Hi Raoul,
Thanks for your questions.
As for me - church is all about relationship. When you are in love with someone and they with you you want to be with them and they with you. Family is like that - you want to be together, hang out and grow together.
Photography is like that too - we want to be a part of a group like Shuttertalk so that we can learn from each other, share our stories and get better at what we do. We know the basics (like the 10 commandments of photography so to speak) yet we aren't lone rangers with no desire to relate with other photographers right?
I see God as my creator, my father and a guy who sent his son to die for me so that I could relate to him - that is pretty amazing love
I want to relate with him and learn from him, express how much I love him for what he has done for me. Church is a place to do that - especially more contemporary churches have a strong focus on this. I could be a lone christian - but where would the fun in that be? Most of all Church is not the stuffy place that you probably imagine. Some of the churches mentioned in this thread are a thriving place with lots of younger people eager to grow in their relationship with God. Of course their are more traditional churches out there - we all relate to people in our own way and some people feel more comfortable in a more traditional church.
Religion is always a good excuse for a war - but most of the time it is a front for political ideology. However - I totally agree that terrible things have been done in the name of religion. That doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bath water. Jesus himself was and is considered one of the greatest teachers - no where does he sanction war in his name. His life was all about service and giving up of selfish desires to help others - even his own life.
Real religion is rooted in that. The churches we are involved in spend more time then you could imagine out there helping people with money, goods and their own time. Not to get people into Christianity/church - but simply because they care. While so called "religious" people make war, God weeps.
We are his hands and feet to bring relief to the suffering in this world (suffering caused my man's selfishness) - to reach out and make a difference in other people's lives. That is what real religion and real church is about - banding together for a common purpose of love for God and our "neighbour".
Just one example of this is in Burma today - 50,000 children are involved in war there in some way. The Military Junta is setting about killing, raping and pillaging the ethnic minorities. Villages are burned, landmined and the villages left to hide in the jungle with no food, no school, no work, no shelter and no source for getting any of the above. There is no oil to bring Western governments to save these people who are suffering genocide.
Yet small Christian agencies are supplying food, teachers, medicines and small clinics to help victims of land mines get artificial limbs. As individuals there is very little we can do - but as a church we can make a difference. This is unsung work - which is carried out in very dangerous conditions, in the midst of the jungle. Mainstream media don't want to know about it as religious people doing good work doesn't sell as many papers as religious people starting wars.
If you would like to know more:
www.partnersworld.org
I hope that gives you a bit of insite into Church life for me Raoul - come along one day and say hello. Even if you just want to talk photography over a coffee
God bless,
Chris