response: why i hate religion video

when i left full time professional ministry and jumped into higher education, some people turned their heads. when i left the university and made the move to Fraternity, people really began to question me. how could someone who was once a youth pastor work for social organizations that are known to be killing our college children?

the same reason that i started out in life with a mission to work for a religion that is most publicly known for being insensitive, hypocritical, overly political and homophobic, just to name a few.

a little while back i wrote about the need for fraternities and sororities to fully claim their values, their rituals, the reasons for their founding. to quit complaining about all of the bad press because until the press has nothing bad to say about us we have no right to ask them to stop calling attention to it.

being a follower of Christ is no different.

here's what one man has to say about it:

some are calling it a viral sensation. i call it embarrassing.

unchristian and when bad christians happen to good people are two of my favorite books. i'm used to talking about the failure of the church. i agree with nearly everything this man in the video has to say.

nearly everything.

i don't hate religion.
i refuse to hate it. 
i'm disappointed with it.

sure, we've got our problems. there are those who use God's name in vain. like when they say they'll pray for you, but don't. like when they say "bless her soul" in the most condescending way. like when they picket military funerals with signs misquoting God. like when they wear WWJD bracelets or metal ichthus signs on their cars, but treat others like trash. like when they create cults and lead others astray. like when they only attend church or say "God bless America" as a political ploy.

yes, we have our issues. the church has lost its sight. heck, i don't know that it ever really had it to begin with. remember paul's letters from back in the day? those churches were screwed up too. when the fathers of the church pulled together the books of the bible, i wonder if they included those letters to show us that it's normal to mess up. it's human.

maybe that's why the Creator not only became human, but became spirit as well. maybe that's why the Holy Spirit was given to us when the Son was taken away. to give us a direct line. no church needed.

but we are commanded to live in community with one another. that's why we need the church.

but we have to change it. and you can't change something from the outside. you've got to get inside to shake things up. and as a believer in the Way, the Truth and the Life i continue to work for change. for leading the way in making all peoples truly equal. for diligent work for world peace (and not just the miss america kind). for truly mirroring Christ's work in feeding the poor, clothing the hungry, sheltering the homeless and freeing the imprisoned. this is the business i believe my Maker meant for the church to be about and i hope that one day the church will be known for these things, instead of the characteristics the barna group found.

i also think that it's important to say that we aren't all getting it wrong. some are getting it right. but just like fraternities and sororities, the negative perception won't cease until the negative stories do. all of them. until we change who we are, we will never be seen as the church we were intended to be.