And we have you to trust to be honest about it all.
While
I attend a Christian church and see nothing that you have mentioned.
That bolded, underlined, italicized bit above... take note of it... that I know of,
ALMOST NONE of the other parishioners or attendees of any of the services I went to saw any of the things I did either. They were blinded to it by the very thing that brought them all together. It's the saddest of things, honestly. I take no pleasure in witnessing any of it. In fact it is a torturous endeavor to have to sit there while your faith in humanity is stuck down again and again and again. I know you don't believe me - which is your right, but I am being completely honest about my feelings and my reasoning for them.
Here's an attempt at a short list (and be sure this is barely anything at all... I could go on and on and on...):
- A "faith healer" shutting off his mic and taking a young man to the side to (basically) "coach" him when he denied having felt healed.
- Rumors that a man's finger literally grew back during an evening service - being spread by a pastor, and then when he brought up the evening on the next morning, he had a woman who claimed her back pains abated stand up (her back STILL bent like a shepherd's hook) before the congregation for applause. Where the hell was the guy whose finger grew back?! Why point out anyone at all if not him?
- A person escorted out (fairly roughly, because the person put up a fight) because their version of "speaking in tongues" came out in actual English, and people didn't like what they were saying
- An elderly couple who were told to tithe to the church in order to improve their (impoverished) lives - they did so, and when they came back a year later, no better off financially, and asked the church if it could help them out on their mortgage for the month, they were quickly and easily denied. The pastor wouldn't even look them in the eye afterward - he had literally told them that tithing would lead to them being repaid in multiples.
- A pastor thanking God for sending someone else's food (an accident by the wait-staff that he didn't correct!) to their table on his and his wife's anniversary out at a restaurant.
- A pastor taking advantage of his secular employer in such a way that a recording error had him getting a full paycheck for only putting in half the hours - continuing to do so after he found out and literally laugh about it.
- Cutting this list short (attempting) for brevity...
And tons of "lesser" things that are not necessarily of moral concern, but just plain ridiculous and intellectually vapid (WAY more of these examples, but again, trying to keep it somewhat brief):
- The pastor's wife of one church doing a sermon and basically stating she needs music to get her in the mood to pray and commune with God - how would you feel if we were friends and whenever you called I told you to hold on a few minutes while I got myself into the mood to talk to you?
- Pettiness to no end - people complaining about the music selection played by the "worship team", as if a personally tailored concert means anything when compared to the real reason they are supposed to be getting together.
- Heavy money spent on coffee for morning attendees - is this why you attend church? Is there no better use of this money?
- Another pastor's wife claiming God was weighing missions heavily on her heart... EXPENSIVE missions, which she and her husband struggled with - mostly his denying her based on (valid) monetary concerns, and arguments over such. She claimed that over a year later, she discovered that it was (no joke) actually the voice of Satan ("The Enemy") that had been trying to deceive her into thinking it was God, and that she was finally able to come to terms with not answering this "call".
- A parishioner standing up, ad-hoc/unscripted during a sermon to give a speech about the blessings one can receive with proper fidelity to the church (the sermon that day was about giving... that is... money). I was waiting for something fairly profound... instead the man started in about how he never thought he'd be able to buy this brand new car he had been wanting for $35,000, and finally he was able. That was it. Nothing else. And a hearty (if completely misguided) cheer went up from the crowd.
You want more, just ask. I have so much more it's terrible.