My partners latest column in The Phoenix from Phoenixville, PA

[FrankieBud]

There's a few grammar errors and typos as he was in a hurry. Sorry for that but the content is right on in our view.

FREE THOUGHT: Stealing Jesus

He walked through and brushed aside the rules and conventions of his own religion like they were cobwebs. When the integrity of the human being was pitted against the religious structure, he always stood beside the individual – always. He instructed his pupils to pray in secret, fast in secret, refrain from wearing religious costumes and most amazing of all (to me anyway), he taught his pupils to find God in the faces of those at the opposite end of the social spectrum because living a God-centered life turns the whole world upside-down.
But it is a predictable and frustrating process that repeats itself over and over in human history: Immediately following a genuine ‘divine revelation’ the government gets its’ hands on the movement, gives it official state approval, removes any threatening doctrines, waters it down, subsidizes it with tax dollars and makes it the “Official Government Religion” which is another way of saying – the government kills it. The government drains the life out of the religious movement in order to use the religion for its’ own purposes and in exchange offers the religion a veneer of respectability and tax-free churches. Sound familiar?

http://www.phoenixvillenews.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17172985&BRD=1673&PAG=461&dept_id=17918&rfi=6

[bobbieinok]

1. similar to what I have long thought, although....

I haven't thought that government gets its hand on the movement, more that each 'divine revelation' runs free for ca 25-50 years, then priests/hierarchy takes over, and rules and 'authority' get locked in place. (And frequently the whole hierarchical structure becomes an adjunct or an integral part of the government.)

Then there MAY be a new revelation.

You can see this cycle over and over in the history of Christianity.

[bobbieinok]

2. dupe