I don’t know when religion got so consumerist, or if it always has been and I just wasn’t paying attention.
I have a friend who goes to church whenever she feels like it, usually twice a year, and prays when she wants something. Another friend who says she wants her kids to believe in God, not so they can act on their religion but just so they think there’s someone looking out for them, to make things easier. And I think that’s normal. Most people I know ask what God can do for them, not what they can do for God.
(Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace)
People tell me that the Catholic Church is okay but they really need to liberalize on same-sex marriage and contraception if they want to appeal to the younger generation, like they’re the Republican party or something, like divinely inspired truth obeys the median voter theorem.
(Grant that I may not so much seek to be understood as to understand)
I don’t believe that there is a god but I alieve that He is a demanding god. Jesus didn’t tell us to try to be pretty okay people: that’s what we try to do anyway. That’s the baseline. He told us go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor, and follow me.
(Where there is despair, let me sow hope)
That’s why I think effective altruism is a more real religion then most religions. We give you the sacred texts to read and tell you to come to services every week. We ask everything of you and in return we give your life a joyful purpose. We tell you to lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven and that it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God and we mean it.
(For it is in giving that we receive)