We humans are so often about status. We want to be the best, the smartest, the richest. We want to be members of the most exclusive groups, whether that be clubs, or members of the elect. How often is religion used as a crutch? How often is it used to support hate or to protect the haves from the have nots, the elect from the fallen? We are all human but we don't like to admit that irrationality is as much a part of human DNA as rationality? Belonging is as important as excluding and till we begin to challenge our assumptions about the righteousness of our belief systems we are all in for danger of what one film writer called "monsters of the ID."

In the name of God all is possible, even the worst aspects of Man can be defended and normalized. I seek comfort in tradition than in religious ritual but the ritual, much like culture, ties you back to your religion. You mean eating fish or goose at Christmas or Easter is not religious as well as cultural? How many of heard of William James' "Varieties of Religious Experience?" How many can fit Augustan or Thomas Merton into their personal belief system? How many had heard of Thomas Merton before the Pope's visit this week? How many knew who Dorothy Day was? If you fail to see the connection than you do not see yourself as part of a religious tradition but rather see religion as a personal experience between you and your God.

Alan