Religion?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Stormieweather

I dislike being labeled (by myself or others). I don't feel the 'need' to belong to any particular group of religious individuals.

Ah, but I do need to be part of a community. In rural areas, there are not that many existing community groups, options are limited. I could, I suppose create a group around something else, say mountain biking, but it probably wouldn't connect across generations or classes the way the church does. Religion serves other functions besides spiritual.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Griff

Ah, but I do need to be part of a community. . . Religion serves other functions besides spiritual.

Yeah. Religion makes a counterpoise to the centrifugal forces that tend to pull a society apart -- political divisions, generation gaps, et cetera. Religions make social glue.

Robert A. Heinlein never really saw that part of it and tended to bitch at organized religion as a means of making money through others' superstition, and he never acknowledged religion as a manifestation of the human instinct to be part of something greater than oneself. He coulda been an Episcopalian and still disbelieved in organized religion!

(The only thing wrong with the via media is all those other drivers yelling, "Hey stupid, quit taking your half out of the middle of the via!!")

Originally Posted by rkzenrage

You can be a follower of Christ and not a Christian... the church is not needed.

You can be a follower of Christ and a Buddhist -- just one more of the Many Roads. I've heard you shouldn't try it on the professional-theologian level though, as the strain between belief systems can drive you rather buggy. But on a non-professional level, now, as a lay person...