A perfect church to me, and I will try to stick to the topic, would be one that is all inclusive. One that does not instill fear or pressure on people for money. It would welcome all people and not claim to be anymore holy than any other place in existance. It would be a gathering place for people to feel at peace with one another and focus on that higher self and give gratitude for existence. It would be a place where you go not because you have to out of fear but desire to because of the peacefulness and love you feel. It would be a place where people go and experience that oneness together..I believe in our inner power and strengths. When you feel that energy with a group of people it is very uplifting. I think we will get to the point where we know we do not need churches but I think we will keep having them because we will enjoy having them. The kind of church I am talking about is the ministry I am building.

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RevKathyV

http://www.myspace.com/divinelightinterfaith



www.divinelightinterfaithministry.com

Looking for a synagogue often tends to be more based on the educational aspects and friendliness than on doctrinal differences. There are three major denominations (Orthodox, Conservative, & Reform), but the differences tend to more deal with how one approaches Torah than with different interpretations from Torah.

The reason why the latter is less a factor has to do with the traditional Jewish approach of leaving much interpretation to the individual. Ours is a commentary system whereas differences of opinion are expected and generally welcomed. Some have asked me if I feel out of place at my synagogue with my non-theistic drift, and the answer is no-- it's perfectly allowable to question and challenge traditional beliefs.

So, years ago when I was looking for a synagogue, what I wanted was one that was personable and whereas study was strongly emphasized, but I also wanted one that was open to having close relationships with other faiths. My synagogue has a shared pulpit with three Christian churches, with one of them being an inner-city church, and with a mosque. This fall we are looking into having an exchange with a Hindu congregation that's several miles away, and I'll be involved in that project.

One very important teaching found within Judaism and in Torah is that we don't tend to negatively judge other religions, so having affiliations with them is quite "kosher". The Tanakh states that nations will be judged on how the people are treated, and since the vast majority of nations then were not Jewish, the normative interpretation has long been that God will not look down on gentiles and will embrace the righteous, including those who may be agnostic or even atheistic.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

From a Christian perspective a Local Spiritual Assembly is a "church". Many Christian churches also meet in people's homes.

As we teach our children:

"A church is not a building....a church is people."

I agree, yet this is construed in everyday life as being church = team.
People then say my church, your church as if they were on different teams with different goals. It leads then to thoughts of who is right and who is wrong, who is better or more "special", or, their church/team is weird because they are different.

Kathy, I like your aim as it is a worthy ideal to strive for and I wish you success in achieving it. I have looked for decades for such a place and haven't found one yet, just a bunch of creed/dogma-pushers is all I found.
But in every place I did find some who had hearts of gold who also wished for better, but had resigned themselves to what was available.

A church is merely a voluntary religious organization. Do other voluntary organizations have to be ideal?

As you're probably aware of, "church" comes from the Greek word "ecclesia", which actually means "community". The Amish, for example, do not have churches, but they meet in their homes every two weeks normally on a rotating basis.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

That is correct as a definition and as a translation. Wherever 'ecclesia' shows up in the Greek NT, it is translated as 'church' in English.

However the etymological derivation of "church" is from 'kuriou oikos' = 'the house of the Lord", which, ironically, does refer to a building such as a temple where God is presumed to dwell.

Hey, it's all Greek to me.

__________________
"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

cool