In Defense of an Organized Religion - Part 1

In an ideal world, I would have a long list of draft posts ready on this website, created comfortably in advance with ample time for thought and editing. Alas, I do them overwhelmingly before bed so, when something pops up late at night, I get put under the crunch. Apologies whatever this rant ends up looking like.

I've said a few disparaging things about religion already, shared an atheist YouTube channel, and I'm sure I'll say some more on the same vein. Yet I go to church, and think I will continue to do so. I think before I get too far on one side I should speak to the more abstract, and perhaps more interesting reasons that I think church (insert religious institution here) can be a boon to the world.

The first cliché to use is the appeal to community, but this has to be unpacked. I'm a guy who has communities all over the place: my work, intramural sports teams, my family and my girlfriend's family, to name a few. If I didn't spend so much time with religious activities, I would be able to find a few more.

Some of these communities, however, have the insurmountable flaw of being composed entirely of similar versions of me. Everyone is in university, from a similar background, a similar age. Everyone on an intramural team shares one common interest, and probably through extrapolation a few others. I family has a worldview that inspired my own, and I in turn have found that in a partner, to some extent. Many other community options that you might proffer would have similar pitfalls. All University clubs would have the same age range, and all city wide activity groups from chess club to the triathlon association would bring people together for one focus, already shared.

You might notice one gaping flaw, because of course churches can fall prey to all of these problems as well. Most will expose you to a wider age range, but they can be unremittingly monoethnic, pulled for the same background, not tolerant of different people or views and focused on on shared goal. That said, I'm not defending all organized religion, I'm defending the few, and, to some extent, I'm defending mine.

There is one kicker, however, which has made me stick with church when I grew tired of campus clubs and weary of organizations like Rotary or Lions. I think these groups have a lot of merits, and might go part of the way to my idyllic secular community, but I also think they fall prey to the need to always meet to accomplish a goal. Maybe it's fundraising for a particular cause, or maybe it's organizing an event or debating a motion. There is something profound and important about an organization that meets regularly as an end unto itself. You may have events to plan or dreams to create, but if you don't that's okay, there's still a practice and a place for you to sit and think. To watch or to recite.

And this is the last point I'll make before talking about the ethics of church tomorrow. I may be able to find community where I need it. That doesn't hold true for all involved. Atheist churches have sprouted up in North America, but they always love to focus on debate or discussion of philosophy. I love that kind of thing, but many, many don't. We need a place where the quiet, the weary, and the dedicated can just show up and be together. One hour. Every week. We can talk together, share meals together, argue together, or none of the above. We can just be, together, in a large group of young and old. Be. An imperative that the secular world hasn't quite come to turns with like I want it to yet.