It's rare that I attend church these days, but I had the opportunity recently to attend a local Lutheran service and witness a baptism. The sermon was better than I expected -- among other things, it challenged everyone to confront his inability to treat others equally, asking whether he would just as readily punish a thief who steals from the rich as he would a thief who steals from the poor (since the former is now entrenched public policy, I'm sure this example made some people squirm, which is good).
What turned my stomach was the attendees' attire. T-shirts. Jeans. Shorts. Even flip-flops. The reason for going to church is to demonstrate your devotion to something higher than yourself; if you insist on dressing for your own comfort, you're defeating the whole purpose and advertising that you are slovenly, both inside and out.
This reminded me of why I don't attend church or participate in any number of other rituals that have degraded. It's not that I don't care. It's that I care too damn much.
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