"Religion Is A Fringe Activity..."

For twelve years or more, I have been reading a Baptist "newsgroup" on Usenet, the original internet. Today, one of the resident atheists made a comment that, unfortunately, rings true and hits too close to home. She was responding to a post by the resident Baptist schizophrenic. Her simple statement was as follows:

Religion is a fringe activity even for the believer andit's just as well. Look
at Bush and Blair, the former was told by God to go to war, the latter will only
answere toGod!

I thought this quote was priceless. For most people, their "Christianity" really is a fringe activity. They go to the motions of church on Sunday, maybe go back on Sunday night or Wednesday night. They read their Bible just enough to get by on Sunday. They never witness to their neighbor. They never seriously invite anyone to church, then follow up with a card or letter or phone call or even another personal visit. Their "Christianity" is a fringe activity.

A fringe activity.

That explains how a preacher can lie to and mislead a congregation and feel no guilt. This explains how church staff members can shun and put-down others while feeling indifferent about it. This explains how Christians can defraud each other and feel no pain. This explains how Christian parents can set bad examples for their kids, then blame the kids when something goes wrong in their life. That idea also explains how a congregation can never witness, yet claim they know God told them to build a new building and, against scripture, go into debt to the tune of millions of dollars.

"A fringe activity."

No truer words were spoken.