Sarah Goldsmith- Organized Religion (Student Choice)

Something interesting that I have been grappling with is how organized religion hurts. This evening I watched an incredible thriller "The Devil All the Time." While it involved a number of brutal murders, that was not the point of the movie that was based on the book by the same name. The point was to draw attention about how trauma carries for generations, especially trauma caused from organized religions. It was meant to critique how rural organized churches are hurtful to blue collared families today, even though the film was set in the 50's-60's.

I can see how this trauma exists from organized religion for those not in these rural communities as well. I was speaking with one of my friends and she brought up with me how she believes in God, but the church has done nothing but hurt her and break her down. This trauma from organized religion is not something I'm ignorant to, the catholic church has more than its fair share of problems. The questions is do these organizations that hold the spiritual life of so many in their hands truly represent the "Other"?

While the people running these churches may think they are divine, they exist as human. Humans are fallible. Even if these organized religions seek to encounter the "Other", they are still run by humans and therefore fallible. It makes sense to me that the reason why people turn to nature and long distance hiking for their spiritual encounters is because people are wary of these organized religions. Nature is not human  and I get why many people turn to nature after humans have let them down. In conclusion, I think that those who have spiritual encounters in nature are looking for a more direct path to the "other" as opposed to going through an organized religion and fallible humans.