This has been brewing in my head for some time. I was finally prompted to put pen to paper (so to speak) when I received a survey from my synagogue. And the subject of this survey? How to increase member attendance at Saturday morning services.
Those of you who hang on my every word ( and I’m sure the numbers of those who do so are legion 😉 ) will have seen my numerous diatribes against organized religion. I’ve stated that in my view, religion has been used/misused to sudue and to keep people in line. That the fundies have assisted and/or allied with big business in maintaining an army of unquestioning drones to man the many counters at McDonald’s and Walmart and to be satisfied with low wages and little in the way of benefits. That those same workers are caught in a vicious cycle as they are forced to shop at Walmart because of the said low wages. Hyperbole? Perhaps. Perhaps not.
As before, I am a Jew, currently a member of a reconstructionist synagogue in New York’s Hudson valley region. (Some background: Jews become members of a congregation, with annual dues and a building fund. Rather like joining a golf club except without the strange garb.) It is actually a liberal rather unrestrained place when compared with the rigid Conservative denomination of my childhood.
Those early years consisted of the usual religious training/indoctrination. Along the line, there was my Bar Mitzvah, with a reception appropriate to our Long Island locale, but nothing overly lavish. Though I never had any great interest, I continued my after school religious education but ended it short of high school. (More background: My father dutifully took us to services on high holidays and at a few other times. My mother prepared things for holidays in the home but never attended synagogue except on the occasions of her sons’ Bar Mitzvahs or for weddings. Apparently, as the daughter of a man who had to fight his way out of Russia, she sees little purpose for much of the ritual, but that’s a story for another day.)
For years my wife and I had no membership at any synagogue but 3 years or so ago, we joined a local institution in the interest of our now 6 year old son. And now it is our turn to see to our child’s religious instruction. And I’m reluctant. What is it all for?
So I’ve reread the survey several times. It comprised two sides of one page. At the end is that sticky final question, “What would it take to get you to come to Saturday morning services on a regular basis?” Although I have not yet responded it’s not for lack of having an answer. What I would like to say is this: A wholesale shift of religion to actually providing people with something they need, or a lobotomy.
Perhaps you think that I am too harsh or judgmental. To this I would respond that if it works for you, then you should continue by all means. But as I see it, religion has done little, if anything, for all those suffering in this world, and there are many as you are no doubt aware. And lately religion has been used here in such an ugly fashion that it has colored my thinking. How can supposedly religious people permit the continued use of religion to dominate the political process and subdue its own congregants. Is getting everyone to think in lockstep now the new aim of religion? I need not set forth the recent activities of the Kansas School Board for users of this site.
As for my wife, she sees value in the continuity of traditions, passing on those comfortable and familiar activities from her childhood to the next generation. To this, I am receptive. (She is abundantly aware of my feelings about the role of religion in current events.) But I will take no part in enforcing some rigid code of conduct. I would like to see him learn about his religion without becoming a slave to it. So, after some continued thought I would support the instruction of my child, at least for the next few years, until the point in time when he can set forth his own opinion. But he will also receive instruction from me, when he is a bit older, about the other side of the coin.
