The Decline of Faith

re:

The Decline of Faith

By Tom Bethell from the June 2011 issue

Mark30339| 6.30.11 @ 10:06AM

As Mr. Bethell takes a nostalgic look back to nuns in habits and warnings of eternal damnation from the pulpit, I think an appropriate phrase for then and now is: "Many who belong to God, do not belong to the Church, and many who belong to the Church, do not belong to God. While I agree that the increased comfort of this age may contribute to increasing detachment from religious faith -- I think the real culprit is the obsessive focus on the ego-centric self. What I know, what I think, what I have, what I want, what I do, what I feel, what I say -- these matters have crowded out all others. And who can blame us, given the inundation of media that compels self-absorption. We are so ego driven that perhaps we are no longer able to devote heart and mind, body and soul to anything (let alone to faith in Jesus Christ).

Ponder, for example, the Solidarity movement in Poland. After suffering under great privations for decades under Soviet rule, the workers dedicated their bodies and souls to confront the injustice with a non-violent dedication to Christ. A decade after the Soviet collapse, John Paul II was chastising Poles vigorously for having let their society slip into the amoral ethos of license embraced all over the West. Instead of being a people in solidarity with each other and in Christ, they've been reduced to individuals pre-occupied with their own comfort. Contrary to Mr. Bethell's unfair dismissal, social justice is about belonging to your neighbor and your neighbor belonging to you; it begins by being in relationship with the other -- rather than being absorbed in the self. Our adventure is to act justly with our neighbor, to embrace and love mercy, and to walk with our God with an honest and humble sense of self -- statistics on Church attendance in the West may be interesting, but they don't diminish the adventure in the least.

P Naylor| 6.30.11 @ 3:25PM

Here is something I found in an old book, one published for use by the military in 1941.
Washington’s Prayer for the Nation

Almighty God, we make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in thy holy protection, that Thou wilt incline the heart of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplications, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
(Written at Newburg, June 8, 1783, and sent to the Governors of all the States.)