{"id":425,"date":"2011-10-15T11:57:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-15T11:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/10\/is-religion-relevant\/"},"modified":"2011-10-15T11:57:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-15T11:57:00","slug":"is-religion-relevant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/10\/is-religion-relevant.html","title":{"rendered":"Is Religion Relevant?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>\n\n\n\n
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courtesy Bad Vestments blog<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The problem with trendy vestments, and any other attempt to make the faith \u2018relevant\u2019 is that it is immediately out of date. Like the new car that depreciates as soon as you drive if off the lot\u2013you\u2019re immediately a loser.<\/p>\n

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Who really cares if the vestment, or your religion for that matter, is \u2018relevant\u2019? People who want life to be \u2018relevant\u2019 don\u2019t want it to be religious because they\u2019ve already concluded that religion isn\u2019t relevant or they would have been religious, and I respect them for their honesty.<\/div>\n
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What I mean is this: if you want to change the world, occupy Wall Street or save the polar bears or bring in a new economic order or equality for gays or help feed poor children or be nicer to old people or feed the hungry or house the homeless or any other good and wonderful thing\u2013you don\u2019t really need religion to do it. Just get on and be a nice, good, helpful change the world kind of person.<\/div>\n
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If I were a \u2018good atheist\u2019 intent on changing the world, I\u2019d sort of resent the religious people trying to crash my party. I\u2019d say, \u201cYou\u2019re supposed to be about saving souls from hell and forgiveness and the blood of Jesus and casting out demons and transubstantiation and all that stuff aren\u2019t you? Why don\u2019t you mind your own business and butt out?\u201d<\/div>\n
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Let\u2019s face it, real religion\u2013that has to do with a transaction with the supernatural, the transformation of souls into glorious eternal beings and their action in the world\u2013that\u2019s not immediately \u2018relevant\u2019 for most people, so when religious people try to get relevant they end up being neither religious nor relevant. That\u2019s why goofy vestments like the one above pretty well illustrate the vapidity of such an enterprise.<\/div>\n
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On the other hand, of course, real religion that is timeless and simply tells and tries to live the old, old story of God\u2019s mysterious, redemptive love for mankind will continue to touch lives, transform people and transform the world and end up being totally relevant.<\/div>\n
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So, to stand things on their head, if you want to be irrelevant try to be relevant. If you want to be relevant aim to be irrelevantly religious and you\u2019ll end up being relevant despite yourself.<\/div>\n
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courtesy Bad Vestments blog The problem with trendy vestments, and any other attempt to make the faith \u2018relevant\u2019 is that it is immediately out of date. Like the new car that depreciates as soon as you drive if off the lot\u2013you\u2019re immediately a loser. Who really cares if the vestment, or your religion for that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Religion Relevant?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"courtesy Bad Vestments blogThe problem with trendy vestments, and any other attempt to make the faith 'relevant' is that it is immediately out of date.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/10\/is-religion-relevant.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Religion Relevant?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"courtesy Bad Vestments blogThe problem with trendy vestments, and any other attempt to make the faith 'relevant' is that it is immediately out of date.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2011\/10\/is-religion-relevant.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. 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