2-6-11 How do we take back the God conversation from an industry that views him as its most profitable product?
The Washington National Cathedral, photographed by Jonathan Newton-- The Washington Post
It’s the economy, stupid . . .
Big Businesses famously roll on in this country because we’re scared of letting them fail. And if there truly is an American business that’s too big to send swirling down the economy’s drain, it’s the Organized Religion Industry (O.R.I). For an industry of which the major American branch (Christianity) uses as its mission statement the anti-materialist words of a poor carpenter, the O.R.I has done all right in the rapacious fray known as the American economy.
Think about it. In real estate alone, the O.R.I. controls gazillions of dollars. And it’s not just property ownership that has economically entrenched the Organized Religion Industry in America; it’s all the jobs attached to that property. Not to mention all the auxiliary economic activities generated by what goes on in O.R.I.-owned buildings, all the training facilities for the people who run these activities, all the people employed by the hierarchical institutions who decide what these activities should be.
Just to give one example of the Organized Religion Industry’s commanding financial presence in my home state of Virginia: In 2009, Thomas Road Baptist Church (church, private school, and private universities) was Lynchburg’s second-largest employee, topped only by Centra Health.
Talk about marketing! The O.R.I. has sold its message brilliantly, concentrating on such talking points as fear of death, answers to the unanswerable, and moral certainties delivered in God’s name. I think it’s fair to say the O.R. I.’s strident voice owns the public God conversation in America; so much so that people who reject organized religion often feel compelled to reject God, the great Whatever, as well.
Now, before I go one word further, let me acknowledge that a lot of good people do a lot of good things driven by their participation in organized religion. My quarrel is not with those good people or those good things, or even, per se with organized religion; it’s that the Organized Religion Industry seems chiefly concerned with maintaining itself and its employees (often quite lavishly) by pedaling itself as essential to having a relationship with God. The focus of organized religion is not God, as much as itself. People starve, while Joel Osteen makes millions.
The premise of the O.R.I, that you need religion in order to live as a person of faith, is, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, unpardonable hooey. It’s perfectly possible to live as person of faith without being religious; to live in partnership with God, the great Whatever, without swaddling your relationship in any of organized religion’s folderol. It’s absolutely fine to, in God’s name and in It’s company, put your time, energy, and money directly into doing some good for and with your fellow inhabitants of this sweet old world. And to let the sound and fury of the O.R.I. play on without you.
To me, the irony of the social and economic entrenchment of the Organized Religion Industry is that God is here and is our way out of the inherent limitations of this entrenchment. Once we get our faith in gear, our religious practices will follow its lead. Once we, as individuals, strengthen our partnership with the great Whatever, then groups of us will become able to give up our spiritual security blankets–all those answers to the unanswerable, all the false comfort for our fears, all that pandering to our insecurities the O.R.I does so profitably in God’s name.
But what’s to be done about the Organized Religion Industry, itself? What about those jobs, those buildings, those educational institutions? How do we take back the God conversation from an industry that views the great Whatever as its most profitable product . . . without further imperiling the American economy?
Seriously?
You got any ideas?
Tags: faith, God, Organized Religion Industry, religion, religion as big business, Thomas Road Baptist Church, unconventional faith
You will have to chip away at the supposed “flawless” doctrines of religion, but without attacking “God” himself. Take out the false foundation and the rest will fall on it’s own. Discuss the root doctrines of followers and you will be surprised at the results. I was a minister for many years and the doctrines that I beleived where put into question, I studied for a few years and found out what I was preaching was not only untrue, but hurtiung more people than it was helping. Faith is a great attribute, religion uses that faith for its own profit and power, history teaches this well.
Well, I have come to the conclusion that we will need replace so-called Christianity with a new religion! I’m thinking The Word of Jesus, what do you think?
Clearly, religion fulfills some great needs of the people and it is important and necessary to provide those needed things within a context that is supportive, helpful, truthful, and fulfilling! Christianity, which should really be called Paulism, is largely based on the opinions of those who would speak for Jesus and pick and chose what is important! So are new religion will be based solely on the reported words of Jesus and the rest of the Christian lore be used as commentary which may or may not have usefulness or relevance. As a starting point, the new holy book will be the Jefferson Bible which does exactly that, removes everything which is not the Word of Jesus!
The Word of Jesus must correspond to the other spiritual traditions of which Christianity while having many followers who espoused spiritual above religion; Christianity itself as managed to largely suppress any inclusion of such practices and thought; and of course the so-called Fundamental sects reject such concepts out of hand!
Therefore, we will look to the Word of Jesus, and seek the common understandings of other teachers in Sufi, Kabul, Yoga, Zen Buddhism, Original cultures shamanism, and the like. All of these spiritual traditions incorporate great wisdom, provide a cultural context for community, for individual growth and wisdom, spiritual practices to achieve spiritual and worldly goals, and supportive structures for harmony and peace.
Lesson One: The Word of Jesus often points out that he is the culmination the of Jewish Old Testament and that the whole of the Old Laws of the Jews could be met with a single rule: Love thy Neighbor as Thy Self! This rule replaces and supersedes the Old Testament in its entirety, except as a source of history and respect for the Jewish traditions for the Jews! Therefore, the Fundamental Christian sects are in error to use the rationalized Holy Books of the Jews as any sort of Godly commands, laws, or instructions for the world today; and they should stop such blasphemy of their God!
