The Answer to Bad Religion is not No Religion! (Martin Thielen) -- Review
THE ANSWER TO BAD RELIGION IS NOT NO RELIGION: A Guide to Good Religion for Seekers, Skeptics, and Believers. By Martin Thielen. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014. Xv + 160 pages.
It’s not secret – fewer people are going to church than they used to. Many give the bad state of religion as their reason for staying away. People seem to have noticed that there is a lot of hypocrisy among Christians. They’re too politicized, angry, exclusive, dogmatic, and self-righteous. They’re simply not pleasant to be around. So why spend your Sunday’s around such people. Instead, we can be spiritual without the trappings of religion. I can understand the sentiment – I’ve known these kinds of people. I’ve even been counted among them a few times in my life. But just because some religion is bad, doesn’t mean we have to totally give up on religion!
Martin Thielen, a United Methodist Pastor serving in Tennessee, and a former Southern Baptist pastor, doesn…
It’s not secret – fewer people are going to church than they used to. Many give the bad state of religion as their reason for staying away. People seem to have noticed that there is a lot of hypocrisy among Christians. They’re too politicized, angry, exclusive, dogmatic, and self-righteous. They’re simply not pleasant to be around. So why spend your Sunday’s around such people. Instead, we can be spiritual without the trappings of religion. I can understand the sentiment – I’ve known these kinds of people. I’ve even been counted among them a few times in my life. But just because some religion is bad, doesn’t mean we have to totally give up on religion!
Martin Thielen, a United Methodist Pastor serving in Tennessee, and a former Southern Baptist pastor, doesn…