Organized religion declines as leaders lose their way

Americans are identifying less and less with organized religion, concludes the latest American Religious Identification Survey, which is causing a great deal of concern in the religious world.

Clergy have been quick to blame society for a lack of values. It is more likely that many of us religious leaders have lost our way.

We religious leaders become involved in politics instead of justice, in business instead of charity. We scold instead of comfort. We judge instead of truly love. People are leaving their denominations not because they do not care about God and spirit, but because their denomination has become irrelevant.

On the political side, I have championed the separation of church and state because I love them both too much to see them demeaned. A state that endorses a specific religious point of view loses its ability to make all of its citizens feel valued and respected. A religious group that mandates state policy will lose its soul.

On the purely faith side, we should not be worrying about defining families as much as about how families can survive. We should not spend our time deciding who goes to heaven and who does not, but how we can bring justice and freedom to everyone in this world.

If we cannot do this, if we cannot show that religion means love and concern for all, young people will abandon organized religion at an even greater rate.

There is a model that has great relevance for all of us who do value religion -- the story of the Exodus from Egypt of the Hebrew slaves and the seder, the festive meal that celebrates that event.

Moses, the leader of the Hebrew slaves, asked Pharaoh for nothing for himself. He demanded freedom for all, not just the Israelites. Moses said we have to take care of our young and our old, our strong and weak, our men and our women. He meant everyone, not just those of his own faith, not just those he liked.

Moses' willingness to fight for the oppressed gave them the courage to make their own lives better. The oppressed knew that someone cared about them. Therefore, they realized that they were worthy of love and respect, and that they did not have to remain miserable.

The Passover seder tells this story in a way that everyone can understand. We make sure that everyone has enough to eat, because no one can learn on a stomach that is always empty. We relate the story to our own lives, so everyone understands that they can liberate themselves from whatever is holding them back. We do so in a way that makes sense even to children. Every child is entitled to learn in a way that makes sense for them, not just to the one doing the teaching.

Religion at its best is a powerful force for change, but through persuasion, not coercion. If we understand that only God is the true judge, and that we mortals are here only to take care of and love God's creation, then we the faithful can bring meaning and hope to a world desperately in need of them.

Religion will then be the true voice of liberation.

Aaron Bergman is rabbi of Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills. Please fax comments to (313) 496-5253 or e-mail them to letters@detnews.com">letters@detnews.com.