Quote of the Day
February 9, 2010
From Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin (from a speech in 2004):
“People expect different things from the Church in society. Leaders want to use religion…Lady Thatcher insisted the Churches should tell people they should work harder. After nine-eleven in the United States, society turned to organized religion, but there was a sense in which it was to solemnly sing “God bless America”, rather than “Holy God, we praise your name”, to worship God even in times of distress. When I imagine organized religion in the future, I imagine it then more distant from the structures of power, and thus all the more free to influence power.”
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Great quote.
This:
it was to solemnly sing “God bless America”, rather than “Holy God, we praise your name”, to worship God even in times of distress.
…is a large part of what is wrong with the way a lot of America conceives of God – not as Him Whom we serve, but as our sort of “National Deity” – almost like a mascot or sponsor.
I like as well. It’s great to hear an archbishop say something like this. Let’s hope more and more sectors of the church move to the margins and away from the centers of power, political parties, and “professional” political “movements” of all kinds. In other words, that we become a church of the poor, of the marginalized, and of those who dissent from mainstream north american culture instead of the merely churchish suburban social club that most churches represent.
*crickets* hmmm?