We have this perception that being part of a church makes one more right than others... Indeed, they have a word for it with right in the name.. righteous. This perception is one that is maintained by those within churches to validate themselves. However, my life experiences have taught me the reverse is often the truth.
It is not even historically true. The Old Testament and old books of many religions are filled with stories of not only people but gods at war with and abusing each other. Christians will justify old passages where the felt led of a god to go and kill women, children, pets, and more. When a spiritual leader was told to kill his child, that is seen as a good religious lesson. Women were treated as property and used at male discretion without power of objection... and all of it is Biblical, so it's easy for them to use the Bible to justify evil acts in this day by citing a passage. In fact, it was the church of the day that killed Jesus, brutally, for preaching love. The Christian religion would inspire countless wars, murders, burning witches, slavery, and much more.. and all cited Bible verses for their acts.
In my own life, I've seen only a couple of examples of churches that actually gave any of their donations to the poor and needy and a significant majority that does not. The very religious elected leaders that are at present cutting every government program to help the poor and needy to give money to the rich..and sing songs of how the god has blessed them. I've served in churches that didn't care when my child got sick or if I was struggling with divorce or poverty or more. To many of the "blessed" Christians, my facing hardship was just validation that I wasn't saved, enough.
Is it possible that there are some religious that does care? Yes.. but i wouldn't attribute it to their religion but their heart. I've known far more atheists or witches with care for other animals and people. I used to promote my book, Godwitch, but stopped doing so not because it mentioned witches but because I did not want to make people think churches were as good. It does have good points, though.. it's free at Barnes and Noble and has had 36 downloads in the last year without promotion.
So, my point with this is to just confront the false view that religion makes one...right.. or caring by itself. You can find good and evil in all organizations, and religion gives them someone to blame over than themselves for their wrongs and a clean conscience, afterwards. It's no mystery, then, why so many churches are full of people seeking exactly that.
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