I’ve recently been listening to the sermons of a pastor I’ve known for several decades. I don’t listen to his sermons because I find them thoughtful. Just the opposite. They fascinate me in the same way I can’t help but look at car wrecks. In all the years I’ve known him, he has not shown the slightest evidence of growth or evolution. He blames all the world’s ills on Satan, believes God will do whatever we ask if we ask in faith, believes America is doomed unless we return prayer to school, and believes Jesus will soon descend on clouds and transport his chosen people to heaven. If his beliefs were not religious in nature, we would think him insane, but because his convictions fall under the umbrella of faith and he utters them from a pulpit, he is lauded for his spiritual wisdom. I once spent two summers working in a group home for mentally ill adults, and the residents who said what he said were counseled and medicated, while he gets paid.
