Lawyers, Religion and Hypocrisy

When I lived in Houston my wife and I were active members of Palmer Episcopal Church, near Rice University. When we moved to Kerrville in 2002, we joined the local Episcopal church. When you live in a small town, it's hard to get that warm and fuzzy feeling in a church when you see its members acting pious on Sunday, but know how they lie, cheat and steal the other six days of the week.
We tried First Methodist Church, and had the same dilemma, maybe worse, because it has so many lawyers, a few who will do whatever it takes to win.
There's no way I could ever be Catholic, knowing about the perverts and pedophiles that the Vatican protects. One of my favorite t.v. shows is The Borgias, which shows how the Catholic Church was effectively started as a Mafia family.
I was raised as a Southern Baptist, but it's too far to the right for my tastes.

So, we are no longer members of any church.

The mainline churches are killing themselves trying to be contemporary. What started me thinking about this was an article in today's Austin American Statesman:
Austin church will offer Episcopal same-sex blessing

The Episcopalian Church has turned into a farce. I wish I had the talent to write a Mark Twain style satire about it.

Christianity Today

At their peak, Episcopalians in the United States numbered 3.6 million members, which was in 1966. Along with other mainline Protestant denominations, the church declined from the 1960s to the present.

Many exited the denomination following the 2003 consecration of openly gay bishop the Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson and later the decision in 2009 by The Episcopal Church’s highest legislative body to open the ordination process to all baptized members, which many saw as giving the green light to practicing homosexuals.
Although at one time a large and influential religious denomination in North America, a fact sheet published by The Episcopal Church shows that its membership has dipped below two million members.

The survey of membership trends noted that in 2006 there were over 2.1 million “Active Baptized Members” in the church. By 2010, however, the number decreased to less than 1.96 million.