The Necessity of Religion

Whenever I come across someone who is spiritual but not religious, I think of a body without a skeleton. We have a heart that pumps blood and delivers oxygen to essential organs. We have a brain which is the seat of cognition and the intellect. We have muscles which allow us to move. We have skin to hold it all in and keep bacteria and the elements out. And, of course, we have a soul, which is ethereal and immortal.

However, without bones, we have nothing to give our bodies form; without a skeleton, we would be nothing but sacks of organs and sheets of skin on the floor. The skull protects the brain; the ribcage protects the heart and lungs. (Nothing really protects our private parts, though, so we have to be careful there!)

Religious faith, dogma, doctrine...all those "undesirable" words in modern society serve a vital function--to give structure to our lives, form to our personhood, and protection for our vital organs. Bone is a dense composite that can withstand force, weather the elements, and remains long after the rest of the body returns to dust. Skulls, femurs, vertebrae...they all work together to form a whole--an intricate skeletal system underneath it all.

Of course, if we are simply Pharisaical in our practice of religion, we are indeed nothing but a collection of "dead men's bones" (Mt 23:27). And skeletons on their own are kind of creepy!

We are more than just sacks of skin or bones knit together, brains in a jar or hearts pumping on their own. People like to talk about religion as if it is an extracurricular activity, a peripheral endeavor. No. Doctrine is as vital as the bones which give limbs their structure, dogma as necessary as the ligaments which join them together, and the Church as timeless and enduring as the skeletal system which holds us up, protects our heart and mind, and gives form to our human bodies, even after they pass away.

"The glory of God is the human person full ALIVE." --St. Irenaeus