GOD worship doesn't mean spirituality!

I believe that almost anyone who is seriously involved in any church/temple will recognize that churchgoing is not synonymous with personal spirituality. There are some people who get so busy in GOD worship & projects that they become insensitive to the pressing human needs that surround them, contradicting the very percepts they profess to believe deeply. There are others who visit the church less frequently or not at all but whose attitudes & behaviour reflect a more genuine centering in the principles of the basic religious ethic.Having participated throughout my life in organized church & community service groups, I have found that attending church does not necessarily mean living the principles taught in those meetings. You can be active in a church but inactive in its gospel(message).

In the church-centered life, image or appearance can become a person's dominant consideration, leading to hypocrisy that undermines personal security & intrinsic worth. Guidance comes from a social conscience, and the church-centered person tend to label others artificially in terms of "active","inactive","liberal","orthodox" or "conservative". Because the church is a formal organization made up of policies, programs, practices & people, it cannot by itself give a person any deep, permanent security or sense of intrinsic worth. Living the principles taught by the church can do this, but the organization alone cannot.Nor can the church give a person a constant sense of guidance.Church-centered people often tend to live in compartments, acting & thinking & feeling in certain ways on the Holy days & in totally different ways on other days. Such a lack of wholeness or unity or integrity is a further threat to security, creating the need for increased labeling & self-justifying. 

Seeing the church as an end rather than as a means to an end undermines a person's wisdom & a sense of balance. Although the church claims to teach people about the source of power, it does not claim to be that power itself. It claims to be one vehicle through which the divine power can be channeled into man's nature.

[ From " The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen Covey.]