Can Religious People Fix Other Religious People

A religious person recently speculated that the exodus from the faith is being caused by hypocrites and the self-righteous. He speculates if more knew about the quiet good works within the faith this would turn things around.

He is talking, of course, about those we all know about. Priests who look down on the divorced and the same sex attracted. Also the evangelicals who praise morality but endorse a President who embodies the worst of the worst.

Although the author does not mention them, those who commented noted his list should include the self righteous protesters at abortion clinics passing moral judgement on the women entering while pretending to pray. These top my list of hypocrites. They pray out loud to be certain others can hear them. Then they support politics that harm instead of help women with unwanted pregnancies.

A large staff of public relations experts, implied in the link, will not fix Christianity. It has not helped Catholicism. There is a big staff or such PR people in the Vatican. When a Pope travels you see pictures of people throwing flowers at him. There are such people.

But, the numbers of white Catholics is falling. It has to do with a lower birth rate but also due to the sex and theft scandals among its clergy. Try as it may, the church has not been able to put these scandals behind it. The rest of the faith will not be able to put behind it the silk suits and sexual appetites of wealthy preachers.

It is interesting to watch the growing number of "nones," those who claim no identity with any faith. That group grows more in each round of annual surveys. This group has no public relations office, no strategic plan and no corporate logo.

It seems religious people cannot fix other religious people or the faith itself.