Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 27, 2023

Hey, look, every church!

I HAD friends that decided to join that church

Everyone is welcome. Leave your opinions at the door.

Every time a religious question arises (and they arise practically daily) there are two sides to it, and the way they “resolve” their differences is to go their separate ways. (Good example, Southern Baptists, who were pretty sure the Bible approved of slavery.) This happens a whole lot, with the result that there are over 45,000 different flavors of Christianity alone, each one convinced that it and it alone has a lock on the absolute truth and adherents of the other 44,999 are doomed to burn forever in hėll. They can’t all be right, but they can all be wrong!

THAT is why churches are so very popular among folks who really LIKE being right at any cost. Though most of the congregations have to be right at the cost of letting someone else decide what “right” is for them (otherwise, they’d all wander off in different directions and that would never do).

My dad is not a religious person, but that sure sounds like his preaching’s.

The best place to go to if you are having a crisis of faith is the place that indoctrinated you in the first place. They will take your brain out and wash it thoroughly.

Sign at entrance:

“We’re universal but only human — please separate church from state and leave politics at the door.”

That’s a pretty large building for only one person.

I don’t mind denominations having their own opinion, but when they say you have to join their sect in order to get into heaven, stay clear of them!

Don’t forget that things like “climate change”, “sexual identity” and “misinformation” are inhabited by people who believe just as religiously in their own views of the truth. And I say they are all wrong!

The irony is that it took them six months of arguing, and two schisms to agree on the wording of the sign.

Wearing it on its sleeve at least.

Wait a minute That’s EVERY religion.

That’s why I believe in a creator of some sort, but not intolerant religions.

A church where all races can feel superior to other races.

Just thought I’d mention that Judaism says they are the right way to live only for Jews and don’t try to impose their religious beliefs on others.

At long last, The Ecumenical Meeting of all the various church leaders was going well until The Church of Satan petitioned to join. Somehow, allowing it to take part somehow seemed … JUST WRONG.

Sounds like why republicans claim they are Christian. Problems are like spheres or a ball there are millions of sides to issues, it just depends on how the issue is being addressed.

From the very old commercial “Kenalration”.My Gods better than your God…My Gods better than yours……My gods better than …he eats your generation ..My Gods better that yours……

My “congregation” belongs to the Church of God, The Wholly Indifferent”. The main tenet is that God started the universe and then went on vacation and hasn’t returned.

“Religion”: the SINGLE GREATEST Man-Made EVIL ever inflicted on Humanity!!

Religions were created by a small group of elites to keep the vast majority of the population poor and brainwashed into believing whatever they were TOLD to believe. It’s all about Power and money.

Morning Wiley, the truth from you as usual, how many different religion Bibles we up to now, my last count was between 15 and 18, they all say were right and the others are wrong, and the world has more hate and wars than ever! I quit them all and just pray to one God whenever I want to and He or She gives me the answers I need.

One of two recsuees on why three church buildings were on the island: “One for him, one for me, and the third is the one we both agreed not to go to.”

That’s every church.

“I never really understood religion, Except it seems a good excuse to kill” Ten Years After

what if all religions are right?

Others try to say “Everyone is right and Nobody is wrong.”

It sounds so wonderfully inclusive and accepting … but since some of those “everyones” do believe that there are some things that are right and that other things are wrong – and that doesn’t agree with other “everyones”, it’s contradictory, deceptive, and meaningless.

Pretty much how most of the Abrahamic religions believe.

So many religions and sects and cults yet almost none of them follow the most basic of tenets like sympathy and empathy and treating all the way that those followers want to be treated

If God is everywhere, and all around us, why do they need a church/temple/mosque?

Wherever you are, just look up and ask ‘’Any instructions today?’’

You shouldn’t have named it “Universal” since it sounds like the Universalists, and they actually DO believe that everybody is at least partially right, and everybody will be saved.

Everybody thinks that they’re right and others are wrong. That’s the case with any belief. You have an opinion, you believe it’s right (or it wouldn’t be your opinion), and it logically follows that those who differ are wrong,

The fundamentalist doesn’t believe he’s right – he KNOWS. It’s a certainty. And those who differ are not merely wrong, but have something wrong WITH them.

And that mindset can be part of any ideology, religious or secular.

My wife and I started out as Catholic and then became Episcopalians joining a “rich, white” church downtown. We didn’t exactly burn out the clutch shifting gears on that. The theology is exactly the same, but the message from the pulpit is different and it is often delivered by a woman.

At one service, we did confirmation / reception. The bishop, her deacon and the two priests were all women. It was an all-girl show up on the altar. I definitely knew I was not in a Catholic Church then.

