Over the years religion, and especially Western religion, has proven not only to be ineffective, but also harmful. Many within religion have manufactured a fear that leaving religion will lead to something worse. It’s only in their mind, but that is the story and they’re sticking to.
As I said a few days ago, the initial stages of deconstruction are extremely difficult, but once we progress a little further down the road he gets much better, in my opinion.
Why is less religion better?
1. The community is more authentic.
It is appropriate that we talk about this right now, because it’s Halloween. Trunk or Treat is an example of when the church takes us out of our real communities to a faux community supervised by clergy.
The community that religion promises is a manufactured, fake community where everyone believes the same and theoretically has the same goals. It is not in any way organic or natural. It is more of a business proposition. Even though it dons the family and body metaphors, It is far inferior to the real community that happens naturally in our daily lives.
2. Practices are much simpler.
Since leaving organized religion, my practices have become much simpler. I won’t mention what they are because I don’t want to debate or compare, but suffice to say they are simpler, deeper and much more authentic. They are exactly what I need, not what a member of the clergy prescribed for me.
I not only don’t have to drive anywhere to accept whatever my religion is offering, but I can alter and change my practices to align with daily intentions. Some days, I do nothing or sit in silence or just breathe. It’s way better than before and no one collects a tithe from me afterward.
3. Everything I need is within.
It took a while to convince me of this fact. I don’t need anyone else to mediate for me or prescribe what I should learn or how I should practice. Leaving religion led to inner healing that not only opened up the wounded parts, but also helped me see more clearly that everything I needed to thrive was there all along.
This not only promotes authenticity, but it makes my spiritual journey much more effective and pure. Jesus, and others have started, “The Kingdom of God is within you.”. Organized Religion only wrapped layers around this fact and made it almost impossible to access. But when I left religion and did the necessary work, It immediately became clear.
I didn’t just cut back on my religion, I realized I never really needed it at all. The simple truth of most religions are easily taught, and especially with the internet, are easily accessed. Consciousness is way better than indoctrination and much less prone to abuse.
Once I arrived at this place where I realized I could go inside and find simple and deep practices that served me while developing genuine communities organically, I immediately lost the desire to ever return to organized religion. It is systemically destined to repeatedly fail.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with me totally, but I hope that you will join in the conversation. Laura and I wrote a book called “Out into the Desert” that includes this evaluation of organized religion in the 21st century and also our experiences from 20 years of ministry and our record of thriving out here in the desert.
We invite you to join us!
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text/158422011/
Be where you are,
Be who you are,
Karl Forehand
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