I love what this explains . I know I am at a place but its helpful to see why and see it in black and white to realize what has actually happened to me. I was raised as a protestant and to tell you the truth I doubt I ever join another church . I am at a loss to see what they are actually doing for the good of my soul or the soul of other commen women . To me its a place to go to have people tell YOU what you believe . If you do not fall in line then you are somehow routed out or looked at as a nut or something . If I want to find real intolerance  and bigotry to name a few .all I need do is open the door to any local church . I actually have a very very conservative born again , friend . She tells me that when her washer is broken all she need do is pray about it and a solutions is there . One time when she needed it badly her husband came home unexpectedly and was able to fix what minor thing was wrong with it . To my way of thinking this is ludicrous . We make choices in our lives , some are good and some not so good but we dont have much control over the results of those choices . We have to rely on our experience and our stored information and if it turns out badly to dig deep to find a way to deal or the courage to make a change . That power is not from a religious institution in my life , its from hard learned and hard fought expreience .My God is not a God of washing machines .

MrsWho's response harks back to the kind of religion that many women are now rejecting rather than embracing because it doesn't personally empower them and it doesn't really solve the problems we all face.  The traditional Christian ethos sidelines women, they are seen as accessories, hence the huge resistance still evident against women priests. I am sorry to say that I see similar ideas at work at the heart of the other 'established' faiths and their institutions. Women rabbis yes, but women imams or mullahs? A female Pope ? When?

In paganism I find a female-based spirituality, that I don't have to go anywhere particular to join with. I just have to step outside my back door and be under the sky, with my bare feet on natural stone, wood or grass, or to sail my boat and feel at one with the wind and the water.

My beliefs empower me because they level me with every other human being. We are all responsible for the state of the world as it is, all responsible for the cruelty to other humans and to animals, all responsible for the greed and thoughtlessness that is destroying our planet day by day.

My beliefs empower me because they don't set out a path for me as a woman that is specifically different to a path for a man.

I'm sorry, but the problems we face of climate change and the evils it causes (desertification and consequent crop failure and starvation) are not going to get fixed by getting into a gas-guzzling people-carrier and going to a church or a mosque or a synagogue or anywhere else. They aren't going to get fixed by spending an hour on your knees every day asking someone who lived 2000 years ago for solutions or forgiveness for mucking up our planet in the first place.

Things will change by getting up every day and doing something about it. Whether it is walking to church instead of driving or hanging out your laundry to dry in the sun and air rather than using electricity and drying it in a machine that sooner or later will be junked, go into landfill and need to be replaced. Yes, I know the people who make tumble dryers will need other jobs, and there will be jobs for them, working with the green technology that is on the design table now.

The hour that you give, working in a soup kitchen or sorting out your kids' outgrown clothing to be go to the charity shop is direct help. If you have to pray for something, pray that others give their time rather than their money to help solve today's problems so that tomorrow is better for the next generation. But please, say that prayer while you are doing something practical. If you aren't willing to give YOUR time to help the earth we walk on and the people who inhabit it, who else do you think will do it? 

Give your own time and effort and maybe we will all get a little spiritual help to inspire others to do the same - that is what I understand by the saying 'God helps those who help themselves'.

I was raised without religion and always felt as if I was missing something or that I was a "bad" person.  I thought it was a void in my life for years - I dated a Muslim man for eight years and then married a Jewish man!  After my marriage I began to study Judiasm AND the role of women in religion and what I found shocked me.  As another blogger said, in the Pagan tradition (before organized religion took over) women were respected.  That lead me to study healers and again, women were looked upon during Pagan times as very central figures in society, they had power within their community, people listened to them, they were prosperous.  When Christianity began to take root the first thing that was done by men in power in the church was to take as much as they could from women - make them second-class citizens, burn them as witches.  They did this so women would not be a threat.  Women had been the chief educators of their family and others (including children and adults) before Christianity.  All of this stopped!  Everything that was connected to the Pagan tradition became "devil worship" almost overnight.  I was born on the 13th and for most of my life I was told it was an unlucky number.  In fact, it is not.  It is a mystical number, revered in Pagan times as such.  Jesus was not born in December, he was born in March.  Our main holidays were created to better take advantage of large groups of people who were assembled during the harvest season.  I lost all respect for Western religions.  I truly believe that Eastern religions have it right.  I am now a very spiritual person and consider myself lucky that I was not exposed to the hypocrisy of the Christian church at an early age.  I listen to myself and what my higher power is telling me.  I 'flow' with life.  I live by the words of the Kama Sutra and I do not believe in anything simply because I  have heard it or it has been handed down to me or because it is spoken or rumored or because it is written in religious books or spoken by authority figures.  I observe and analyze and when "anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, I accept it and live to it."  It is my belief that if we all followed the Kama Sutra, we would each find our own individual space and peace. 

I certainly understand peoples reservation about organized religion. I have had many of the same problems but approx. 10 years ago I did return to the faith in which I was raised. I personally came to the realization that a realtionship with a community of believers as well as the divine was important to me. As a Christian (which I know many other readers may not be) the biblical promise of Jesus being with us when 2 or more are gathered in his name emphasizes the importance of religious community. Now certainly community can be achieved outside of a church, but spirituality without community was not sufficient for me personally.

