Shopping for God

Back on March 10, Timothy Shriver (yes, of that family) commented on the recently published Lanscape Survey of Religion in America in the "On Faith" section of the online Washington Post. Specifically, he saw the large numbers of Americans who have sitched religious affiliation as a good thing. Shriver wrote that this pointed to an on-going desire for the divine among the people in our country. Those switching were seeking, or "shopping," for something different than they had without abandoning the religious enterprise altogether.

Those who have been in local church ministry for any length of time are quite familiar with the phenomenon quantified by the Pew Center Report. Most ministers, though, don't see it in as positive a light as Mr. Shriver does. Most of us disdainfully dismiss those who treat church affiliation as a buffet line, at which they are free to choose from several different selections and continue to go back and choose again. Many church ministers go so far as to accuse other churches and ministers of "sheep-stealing," as if there is something underhanded or unethical about the tactics used to attract members. That perspective, of course, marks the difference between those who look at the health of religion from the view of a particular church, where the addition or subtraction of members can be a 'life or death situation' for the minister or the church, and those who look at the overall picture of the health of the religious enterprise.

That said, Mr. Shriver decided to do an informal family poll on what those in his family would look for as they "shopped for God." Here is the Timothy Shriver family list of responses:
“I want to feel the kind of joy that I see in great gospel singers. I want the part of God that is full of joy.”
“I can’t pay attention most of the time, and I get distracted easily, and it’s hard to stop my mind from wandering all over the place. If I were shopping for God, I’d want to go to a place where there was some way to help me be peaceful and quiet.”
“I want a community that values how thinking and faith go together. I don’t want to go someplace where I’m told to stop thinking, to disbelieve what science tells us is true, to distort my intelligence.”
“I want a community of love. I’m less interested in what people say they believe and more interested in what people do and feel. And I want to feel love.”
“I want an experience that helps me discover magic and peace and the spirit of the universe. I want to find the common thread. I want guides and people who have a connection to that universe.”
“I want to understand how God makes sense of my daily life—of dealing with my conscience, of the huge problems in the world, of how I fail or succeed in big moral problems.”
“I want God to show me how to make a realistic impact—to be concrete in making a difference in the lives of others. I want to find God in doing things that really matter.”
“I want humor and compassion. I usually don’t like religions because I find them arrogant and many of the people within them are full of themselves. I can’t stand pompous people who claim to know God.”

While he comments, and I concur, where could a person find all of these things, I will ask, as he does, "Should you go shopping for something different in the way of spirituality and religion for what would you look?"