I just have to whine to somebody. I don't belong to an organized religion, don't WANT to. Neither does my wife. But because we wanted to do something loving & compassionate for other people we came with her sister's church group on a rebuilding trip to New Orleans. It's been great to get out & spend time helping some people whose lives have been ruined by Katrina, but we're both going a little nuts putting up with all the "Praise" & "Devotions" & "Worship" & "Bible Study". We'd rather just bust our asses for 10 or 12 hours, then go back to our dorm & chill with a book or the tv (& maybe smoke a little). So my whine is: Why are we two so different from everybody else? We don't need Jesus standing over us with a carrot & stick to get us to value compassion & give of ourselves to others. I've spent a lot of time lately looking into groups we could get involved with in order to have more opportunities to help people, but they usually seem to be part of some church ministry. Why is it people have to get religion before they start to give a fuck about the world? And why is it that most religions have to not only promise to reward you for good behavior, but threaten to punish you for bad? It seems self-evident to me that the best thing you could do with your life is to spend it healing the world's hurts. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-Christianity or anti-religion. In fact, I've got beliefs of my own but they're pretty low-key & don't compel me to do a lot of religious activities. I also believe that other people's faiths are just as valid as my own. But I wish I could find some non-churchy, worshipy, bible-quotin' types that also wanted to help the world. Being here this week feels like I'm at a football game sitting in the OTHER team's section. I can secretly cheer my team on & feel glad if they win, but I can't open my mouth when I want to cheer & I don't want to open my mouth when everyone around me is cheering. I feel really out of place. Anyhow, it's nothing major. I just wanted to get it off my chest. Weetie
IMO: Some of it may have to do with the need to join groups. Religions are group activites. People in this stage of development need the reinforcement of their beliefs from others at the same level. The act of "joining" the group provides this reinforcement. Same with sports teams. Nothing wrong with this...it has advantages and disadvantages as does everything else. You are just operating on a different level and are able to operate on your own. (This also has advantages and disadvantages.)
Sounds plausible. Sometimes I get a little jealous of organized religion types because they do tend to clump together with others like them, while more individualistic people like myself tend to wander around on our own. It's nice to feel like I can be my own person rather than kowtowing to some kind of groupthink, but it comes with the price of losing that sense of community/family that they have. Grass is always greener on the other side, huh?
I think that many others have a similar experience. Myself I've never really become a member of any organized religion - I have thought about it, but always the same objections come up - 'groupthink' as you put it, along with narowness of mind in many cases, and a kind phoniness too that seems to lurk around many organized religous groups. I prefer more spontaneous relations with people - they are more real. Maybe the solution is to try to connect with other people of like mind to yourself in a different context than that of organized religion. What that context might be depends on your own preferences and orientations in life.