“The research shows that when pastors evaluate the success of their church, they measure attendance, dollars raised, number of staff, number of programs and square footage. All of those are logical measures to explore. The only problem is that Jesus did not die a horrible and unjust death on the cross to fill sanctuaries, generate cash, populate programs, hire religious professionals or build out campuses.”
~ George Barna (Author and Researcher)
Answer: We serve, we love, we trust that if God is who He says He is then (thankfully) it’s not all up to us. We speak out honestly and respectfully. We set the example that the religious have failed to do. We don’t work to change people’s minds. We work to redefine the verbs and nouns. If “the O.R. I.’s strident voice owns the public God conversation in America” then its language being used as the restraints.
But look closer at Barna’s quote. God is already taking it back for us. Any industry falls when it can no longer generate revenue. Revenue streams are being unplugged. It’s happening right now.
Really nice layout and good subject material , practically nothing else we want : D.
I have been away for awhile, but it is good to be back and be part of the conversation!
Although I believe that I understand the question and agree that religion is utilized as an industry, I don’t believe that we have to take back the conversation about God from religion. I believe that religion has long strayed from the conversation about God, which should really be the conversation about faith–belief and acceptance of an unknowable and unidentifiable deity, which produced the universe, earth and all of life as we know it and, possibly, life that we have yet to know of, on other stellar bodies.
The problem arises from the use of the terms “religion” and “faith” interchangeably. It also arises because of a misconception of the meaning of the words of Christ, when he is reported in the Bible to have said words that suggest wherever two or three are gathered in his name, therein lies his Church. The Christian religion appears to focus more on the size of the gathering, instead of what I believe was the main message–that the gathering be in the name of Christ. If the reason for the gathering is a social need for common companionship, or for displays of being members of the Christian religion, or for the purpose of “dressing up” etc., or for financial and economic reasons, then it does not necessarily represent Christ’s Church.
Some good points in this last writing. I think social psychology suggests we are attracted to larger groups maybe as part of our tribal mind desiring getting into a bigger tribe with greater safety and resources. I see it around here with the Mormon group with the big new facility which I imagine attracts folks for the bigger parking lot and building holding more folks. As long as many of us feel isolated in a hyper-individualistic society there is no doubt this longing to be part of a group has appeal in many ways. But also these days we do have many options for creating our tribes and finding support not only for spiritual but social connections. Buddhists often quote the “Three Jewels” concept, Buddha, dharma and sangha as support for living a good life. Sangha is a group of fellow seekers. But i think this group can be small and intimate and doesn’t really require an institution, although that is nice at times too. Problem with institutions is they can be so large and complex it becomes difficult to change even change is required. Like trying to turn the titanic even when the ice bergs are clearly seen.
Today I read an article in the local newspaper on line which quoted a leading scholar who says “Christianity is overtaking the globe, led by spectacular growth in Africa and Asia”. Should the same pattern, process or whatever you so well pointed out be followed we can only expect more of the same on a larger scale. Interesting you use the term Organized Religion Industry (O.R.I) when the business world uses Return on Investment or (R.O.I). By no means do I suggest that we follow the business world in our spiritual journey.
However “thinking outside of the box” one should ask questions such as why do we have so many buildings (which required changing the earthly creation our Creator entrusted to us) you see when driving down the road that are empty except for times when O.R.I. participants unlock the doors for two hours on Sunday to come together to worship or for a special meeting during the week. What does it cost to own, maintain those properties? How many “Christians” are inside vs. how many “Un-Churched” (their term, not mine) are outside.
What about the business plan of the anti-materialist words of a poor carpenter? When I reflect on His examples I see O.R.I. doing an inadequate job of following His business plan. Instead one sees O.R.I. under the influence, question is who’s influence? As to imperiling the American economy, ours and the world’s is based on a bondage thought process that more, faster is better. Take that same “driving down the road” trip and look at the number of self-storage facilities. Why so many? Has O.R.I. become a self-storage facility?
We can sit back and ask questions like the ones above but to me the answers are no longer to be found in O.R.I. rather in following a simple business of my boss “a Jewish Carpenter” and to let the sound and fury of the O.R.I. play on without me. In its folly like most human concepts of what God’s dream really is. Take back the God conversation from an industry that views the great Whatever as its most profitable product. Forget it. Only when a profit and loss statement reflects a loss figure will it happen. You see every day in the business world. We forget the world is God’s business.
I posted at the Washington Post site so this may be redundant. However I think it’s important to get this point across.
I support what you’ve called the Organized Religion Industry because religion is something that we as individuals can’t do for ourselves–at least not religion as I understand it, which involves sacred spaces (like church buildings) and liturgy. To say that religion is something we can do for ourselves is to buy into the conservative evangelical Christian idea that religion is about a “personal relationship” to the Whatever. And that is a very peculiar notion of what religion is all about.
Of course it’s possible to be a good person without being religious, and I suppose it’s possible to be a “person of faith” without being religious. But being religious is fun–enjoyable, pleasurable, one of the good things in life. And if religiousity disappears our lives will be poorer for it. Church buildings and liturgy enrich our lives. So what’s the problem?
I am a supporter of the Organized Religion Industry because without it we can’t get all this good stuff. You secularists just don’t get it. We Christians ENJOY religion. We like the good stuff that the Organized Religion Industry provides: as consumers we buy it. Religion is fun. That’s why we buy it.