Religion Fascinates

I see that one can love religion like anything else in life: sports, science, stamp collecting; one can love it for its own sake without relation to God or the world or life. Religion fascinates; it is entertaining. It has everything that is sought after by a certain type of person: esthetics, mystery, the sacred and a feeling of one’s importance and exclusive depth, etc. That kind of religion is not necessarily faith. People expect and thirst after faith - and we offer them religion - a contradiction that can be quite deep and awesome.

~ Fr. Schmemann, Journals, Nov. 1, 1974