AJ Heschl on Why Religion Declined

Here's a thought-provoking quote from Rabbi A. J. Heschel in "God in Search of Man."

“It is customary to blame secular science and anti-religious philosophy for the eclipse of religion in modern society. It would be more honest to blame religion for its own defeats. Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, insipid. When faith is completely replaced by creed, worship by discipline, love by habit; when the crisis of today is ignored because of the splendor of the past; when faith becomes an heirloom rather than a living fountain; when religion speaks only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion--its message becomes meaningless.”

Sunday Assembly: Trying to Replace Church for Unbelievers

In an article on Sunday Assembly, which apparently is pretty successful in London and is test marketing the USA, the Washington Post describes a meeting of about 60 people who responded to an ad to start "a godless congregation." You can read a description of the 90-minute meeting in the WP link. The writer says, the Sunday Assembly idea has attracted attention "...mostly because [the founders are] speaking to an increasingly secular society still hungry for two commodities organized religion purports to provide: wonder and community."

This is sad on a number of levels. Two that come most quickly to mind is that 1) people are trying to manufacture what the Lord has already offered and 2) the Church, in many cases, hasn't provided a connection to the wonder and community that is found through Christ (note the word, "purports," in the quote above).

November 10, 2013 update: Yahoo has a story about the founders' visit to Los Angeles here, which attracted far more people than the DC gathering.