Organized Religion and Lost Boys

One of the things that inspired me to start blogging was when my Chicago son started his blog, and in his list of things he wanted to share was the following:

“I am mistrustful of organized religion, but deeply respectful of spiritual people.”

When I saw him in December, he voiced that sentiment as well, and after getting the message twice, I feel moved to respond. Not just to him, but to examine my own feelings on the subject.

More wars have been started and more people have died defending or opposing religious ideals than for any other reason. Well over 6 million people were killed and countless more subjected to unspeakable living conditions simply because they were Jews. I don’t know the body count from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, but all those “holy wars” were no less a blot on humanity than the Holocaust. The situation in the Middle East, the Holy Land, the Cradle of Civilization, is solely based on the differences between organized religions.

I deplore these practices, these prejudices, the proposition that “my religious beliefs are more valid than your religious beliefs.” I am sad that I grew up in a household where I heard prejudice against Roman Catholics and Jews. When I liked a boy, in junior high and high school, my father would say “it’s OK as long as he isn’t a Catholic or a Democrat.” Seriously! My parents were good people, educated, well read, non-practicing Episcopalians, and devout conservatives. Early-learned stereotypes die hard.

Organized religion has caused governments to remove children in indigenous populations in order to dilute the gene pool (leading to the eventual dying out of the culture), teach them Christianity and insist that they never use their native language. I didn’t know anything about these practices until I saw “The Rabbit Proof Fence” several years ago, and after that I learned that the Anglican Church in Canada, and even the Episcopal Church in the U.S. were involved in similar activities with the Native Americans. These practices certainly weren’t taught in any history class I had!

Organized religion has produced continuous fodder for psychiatrists and psychologists, as they try to help people deal with their guilt, resentment, and anger at a God who they believe has let bad things happen to them.
All of the above are valid reasons for hating organized religions, but it is only one side of the coin.

I am a member of an organized religion, the Episcopal Church of the United States of America (ECUSA). Yes, after all that. After learning that “my” Church was complicit in the “cleansing” of indigenous peoples, I continue to maintain my affiliation with them. As was so passively said by our outgoing president in 2008, “Mistakes were made”. And we can’t go back. I believe our National Church has apologized for that mistake, and so now we move on.

The Holy Wars continue and, like the poor, will probably always be with us. But let’s take another look at what organized religion means.

When disaster strikes, such as the Tsunami in Indonesia, hurricane Katrina, and the devastating earthquake in China, not only ECUSA, but countless other major religious organizations provided immediate help with people and money. There are ministries in the Sudan and other African countries, which aren’t solving the big-picture issues, but are providing food, clothing, clean water, education, and hope to millions of people. Some of those providing aid in the form of clinics and education are the “Lost Boys of the Sudan” (see paragraph at the end, copied from Wikipedia) who found refuge in the U.S. in 2001 and have returned, many as medical personnel, to help their own. And they do that under the aegis of ECUSA and other religious denominations. There are missions in every city that are organized, staffed, and financially supported by organized religious groups. There are volunteers from most every religious denomination in hospitals, nursing homes, blood banks, food banks, homeless shelters, etc., who give their time and talents to be where people are in need. Of course, there are always individuals who do that on their own, and there are other organizations that perform equally “good works”, such as Rotary International, other fraternal organizations, business clubs, etc.

But in my humble opinion (which contrary to popular belief is not an oxymoron!), the most important thing about organized (and unorganized) religion is the community it provides for its members. A community arises because of a shared value or interest. In general, people want to hang with like people. An individual may be part of many communities—a little theatre group, the PTA, the Masons, a temple or church, a knitting guild, where together they are more than the sum of their parts. People may gather in an ad hoc manner to deal with an issue that one person alone cannot handle or present credibility. A petition is an example of an ad hoc community—the signatures represent a community of people who may never meet, but their interest and commitment to an issue bring them together and are very powerful. However one feels about labor unions, they were formed because individual people could not force changes in the workplace. We no longer work 16 hours a day for a pittance. We no longer tolerate sexual harassment or gender/race discrimination in the workplace. It’s not always perfect, but it beats the conditions of a century ago.

There’s no undoing the past. The human suffering over countless generations cannot be glossed over or ‘canceled out’ by any amount of good. However, let us acknowledge and give thanks that there is good being done every hour of every day by good people out there making small and large contributions of their money, time, and talents to move toward a better world of compassion and peace.

I still struggle with what it means to be “spiritual”. I have often said the same thing myself, “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual.” What does that mean to me? What does that mean to my son? What does that mean to you?


Following is information about the Lost Boys of Sudan, from Wikipedia:

“Many of the boys came from the predominantly Christian and animist southern section of Sudan who were fleeing persecution by Arabs that dominated northern Sudan. The name was given by aid organizations, including the International Rescue Committee program which resettled some of these refugees from Sudan to the United States.

In 2001, about 3801 Lost Boys arrived in the United States, where they are now scattered in about 38 cities, averaging about 100 per city. Halted after 9/11 for security reasons, the program restarted in 2004, but peace talks were underway in Sudan, and so other refugee crises in other countries took priority. As of 2006, the largest population of Sudanese refugees in the United States is in Omaha, Nebraska which hosts about 7,000 people. A variety of charities helped bring Sudanese refugees to the United States, such as Catholic Charities. A variety of programs have been done to help and understand these displaced people, everything from reconnecting them to their traditional dancing to dental work to replace teeth which had been removed by traditional custom, but whose loss is negative in the USA.

Most of the boys were orphaned or separated from their families when government troops systematically attacked villages in southern Sudan killing many of the inhabitants, most of whom were civilians. The younger boys survived in large numbers because they were away tending herds or were able to escape into the nearby jungles. Orphaned and with no support, they would make epic journeys lasting years across the borders to international relief camps in Ethiopia and Kenya evading thirst, starvation, wild animals, insects, disease, and one of the most bloody wars of the 20th century. Experts say they are the most badly war-traumatized children ever examined.

When villages were attacked, girls were raped, killed, taken as slaves to the north, or became servants or adopted children for other Sudanese families. As a result, relatively few girls made it to the refugee camps.”

More to come...