What's the Use of Organized Religion?
Organized religion is on its way out, or so proclaim headlines on newspapers and blogs across America. Type 'organized religion' into Google and it will suggest completing the phrase with "is the root of all evil." It seems that all the hip people in politics, news, science, and philosophy are down on organized religion. It's okay to have your beliefs, they say, but churches are just about power and oppression. Even the religious try to down play it with statements like, "'I go to church, but I don't really belong to a church." Everyone is aware that it is just plain unpopular to be part of organized religion.
The big argument is that society has advanced past the need of archaic churches. Science teaches us the secrets of nature, schools educate our children, and government takes care of the poor and enforces law. Who needs organized religion?
I recently left my house in New Mexico and bought a home in Indiana. As I was driving across the country with my wife and four small children, we received news that our new home had burned down. We arrived to find that our life savings had indeed gone up in smoke. We had paid cash for the home, and there was no insurance yet because the home was not occupied. We were out of money and homeless. That was on a Friday.
Two days later we went to church. People greeted us, asked where we were from, and where we were living. When we explained what had happened, they immediately offered to help. Likewise, my wife's sister who lived nearby in Kentucky told her church what had happened, and people immediately volunteered to help.
My most pressing problem was cleaning up the rubble. Estimates from professional cleanup crews were around $8,000. I did not have $8,000 to pay for cleanup. I asked the city if they could help, and they said no. They were kind enough to give me a warning that I only had thirty days to clean it up or I would be fined, however. None of the neighbors volunteered any help. In fact, there was no community support whatsoever.
On Saturday, six days after showing up at church in a new state and explaining my problem to people I had never met before, thirty people from two different congregations arrived at my property and began cleaning up. There were men and women ranging from 10 to 70 years of age. The first people showed up at 7 am, and the last ones left at 7 pm. Not only did they help clean up, they donated money to cover the cost of the dumpsters and landfill fees. A few days later, someone even showed up and mowed the lawn without being asked.
Being religious or spiritual is nice, but it doesn't do anything to help people. Yes, the people that so graciously came to the aid of my family were kind and generous, but so were many other people in the community that were aware of our situation. The difference was that these people were organized. There was a way to communicate the problem to them, and they had the means in place to put together a rapid, orchestrated response. Without these churches, what would I have done? Put an ad on craigslist asking atheists and spiritualists to come and help me?
Attack churches all you want, but when my family was in need, and the community and government failed to give any assistance, a band of organized Christians came to our rescue.
The big argument is that society has advanced past the need of archaic churches. Science teaches us the secrets of nature, schools educate our children, and government takes care of the poor and enforces law. Who needs organized religion?
I recently left my house in New Mexico and bought a home in Indiana. As I was driving across the country with my wife and four small children, we received news that our new home had burned down. We arrived to find that our life savings had indeed gone up in smoke. We had paid cash for the home, and there was no insurance yet because the home was not occupied. We were out of money and homeless. That was on a Friday.
Two days later we went to church. People greeted us, asked where we were from, and where we were living. When we explained what had happened, they immediately offered to help. Likewise, my wife's sister who lived nearby in Kentucky told her church what had happened, and people immediately volunteered to help.
My most pressing problem was cleaning up the rubble. Estimates from professional cleanup crews were around $8,000. I did not have $8,000 to pay for cleanup. I asked the city if they could help, and they said no. They were kind enough to give me a warning that I only had thirty days to clean it up or I would be fined, however. None of the neighbors volunteered any help. In fact, there was no community support whatsoever.
On Saturday, six days after showing up at church in a new state and explaining my problem to people I had never met before, thirty people from two different congregations arrived at my property and began cleaning up. There were men and women ranging from 10 to 70 years of age. The first people showed up at 7 am, and the last ones left at 7 pm. Not only did they help clean up, they donated money to cover the cost of the dumpsters and landfill fees. A few days later, someone even showed up and mowed the lawn without being asked.
Being religious or spiritual is nice, but it doesn't do anything to help people. Yes, the people that so graciously came to the aid of my family were kind and generous, but so were many other people in the community that were aware of our situation. The difference was that these people were organized. There was a way to communicate the problem to them, and they had the means in place to put together a rapid, orchestrated response. Without these churches, what would I have done? Put an ad on craigslist asking atheists and spiritualists to come and help me?
Attack churches all you want, but when my family was in need, and the community and government failed to give any assistance, a band of organized Christians came to our rescue.
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