RELIGION TODAY
Religion, specifically Christianity, and to a lesser degree Judaism, has been a part of social life in western cultures for so long that almost everyone, including those who are not religious, take it for granted. Some, especially atheist activists, occasionally rise up to purge aspects of religion from the public landscape — especially when religion intersects with government. Nevertheless, physical churches remain scattered throughout our cities and countryside conveying the impression that religion is to be tolerated if not accepted. That idea is reinforced by festivals like Easter and Christmas which are honored in the calendars of all public and private institutions. Those festivals are publicly promoted and tied to commerce in such powerful ways that it is nearly impossible for anyone, including the nonreligious, to avoid being caught up in them in one way or another.
In addition to churches and festivals, there are other signs that religion is affirmed and integrated into the social fabric. Public prayers at government meetings, day of prayer events, citywide evangelism crusades, and Biblical quotations on public buildings all communicate a sense that God is present and highly respected in the American culture. Some even like to say that Americans are God’s chosen people, that America was founded on Christian principles, and that it somehow deserves a special blessing from God because of that history. These are all examples of how strongly Christians, feel about their religion and its rightful — in their opinion — place in the American culture and even in the entire world.
On the surface, all this religious activity would seem to be a good thing for God. And it would be a good thing for him if he wanted his people to represent him to the world as the god of religious people who specialize in ceremonial rituals performed in specialized buildings while speaking specialized languages to select audiences who gather at regular times to practice their unique religious traditions. All those activities are the stuff of religion. But no one seems to know or care if all this religious activity is what God wants.
STUDY TIP: See How God Sees Religion for understanding of what God does not want.
What God does want is found in the Bible, but people have always had difficulty interpreting his ways correctly. That is why religion has so many different forms. Why there are so many different forms (e.g. denominations, rituals, music, sects, ministries, etc.) to Christianity and Judaism is a question no one ever asks. No one seems to wonder how there can be so many different ways to worship the God who has only one book of directions by which his followers should learn about him. An alien visitor might wonder if indeed it is one unique god that people worship or many gods that are called by one name. Still, everyone assumes that this is the way it ought to be because it has always been this way. The power of the assumption is so strong that none of the religious ones doubt that this is the way that God wants it to be.
Even though they claim to believe that the Bible has God’s directions for worshiping him, believers have no trouble reconciling their own unique worship practices with the Bible. They see no need to compare what they do with what God has said. Each branch of Christianity and Judaism has the historical momentum of select theologies and traditions that guide it through political, economic and social change. And if they encounter winds that threaten their institutional stability, they will make adjustments to keep the faithful on board and the keep their religious institutions (e.g. churches, denominations, synagogues, seminaries, colleges, missions, etc.) stable and solvent.
Despite the power of tradition, cultural influences shape religious institutions over time just like they affect nonreligious institutions. None of them want to become extinct or irrelevant for lack of ability to adapt to changing environments. Nothing, not even the Bible, will inhibit religious institutions from changing their worship practices and doctrines to reflect evolving cultures. Basic theologies and worship practices may evolve slowly, but most forms of religion do change when change is necessary to survive in an increasingly competitive religious environment. Some religions grow and others decline as religionists migrate from one religion to another, but overall the population of practicing religionists is shrinking.
STUDY TIP: See God is Calling People Out of Religion for more about the decline of religion.
If religious leaders and followers would bother to study even a little what God says about worship they would learn that the models for worship in both the Old and New Testaments cannot be reconciled with modern worship practices. They accept the Biblical truth that God does not change, but are not willing to integrate that aspect of Godliness into their religious practices. Having made that critical theological concession, there is no impetus or incentive to study what God says about the kind of religion God expects. Thus, all religious sects continue practicing their traditions in hard-hearted ignorance of what God has said while adjusting to changing times when necessary. The result is many forms of man-made religions where people honor God with their mouths and in their rituals, but their hearts are far from God.