When Religion Goes Bad

It seems that sometimes Christians can do more than any other group to damage the reputation of Christianity as a religion. In his message on Sunday, Alan spoke about 'religion gone bad' as one of the prime objections to religion as a whole that are being raised by today's atheists.

Throughout history, significant and profound wrongs have been done in the name of God and religion. While that's not true of all 'religious' people, those who are guilty of such atrocities get the most press, and are most remembered when it comes to evaluating any particular religion, or even religion itself.

Could this be one reason that so many people today feel the need to make a distinction between being 'spiritual' and being 'religious'?

Perhaps this is why so many non-religious people seem to shut down or grow uncomfortable when church, faith, and religion come up in conversation.

People learn about the God of Christianity by observing how Christians live. If they experience Christians as narrow minded and judgmental, aren't they justified in assuming that the same is true of our God? Unfortunately, that is an accurate description of how many Christians view God. Toward the end of his message Alan challenged us to think about our own faith and what characteristics of God are evident in our own lives.

So who is the God you worship? What is the character of that God? How does your own understanding of who God is set you free? Or how does it cause you to struggle with the very idea of being 'religious'?

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