Politics Dictating Faith...

When reading my dear friend Ben's blog, I was sad to see news of his Church shrinking in membership. All while growing up, the people I had known from that congregation have always been above-par nice, good-natured, and thoughtful. Being raised in Turlock gave me higher than average exposure to varieties of religious denominations, and the Presbyterian Church to which he belongs always seemed more tolerant and inclusive than most. I remember seeing concerts and playing on their grounds without a feeling of being pressured or unwelcome in any way, which is amazing to feel when one is a lone atheist boy. If there is a way for me to eventually repay that kindness, I hope to do so.

That, however, is not what strikes me to write here. In reading the article he linked to from the Christian Post, something struck me as not quite right. It described some of the governing politics tying the various Churches together. But this appears as an attempt to govern something that is utterly ungovernable.

When it comes to faith, there is something intrinsically personal about it. While there may be elements of it that are enriched by communing with those who share one's faith, it is still, at the core, how just one person perceives the world. It is the mind's bridge to the soul. There is nothing and no one that can touch or change that relationship. Religous groups and other people may help by presenting their ideas and interpretations of just what exactly will best get one across that bridge, but it may only be traversed by the one person possessing it.

The associations and alliances of Churches, however, should not be construed as a poor idea. It is a grand one and generally a genuine pact of aid. When combining economic support systems, groups that fall on unfortunate times have a much deeper well of resources with which to recover (*cough*Universal Health Care*cough*). This is another citing of that wonderful part of human nature to help one another and be stronger as a group than each can be individually.

The line is crossed when it is an outside act to change how one's faith should operate and what it should be associated with. Leaving one sect and joining another, deciding that the differences among the old and new members is of no importance or tolerable to forget cannot actually work, can it? A dictate cannot come from some ranking person in a hierarchy nor from a simple majority stating that everyone shall now belong to and believe something different. Or does human belief and faith actually operate like that?

I was raised with a multitude of options and thought of them as many different paths to Heaven. It was all a matter of personal choice, personal faith, and it was different for each person. I don't know. I have so far wound up with an understanding of life and soul of my own, along with a rather severe cynicism of the idea of organizing religion at all. So if there are any who read this can add their two cents on governing belief. I will admit my own lack of insight on most religious ideas, as I have always been an ouside observer squinting in the distance occasionally.