Why Doesn’t Religion Work?
I was a seminary student when this young man came to my church in Grand Rapids. He was in my small group and my elder district. He told me that he was unhappy but when he drove by the church on Sunday as the people were coming out he could see that they were happy, so he decided to get baptized and join our church. Church would make him happy.
A few months later he stopped attending church. I followed up with him. He said, “It didn’t work. Church was supposed to make me happy but I’m still unhappy so I’m not going to come any more. I’m going to keep looking for something that will make me happy.” That was the last I knew of him.
As a pastor I’ve seen this play out dozens of times. Consumers come into church because they’ve seen the advertising. “Join our religion, buy our product, try our program and we will give you what you want!” It just cycles again and again and again.
Why doesn’t religion work? We want religion to:
- Make me happy
- End my suffering and the suffering in the world
- fill the world with joy and meaning
- fill the world with beauty
- make all our dreams come true
Religions Work Well Enough To Survive
Religions certainly work well enough to survive. Ontology has its own justification. If enough religious customers are happy there will be enough money to keep the institutions going, to pay the religious service providers. I’m not sure this is as much a testimony to religious effectiveness as it is to the need and desperation in the world for a better world and a better life.
Two Defensive Religious Responses Continue reading →
