As I find it, religion in America is characteristically atheistic or agnostic. Religion has virtually nothing to do with God and has little to do with the practical lives of men in society. Religion seems, mainly, to have to do with religion. The churches--particularly of Protestantism--in the United States are, to a great extent, preoccupied with religion rather than with the Gospel.--William Stringfellow, A Private and Public Faith
...trudging into the distance in the bleeding stinking mad shadow of Jesus...the Lord out of dust had created him, had made him blood and nerve and mind, had made him to bleed and weep and think, and set him in a world of loss and fire... --Flannery O'Connor
Succinct, to the point and, I am afraid to say, all too true of 'Churches' here in the UK as well (at least in my experience and I have been to a great many in my twenty years in the faith...)
ReplyDeleteWithout wanting to sound too cynical, I don't see this changing any time soon, or at least not for the better anyway.
The only viable option instead of Churchianity seems to be a blind fundamentalism...
Sigh...