Amos, you're right...that IS all that's wanted in most of those churches and organizations... "an amiable perpetuation of surface. Follow the forms, perpetuate the nouns, hand off the metaphors as fact, and never mind the probing questions."


It's also all that's wanted in political parties, corporations, the military, and large organizations of every type throughout society. ;-) Ever notice that? The rank and file of the members are expected to be full of enthusiasm, loyal, ill-informed, and barely aware of what's really going on. The less they know, the less likely they are to question authority.

The funny thing about non-theists is they seem to only be inclined to notice that kind of phenomenon when it's found happening in "religion". This is a case of finding perfidy wherever you look for it, and not finding it wherever you don't.

A self-fulfilling prophecy?

The highest form of spirituality is that which leads a person to look deeply into and question everything...every form of conventionality and lazy thinking...not just the conventionality and lazy thinking found in organized religion. Spirituality asks the great questions and the small ones. It questions every "rule" and re-examines it. It questions every role and re-examines it. It looks beyond the surface. It questions self as well as questioning others. It unites all the disciplines...science, philosophy, art, commerc. It does not divide and separate...(you don't look suddenly shaplier? Heh!)...it unifies the apparent opposites.

In all the debates here I see people trying to divide and separate: "My way good...your way bad. My way right...your way wrong." That, ultimately, does not lead anywhere useful. It just leads to division and warfare (on some level or another).