4 ms·

Ancestral Americans really do not have a "spiritual world," in my opinion, as acquisitiveness and power games suffuse even our churches, spiritual movements, an

Ancestral Americans really do not have a "spiritual world," in my opinion, as acquisitiveness and power games suffuse even our churches, spiritual movements, and fraternal societies. The emptiness you delineate is very integral to the long-term American experience. As a reaction, addictive and manic personalities are endemic.

yanhangyhy 9mo ago
You reminded me of that experiment a social media influencer did earlier. American Christian churches refused to provide her with help, but other religions did.
- lostlogin 9mo ago
  It almost makes you wonder who religion is for. https://julieroys.com/tiktok-experiment-most-churches-give-milk-starving-baby-probably-not/ https://julieroys.com/tiktok-experiment-most-churches-give-m...
  - Fnoord 9mo ago
    > It almost makes you wonder who religion is for. Roleplayers. People who want to LARP they're Christians, while in practice they don't behave like them when the situation arises.
- brightball 9mo ago
  Those churches referred her to food pantries that were funded and operated by donations and volunteers from multiple churches. They help people so often that there are entire subsets of organizations dedicated to different areas of need. Food, housing, disaster relief, clothing, rehab, women’s shelters. One church in North Carolina that wasn’t involved with a local food pantry did just help her directly. In order to ignore all that you’d almost have to think that the social media influencer was just trying to get attention…
  - ZeroSolstice 9mo ago
    I think the saying is "missing the forest for the trees.[1]" Referring someone to another food bank or resource is not addressing or owning the immediate problem, which is what the experiment showed. Those organizations failed at their primary objective and instead of re-evaluating why they failed they hid behind process and procedure and how they were being tricked since it wasn't a "real" problem. There was a proper way to handle this situation as anyone who has worked or called into customer service or tech support where their issue was addressed no matter what the internal structure of the organization was. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miss%20the%20forest%20for%20the%20trees https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miss%20the%20fore...
    - nephihaha 9mo ago
      "Wood for the trees" is how I know it, since "wood" has a double meaning of a small forest and the material.
- sotix 9mo ago
  That sounds like a one-off anecdote. For my anecdote, when the government was shutdown and people on food stamps needed help, I counted 8 churches in my neighborhood serving meals to an influx of people, which aligns with my experience throughout my entire life. Maybe some churches don't help people as much as they should, but that seems to go against a core philosophy of the church and my experience with dozens of churches across America.

yanhangyhy 9mo ago

You reminded me of that experiment a social media influencer did earlier. American Christian churches refused to provide her with help, but other religions did.

lostlogin 9mo ago
It almost makes you wonder who religion is for. https://julieroys.com/tiktok-experiment-most-churches-give-milk-starving-baby-probably-not/ https://julieroys.com/tiktok-experiment-most-churches-give-m...
- Fnoord 9mo ago
  > It almost makes you wonder who religion is for. Roleplayers. People who want to LARP they're Christians, while in practice they don't behave like them when the situation arises.
brightball 9mo ago
Those churches referred her to food pantries that were funded and operated by donations and volunteers from multiple churches. They help people so often that there are entire subsets of organizations dedicated to different areas of need. Food, housing, disaster relief, clothing, rehab, women’s shelters. One church in North Carolina that wasn’t involved with a local food pantry did just help her directly. In order to ignore all that you’d almost have to think that the social media influencer was just trying to get attention…
- ZeroSolstice 9mo ago
  I think the saying is "missing the forest for the trees.[1]" Referring someone to another food bank or resource is not addressing or owning the immediate problem, which is what the experiment showed. Those organizations failed at their primary objective and instead of re-evaluating why they failed they hid behind process and procedure and how they were being tricked since it wasn't a "real" problem. There was a proper way to handle this situation as anyone who has worked or called into customer service or tech support where their issue was addressed no matter what the internal structure of the organization was. [1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miss%20the%20forest%20for%20the%20trees https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/miss%20the%20fore...
  - nephihaha 9mo ago
    "Wood for the trees" is how I know it, since "wood" has a double meaning of a small forest and the material.
sotix 9mo ago
That sounds like a one-off anecdote. For my anecdote, when the government was shutdown and people on food stamps needed help, I counted 8 churches in my neighborhood serving meals to an influx of people, which aligns with my experience throughout my entire life. Maybe some churches don't help people as much as they should, but that seems to go against a core philosophy of the church and my experience with dozens of churches across America.