Following the loss of my son at age 20 to suicide, I would never have survived without my faith in God and the church.  I now live in Fla and attend two churches, catholic and a baptist church which is enlightening, fulfilling, youthful, and accepting.  I study scripture now, which was not ususal practice as a catholic student, and apply it to today's living.  I honestly do not know how folks survive without the faith in a higher power.  I am retired from a very fulfilling career, have had many life experiences, both good and bad, but again, having chosen to be alone for now, I am NOT alone, in any way.  My son is safe in the Lords hands and my oldest son has overcome several difficult obstacles and living a good life.  I believe my prayers have also assisted him.  When I worked, I never forgot that the Lord was with me.  I made mistakes, had an affair with the boss, fell in love, but God has lifted me through all of that.  I am still standing!! because of HIM

As one on the inside of organized religion (I am an ordained clergywoman) I want to share a few thoughts that I hope will be helpful, but if not, that's ok too.  I believe that each of us can and should be willing to both talk AND LISTEN about faith - ours and other peoples.  I was raised largely in the era of "women don't" but have learned that women do and should use their gifts in all areas of life - home- business- church- philanthropic organization.  Using a gift means more than doing.  It means growing the gift and being available in so many different ways depending on the circumstances.  It is true that the institutional church (thank you Constantine) is patriarchal and hidebound.  The Bible is not.  If you look closely at the New (or Second) Testament, their were many women around Jesus as disciples.  They, like the men, learned from the Master.  He told the sister of one of them (Martha) that Mary had chosen the better part by listening and not helping in the kitchen.  The travels of Jesus were funded by some of the wifes of leaders in Israel.  And in Paul's writings, often misinterpreted and misapplied, women are called Apostles(!), Fellow-worker, those who withstood torture and imprisonment, heads of churches and teachers of other leaders.  This is what was discarded.  It is not whether God is a man or a woman - God is neither, for God is a Spirit, not a material being as we are.  We, male and female, each and together, are made in God's image, which really says that God 'embodies' both male/female/masculine/feminine characteristics (if a spirit can 'embody')'  (If you are looking for resources on this, try Christians for Biblical Equality www.cbeinternational.org)

Yes, the church is full of hypocrites.  So is the workplace, so is the local market, so is every philanthropic organization, as much as we would like to think not.  Yes the church has been and often continues to be a place of rules and regulations.  And it never ceases to amaze me that people WANT rules and regulations because it does in some ways make life easier.  I am at odds with many in my denominational organization.  I am in agreement with many both in and outside of 'institutional' churches' who as Christians are working on their own life issues and still helping others with theirs (when asked, and not heavy-handedly).

I am thankful than many followers of Jesus, many Christians, are learning and changing the 'church' from institution to what it should be - the gathering of those who share a belief, support each other and reach out to help others in their communities and the world to share the love of God in Jesus Christ with those who have less that "I" have.  Not because they 'deserve charity' but because they, too, regardless of circumstances are made in the same image of God that I am. 

God does answer prayer, but not the way we always want. As one pastor has put it, "God has four answers:  yes, no, wait and what??"  This pastor wrote a book titled, "Sit down, God.  I'm Angry" that chronicles his own struggle to comprehend the death of his not-quite-18 year old son in a 'freak accident' - all the anger and questioning he and his family went through.  It has helped many people who have had a tragedy in their lives.  (And no - I'm not getting anything from offering the title as a possible help for those who need and want it.)  I have had yesses and noes from God, I've had wait - or not yet - and I probably have had a lot of "WHAT??" when what I asked for was nonsensical.  I have learned to yell, shout, be angry with God and tell God so... since God already knows, what good is it to keep from talking about it?  I found that God (and for me he is Father - he; and Jesus - he; and Spirit - she) loves me even when I'm angry and will help me through the anger to productivity and peace.  Another good book for dealing with loss is "The Shack" by Wm. Paul Young.  A different take that Rev. Smith's book.

Take from my words that which you wish.  Reject that which you don't want.  But believe this: God loves you no matter what!

Stephen,

I wanted to recommend a book that I read about 1 1/2 ago called "The Faith Club," that was written by three women (a Muslim, A Christian, and A Jew) and was subtitled "Three Women Search for Understanding."  It is a great book about understanding one another and how people look at faith, it is very inspiring.

Religion is political - based on fear and using that fear to get money from many who don't have it to spare - but give because they will go to hell if they don't.  Spriituality surrounds us in the stars, moon, trees, rivers, flowers, air, and on and on and on -- and we should not forget that.  My God lives in me and I in Him.  It is a God of love.  It took many years to know this.

I am a spiritual Christian. who has discovered that the religious community is more interested in raising money than in saving souls. They no longer have the time or incentive to minister to their parishioners. Money has become God and that is where the main interest lies. I use a direct line to the Father, knowing that my help is on the way. My mother was my mentor and role model. Her motto was: Don't depend on anyone but God and yourself. Your greatest help will come from those 2 sources. So, ladies, if you're waiting for help from someone else, look inside yourself and take advantage of the expert there. Only you and God know what you need, and only God knows where it will come from. Your strength comes from the Lord, and nowhere else.