By Elder George

The Effect of Religion in Western Society

The internet news media reported on July 20, 2017 that the Regensburger Domspatzen Catholic choir school in Germany had abused 547 students (mostly preschoolers) physically over a 60 year period. More than half of the complaints were incidents that occurred from 1960 to 1980 and more than 10% of the abuse was sexual.

The previous week the Catholic Church made news by reporting that Vatican police conducted a raid and found a homosexual drug orgy taking place in the apartment of a priest serving as an assistant to a Cardinal

The week before that the media announced that a Cardinal from Australia serving in the finance department of the Vatican was being sued again for not taking appropriate action against priests who reportedly sexually assaulted youth.

The array of behavioral allegations against the Catholic Church seems endless, and other religions have their blemishes as well with clergy members not living the life that they preach, but regardless of church conduct and member affiliation, there are two sets of statistics that lead to a somber reflection on the impact of religion in Western society. The first statistic indicates the number of defections from religious organizations varies little from religion to religion. The second statistic indicates the divorce rate remains essentially the same among people of all religions in western society; furthermore, the divorce rate of the un-churched varies little from those who attend church.

If societal conduct varies little between the religious and the irreligious, between those who pray daily and atheists, the reasonable question that arises is “Why worship?”

In order for worship to be meaningful and effective, people must participate in a lifestyle commensurate with spiritual objectives, otherwise religiosity becomes a gimmick.

To pray in the morning and/or worship weekly and then start the day with the intent of earning more money than your neighbor, or having more than your fellow man is contrary to all spiritual teaching. To focus on amassing money, building a financial portfolio or even creating a highly profitable business, emphasizes worldliness over spirituality. The Western lifestyle is grossly materialistic; it focuses on profits, productivity, and assets. To focus on matters material while praying about matters spiritual is akin to having a Jekyll-Hyde personality. Spiritual ritual in a materialistic motivated environment serves as a gimmick and little more.

The lifestyle natural to the earth, to all societies, and most forms of life is patriarchy. Patriarchy concerns itself with the propagation and preservation of the species and the well-being of all of its members. It has a responsibility to women, children, widows, orphans, the aged, and the infirm. That leaves only one segment of society to fulfill those responsibilities and it’s called man.

Men establish all standards; without male authority there are no standards. Today’s news media reported on a group of teenagers who watched a crippled man drown in a pool and ignored his pleas for help. We learned of college hazing that killed a young man, of a woman raped at the steps of her church, of a homeless man beaten in public on the sidewalk, of a 20 year-old woman raping a 14 year old boy. These incidents are becoming commonplace in America. There are no standards. The standard makers have been neutered!

Women now brag about being in tune with and expressing their sexuality as sexually transmitted diseases increase, unwed motherhood and sluthood have become the norm, feeding Ritalin to our boys has become as common as providing nutritional supplements, infidelity has become what the French refer to as de rigueur (indispensable), whoredom flourishes, and adultery is flaunted in the media.

We have become a whore society. The mindset of the western world glorifies the ME at the expense of the well-being of the race. It’s me, Me, ME everywhere and in everything. The glorification of the me leads to the decline of society and the growth of whoredom. Two of the many prophets who had a few words to say about whoredom are: Leviticus – “Do not prostitute your daughter and so make her a whore, thus the land shall not play the prostitute and be full of lewdness,” and Jeremiah: – “I myself have stripped off your skirts and laid bare your shame. Your adulteries, your wanton lewdness are an offense to me.”

We live in a society without standards and without spiritual objectives. Our religious institutions have become impotent; its priests, rabbis, ministers, imams, gurus, and lamas have adopted the materialistic view and way of life. They not only have turned a blind eye to whoredom but have become a part of its promotion. Clergy divorce at a rate similar to that of the laity.

It matters little that the Catholic Church is rife with homosexual behavior, whether protestants have as much divorce as atheists, or Muslims have increasing numbers of children in foster care, or Hindus are committing suicide at unprecedented rates. The issue is that the whole Western influenced world has become worshippers of mammon and their respective societies are degenerating. Man cannot worship God and mammon.

In order for religious life to become meaningful secular life must include working for the betterment of all. Society must have spiritual awareness, gender understanding, and family focus. These three characteristics are found in the patriarchal societies of all indigenous peoples.

My brothers and sisters the materialistic Western culture that we live in is doomed to failure. Perhaps we cannot change society on a grand scale at this time ( although change is coming much sooner than most people think), but we can at least marry, be devoted to our spouses, children, and parents and live a life of concern for others while developing an awareness of the spirit. There really isn’t anything else.

Elder George can be reached at: mensaction@aol.com. His blog: http://mensaction.net/