Quote:
Originally Posted by BrianTheMick2
I don't think I could find fault with someone joining/supporting an organization because that organization has some goals/attributes that one likes.
Also being part of the conversation about values seems to be a nice thing to do.
I doubt that joining a church would be any more effective in creating change in that church (or broader society) than a vegan getting a job at Taco Bell (even as an assistant manager) would be effective in changing the menu at the restaurant (or the eating habits of broader society).
1) Vegans who work at restaurants that prominently serve cruelty-free meat are probably moving society marginally towards their own values, arguably more so than with a vegan-food-only restaurant. If your personal values are too far from a specific religion, then obviously you will not be very effective, eg if you are a liberal, then probably Southern Baptists are a bad fit, but a mainline Protestant church might be okay.
2) My argument for religious participation is a relative one. That is, I'm arguing that because religions are better than other institutions at pushing their values to the future, that changes made to religious institutions have a greater impact on the future than changes made to other social institutions. Thus, unless you think our ability to change broader society through religious participation is zero, the relative point still stands and is disanalogous to your Taco Bell example.
3) Corporations typically have hierarchical and disciplined authority structures for decision-making. Some religions do as well, but at least in the US, Protestant churches and preachers are often quite independent and there is a lot of regional variation in theology, practice, and values. My own experience in Christian churches is that the deacons and elders often have a large impact on the character of a church, not infrequently being more powerful than the preacher. So I don't agree that "assistant manager" position equivalents for religion don't have an impact on their church culture. Yes, they probably won't convince everyone to become atheists (although they are well-placed to do so). But they can make marginal changes, eg on gender issues or theological ones.