Now we attend a “mission church” in a converted house. Again, it’s same theology, but the atmosphere of the services is a lot different. It’s more like, “Hey guys, let’s get together and hold a Eucharist.” If somebody wanders in late, the priest often stops what she’s doing and waves at them and says, “Welcome, have a seat!” High mass was never like that when I was a kid.

As rich, white folk, my wife and I are in the minority in this church. . It’s been a fun ride. I am meeting people I could never meet in any of the other areas of my life since I work with, live with, worship with and otherwise totally deal with, other rich white people.

The church is not in my neighborhood, but the people who show up there are my neighbors.

When it comes to which religion is the correctest I don’t have a dog in this hunt, a hand in this game, or a horse in this race. At my advanced age, I prefer to meet people, learn who they are and how they treat others, then decide if I want to continue the connection. And I hope they will give me the same consideration. Religion, race, social mores, employment, etc, have nothing to do with it. Just one person finding the value in another.

Most Christians have literally no idea what their particular schism teaches. Ask the average presbyterian how his church is different from the methodist church across the street and you’ll get a blank stare probably 75% of the time. The one thing all non-Catholic Christians know is that they’re not Catholic and don’t have no filthy Pope, and are therefore morally superior to all Catholics, and that’s as sophisticated as their understanding of doctrine ever gets.

We could use more religion now, as worshipping money and celebrities doesn’t seem to be doing us much good.

Monotheism is the problem. When you believe in multiple gods, then there is no threat to your personal beliefs from other people’s beliefs. Look at the ancient Romans, Greeks, Etruscans, Egyptians, Vikings, etc. They didn’t go to war because people had different gods, they absorbed each others’ gods into their belief system. When you believe in only one god (ignore the Father-Son-Holy Ghost issue), then anyone who believes in a different god or gods [or who believes different things about god] is a threat to your belief.

Og: “Fire, good.”

Ug: “Ouch, fire bad.”

Fast forward 300,000 years.

“Religion, good.”

“Religion, bad.”

Aren’t almost all churches like that?

I take a theory based approach to life where I hold onto a belief/theory until it is proved wrong, and then I move onto what is believed to be the correct one. Of course this caused me to become an atheist decades ago.

“I’m sure God doesn’t mind which floor we do our shopping on,as long as we use his department store”

A rabbi said this to Sammy Davis Jr. when he was first changing to Judaism

“If you are a Christian, be a good Christian. If you are a Buddhist, be a good Buddhist. If you are a Moslem, be a good Moslem.” – The Dalai Lama

You don’t have to belong to a church to believe you are right and everyone else is wrong. Most people do that naturally.

I had a gig at a church picnic, (Presbyterian) filling in for someone who’d gotten sick. While I was setting up, they asked if I’d like a cup of coffee, and I said yes. They said “decaf?” and I said I’d prefer regular caffeinated. One guy said to the other in a snarky tone, “Heh, he could get caffeinated down at the Lutheran church.” (Really happened.)

Sounds like the Leviticans of Ameristan from Neal Stephenson’s 2019 novel “Fall, or Dodge in Hell.”

In the novel, the Leviticans live in rural America. They erect 200 foot tall aluminum crosses that they light with natural gas at night. If you break one of their God’s rules—like wearing a polyester/cotton t-shirt—you were punished by the modern equivalent of stoning…in a hail of bullets.

Their Jesus was not crucified and wasn’t a wimp who espoused taking care of the poor, destitute, and helpless.

The Leviticans held many beliefs that contradicted reality and each other. Their worldview was supported by an endless stream of social media.

The funny result is the occasional incidence of two preachers trying to cast demons out of each other at the same time over a difference of opinion.

Actually, that’s not exclusively a church viewpoint, that’s every human’s viewpoint.

They don’t seem to be packing them in the pews…

I think they’re called Unitarians.

Having read all or most of the comments, I’ll just add, thank god I’m atheist.

“Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious Animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion—several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight. He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven.” Mark Twain – “The Lowest Animal” c. 1896-1905.

Every church except UUs……

Question for devote Christians because I am trying to understand. I believe in God with my whole heart. I believe he forgives my sins if I ask and I try harder, understanding I always fail. So if I believe in God, and know he loves me and forgives me, why do I have to believe Jesus was the son of God? Isn’t he just the middle man? The reason I ask is because I just can’t get pass the provenance of the Gospels. In half the stories, no one was there to document it to begin with. Second, none of them could read or write. Third, the gospels were all written 30 years after the fact. I whole heartedly agree the gospel is a great self help book that we should all follow with its basic guidance but I can’t get pass the provenance. Thanks for reading this far!

If you ever want to read something from someone who has really thought about the contradictions of religion, try Mark Twain’s “Letters from the Earth”. It is hilarious and was too controversial to be published during his lifetime.

