hasn't? You wanna fuck a guy in the asshole? As long as it's not my asshole that's cool. Just because you smoke pole on Saturday night doesn't mean you can't pray on Sunday morning. Love God with all your heart, love your fellow fucking man, and treat people the way you want to be treated. Your fellow man, not your fellow Christian. I remember when I had my crisis of faith and I finally proved to myself that there was a God. ?But did I miss the point? Did I choose wrong? Just because I believe in God does that mean it's the Christian God? Maybe I should look into another monotheistic faith. The Koran says, "Be courteous when you argue with People of the Book (Bible), except with those among them who do evil. Say, "We believe in that which is revealed to us and which was revealed to you. Our God and your God is one."

But there's divisions in other religions too. Orthodox, Shiite, I can't name them all. Even among polytheistic orders beliefs were typically different depending on region with a few standardized gods and then many local spirits and what-nots. This was bigger than a denomination, bigger than one religion, this is a problem for all people of all faiths. Get back to what you believe in. All the research I've done has shown that most religions are based on love and understanding and all the shit goes down when people look into things too specifically and pervert the message. They pick and choose what they need to press their agenda. Anton Lavey said that, "Every religion in the world that has destroyed people is based on love". It's hard to argue.

It all goes back to the church. The Book says that anywhere people gather in His name is a church. You don't have to go into a building if you don't want to. Don't just do what the church says. Ask questions. Can you really afford to just sit back and listen to what somebody tells you is God's will? How many Christians, Jews, and Muslims have died in God's name just over dominion of Jerusalem? They just believed what they were told. I believe a pastor is supposed to teach first and preach second. How do you know your religion is perfect for you unless you find out what everybody else believes and why? It is possible that we're ALL right... and we could all be wrong too.

Until next time, True Believers...
The bottle is empty
And the well is dry
December 2007

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