I personally do not believe healthy religion is primarily about a personal relationship with God. In the Christian narrative, Jesus dies so that we might see Christ in one another. In Judaism, this notion is expressed even clearer, we are not to worship God as an image. If the symbols of religion do not lead us to love real people in our real world, they have misled us. George Orwell said it this way, “As long as supernatural beliefs persist, people can be exploited by cunning priests and oligarchs, and the technical progress which is the prerequisite of a just society cannot be achieved.” My favorite expression of this truth comes from Nietzsche: There is not sufficient love and goodness in the world to permit us to give some of it away to imaginary beings. When I arrived at college And began to study eastern religions, I first realized religion could be understood as plunging deeper into reality instead of escaping our problems by imagining a better world somewhere else. Instead of communicating with invisible people, religion can be working with the basic energies of life. Instead of focusing on private prayer, prayer can be a meditation for good of all beings. Instead of obsessing over a concern for an afterlife or seeking some other other world, religion can tune us to being here now. ~Rev. Jim Rigby - Minister, St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Austin, TX
Posted on: Fri, 24 Oct 2014 14:26:26 +0000
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