Changing Faith

Associated Press: Survey: US Religious Landscape in Flux

I was born into no religious affiliation. When I was very young some Mormon (LDS) missionaries visited my mom and she thought it would be good if I went to church once a week.

When I was in college I decided that my personal spiritual views were not in alignment with LDS spirituality and left that church. I could wax poetic on how leaving the LDS religion is not quite the same as just not going anymore.

Later in college I went back to church, and eventually converted to Catholicism. I was a very ardent believer and I felt that there were good things in that religion.

Somewhere between college and my professional life I saw things in Catholicism that I did not agree with. Some doctrinal things, but mostly I did not like the lack of respect Catholicism (and by extension, most die-hard Catholics) has for other religions, and that bothered me deeply. So include me in those ex-Catholics.

I read somewhere recently something that Steven Weinberg said, "with or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."

Maybe that's why so many people in the United States are migrating to non-denominational churches, because they're getting sick of the whole, "Religion Flavor A is the only way to salvation, Religion Flavor B is misguided (or, in the case of A = Catholicism and B = Buddhism, Flavor B isn't even a religion, it's a way of life!)" attitude that permeates being attached to a particular religion. If you're non-denominational, it takes a lot of that close-mindedness out and you can say, "this spiritual mindset works for me, but I realize that it may not work for everyone and that's OK" and not feel like you're going against what some priest/pastor/bishop/holy guru has said.

Every once in a great while I feel the urge to go to Mass - I still feel there are great truths in the human condition to be found there, and I believe that the music is moving to me and that there is something beautiful and vital to human existence there. But I know that I don't fit there anymore because my view of the world and what it means to be a good Catholic are in disagreement. And I'd like to think I'm a person of integrity and that I could not, in good conscience, force myself to adhere to a religion that I could not agree with 100%.

The Importance of Ideology in Religion

Ideology Matters
This Houston Chronicle article is fantastic. To summarize, what are the most toxic ideas in religion?

-Violence in the name of God
"If you disagree with me, I will kill you" is hardly an attitude that promotes respect or intelligent debate.
-Follow Our Rules or Else
This can be thought of as the promise of, "as long as you're a member, follow our rules, and contribute financially you can have a direct experience of God." This is personality stunting and leads to all sorts of repression.
-My Religion is Right
No one religion has a corner on "rightness". What works for me may or may not work for you. You can be both loyal to your own religion and also accepting of other religions.
-Converting Others to Your Religion
The idea that missionary work is embedded in power is correct. It's also a loaded message because it means, "we think we're correct and by extension of the idea we think your ideas are wrong and that you should change".
-A Tribal View of God
This can be best described as "our God is the only true God and our religion is the only true religion." This hardly promotes open-mindedness.

One of the reasons I'm not a "good Catholic" anymore is because I really hated the attitude of "we have THE corner on religion" and the wide-spread belief of "Buddhism isn't a religion, it's just a way of life". It's not really something I think was meant to be taught but ideas that are widespread today. Many of these ideas are why LDS/Mormonism didn't work for me either. Besides, who really wants to wear funny underwear or exclude loved ones from a 'wedding'? I also really like coffee, tea, and wine. All the simple pleasures of life. I don't drink to excess, by the way.

I know some things I write on here could be considered critical of the LDS Church. To clarify, I'm critical of all religions that think it's OK to restrict personal freedoms, that think it's OK to say that one group of people are more special than another group merely because of race, sex, sexual preference, or personal aspirations. I'm critical of religions that strongly insist on enforcing gender roles, because I think choosing a lifestyle/occupation is vastly different than only having one lifestyle/occupation to choose from. The LDS Church is one religion I'm familiar with that has these problems, so I comment on them.

I don't think mormons are necessarily bad people, but I think their religion is a bad influence on society in general. I also think that well-intentioned mormons do stupid things because of their religion. It doesn't mean that I don't respect their choice of religion, or think that they are bad people.

Religious "Blessings"

My uncle was in the E.R. last night; he had his gallbladder removed this morning. Anyway, when my cousin Tom and myself got him home last night (my uncle absolutely refused to stay in the hospital overnight) a mormon bishop and stake president were there with my cousin Andy's wife. The bishop and the stake president wanted (or were called in) to give my uncle a blessing. (If you're Catholic, it's kind of like the mormon version of Anointing of the Sick/Extreme Unction)
I, obviously, would have been more comfortable with a priest, but then again, I'm Catholic, not LDS. These two dudes wearing slacks, white dress shirts (several others have noticed that's the only color shirt they wear "officially"; makes for a boring wardrobe, don't you think?), and ties seemed superficially friendly to me and semi-genuinely concerned for my uncle. OK, I take that back. The bishop seemed to actually know my uncle so he was genuinely concerned. These guys got some oil out (what markings do they make with the oil if they don't make the sign of the cross?), put their hands on my uncle's head and prayed a short prayer over him.
I don't want to be rude, or sound unappreciative, but the prayer was something slightly more elaborate than "Lord, help this man have a good night's sleep and watch over him in his operation tomorrow." It didn't comfort me at all, and I'm not exactly sure it comforted the other family members in the room. As for my uncle, he didn't tell me if the blessing comforted him or not. I walked away from the experience thoroughly unsatisfied.
Don't get me wrong; I totally believe in the power of prayer and in the strange "coincidences" God orchestrates. It just would have been nice to feel more than the normal "presence of prayer" at the "blessing" than I did. I don't know about you, but when I'm at Mass, I know something happens to the host and the wine. I intuitively feel a presence when I'm praying. I know I'm sounding like a fundamentalist, hallucinatory freak, but I used to be an agnostic - almost atheist at one point in time. Even after I converted to Catholicism, I spent a time where I was purposely trying to refute/deny the power of prayer, or the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist. You know what? I couldn't. Catholicism makes too much sense, and it's backed up by whatever intuitive, mystical feelings I have about it. Whatever it is, Catholicism "works" for me.
I don't think God has picked out a "right" religion. All I know is what I feel, and what I've studied theologically. Several Buddhist monks I've met radiate the same sense of peace that my favorite priests do. I've never met a mormon elder who's given me more than the creeps.
Maybe I would have felt better if the mormon elders were more eloquent, or if I felt God's presence in a stronger way.
Again, I don't want to be rude, and I don't think God has a favored religion, but there is a serious lack of potency in mormon blessings.

God & Us

Talking To God - I don't like throwing out. . . .

I think Gunner has a good point here. "Believe in Him and love one another. So simple and yet so often screwed up."

I think God's purpose, or what God is like, is beyond our comprehension. But I do think God knows that He's misunderstood and that He loves us in spite of that.

Hmm.