In Defence of Organized Religion - Part 2

To simplify, I get to things out of church attendance: community and the chance for social action. I've addressed the former yesterday, I'll give the latter an honest shot.

It's impossible to say how much my morality was effected by the church, but it seems like a moot point now. I don't think we need religion for morality, I don't think any of my morals are derived from religion anymore, and there are some ethics I had inspired by the church that I have abandoned on inspection. Obviously, if I had come from a more conservative Christian background there would be more.

But I do have a strong sense of moral obligation, whatever the source, and it's important that I feel like I'm helping to create a better world. Of course, it's more important that I actually AM helping, but the feeling so has a place.

This task is made easy by attending a liberal church like mine, especially as I have a predilection for progressive change with traditional roots (think Andrew Sullivan's push for gay marriage, or, say, Tommy Douglas on Universal Healthcare). Here's a space where I don't have to eschew "conservative" values like family or responsibility, while pushing aggressively on fronts like social action for the LGBTQ2+ community or gender equality. My church is very active in the "Rainbow Refugee" community in Edmonton. The United Church, in general, has more women in ministry than men, and was ordaining women since the 30s, thirty years before the Presbyterians and forty years before the Anglicans and Lutherans, the only other major denominations that I would be willing to label "moderate" in Canada. My belief in the feminist tradition was vanguarded in a real way by the church.

But let's be clear, Abramic religions are the worst thing that ever happened to gay rights, and Christianity, on average, has an overwhelmingly pernicious affect on women's rights in Canada. Indeed, Christianity may play a slight net role of empowerment for women globally, but only to the extent that other religions remain less evolved and even more misogynistic. Doubt not, if I could eradicate religion for this cause alone, I would.

So what remains is my belief that religion makes the world worse on key issues that I care deeply about, but I still believe my own actions in one specific church are a countervailing measure. On even such a knife's edge as this, I walk a great part of my life. Don't believe there's no tension, because there is, and sometimes it rises and I don't know how to let it out.

But that's what this blog is for. Carry that tension for me a while, if you will.