I have a friend with a crucifix & a doorknob attached it…seems to work for him. Kumbaya, baby!

Roman Catholic.

They’re wrong!

This comic really does dishearten me. To see there are, at this time, 290 likes and almost 200 comments, most of them negative toward churches, it’s hard to believe that there are so many misinformed folks out there.

I’ve worked in churches almost all my life, been licensed and ordained in the SBC, attend in the UMC, was Christened in the PC, and presently minister in the ECOCW. And, except for my very earliest experiences, not seen any church people that believe their way is the only way. Most are seeking to be better people; to become the perfect ones that Jesus urged his followers to be. Yes, many do just become a member of a club and as such have no real Xn loving attitude about life, but they remain dedicated to being the best they can. Some can be very insular, wanting only those who are already here to be a part of their fellowship. I ministered in a church like that and that was the main reason I left their fellowship, after almost 9 years of service.

While most of my ministry has been in southern churches, I have ministered in Maryland and Indiana. And throughout all of these, their work and drive was to be the best they could be, in their church work and in themselves. For this effort they found love within a fold of fellow believers and an opportunity to work out their faith. I’m sorry is many can’t see this, but this is what I have seen through years and years of experience.

My minister cousin refused to participate in a community gathering after a major tragedy involving school children, because being there with all the other denominations might imply approval of beliefs other than the rigid judgmental ones his church holds so they aren’t allowed to do so. Because why would a church want to be there for all members of the community or try to set an example like the dude they claim to be worshiping? Obviously our sides of the family aren’t close — his mother always looked down on my mother and her children as wild hippies or something.

The Woke Folk are establishing churches? …Probably for the conferred tax status.

Reverend Carrico took a different approach, when teaching our Methodist confirmation classes. He taught us the main beliefs of Methodism, and the history and reasoning behind them. When we raised questions, he would discuss how those beliefs were similar to those of other Christian denominations, as well as other religions. Other belief systems were not wrong, they simply took a different approach. In the end, the basic thought was “to love one’s neighbor as oneself.” That is what stayed with me.

What is the BEST religion of all?

Easy.

“Mine.”

Just as I believe my mom as the best mom ever, and can’t imagine a better one.

I hope others can say the same about theirs.

I consider my relationship with God to be a private matter between me and her.

That is exactly how every single church is.

Frankly, the guy sitting two pews away from you probably has some ideas you’d consider heretical as well (and vice versa).

“nondenominational”

A pity. We really could have used someone to de-nominate Santos.

Everyone Welcome…

Just like back in the Middle Ages. ;)

Isn’t that basically all churches?

One size, erase and correct, sign fits all

And, just 15 minutes later, there was a 500 way Schism.

They will Never get the blood out of the carpets or off the ceiling.

If God is in us all, there is no exclusion.

Wow! Lots of varying thoughts here. It’s nice to see that some like to have a serious discussion and not just throw barbs at each other. Wiley brought up a very sensitive subject. Here is something else to consider……(and let’s save the debate about the existence of God for another thread) There are many who subscribe to the idea that “all religions are different roads to God”. God, being the supreme being however, has the ultimate right to decide what worship he will accept and what he will not accept. In the Bible, from Genesis through Revelation, he makes clear what he will accept and what he will reject. Many times throughout the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) he had his prophets and kings make known to his people where they were straying in their worship, and when they refused to make changes he rejected them and they entered into exile or suffered other consequences for it. It wasn’t left up to their ‘interpretation’ of the Mosaic law, nor was it a cafeteria of sorts where they could pick and choose what they liked and pass on what they didn’t. God sets the standard for how we are to worship him and the Bible makes clear what is truth and what is not truth. Jesus reaffirmed that point when he was on earth. If a person wants to be accepted by God, they need to learn what his requirements are and bring their thinking into harmony with what God requires. God does not lower his standards to fit what is comfortable for humans or what is currently politically correct or popular. The 10 commandments are a good example of ‘no interpretation required’. “You must not (or Thou shalt not)” means exactly that….don’t means Don’t. It is the obligation of each person to ensure that what he ‘believes’ is correct in God’s view and acceptable to him.

We had a former Archbishop telling his congregation, “If you don’t like what we’re doing, leave!” How very Christian. This from an evangelical Anglican church. He literally (and I use the word advisedly), told us to excommunicate ourselves!! By the way, that happened in Sydney, Australia; you may have heard of the place.

The late, great U. Utah Phillips used to claim that the Unitarians drove him out of Utah, saying “They burned a question mark on my front lawn.”

Yup…they all think that very way.

“Is you God afraid of Tinkywinky?” Cheryl Wheeler. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6K3PmJ9zb8

Said every Religion ever.

And probably the only one that publicly declares their true, root, belief