why bother?

I think they gave us some propaganda about John Wesley (not to be confused with John Wesley Hardin) in Sunday school, but clearly it didn't make much of an impression on me.  The Anglican church was kind of strange ideologically.  Since it was the only church allowed in England it was constantly switching between a more Catholic (without the pope) to a more puritan ideology depending on who was the king and what the aristocrats at the time wanted. 

The Elsdon church was still a Methodist church in the nineties.  When my mother complained that she didn't have enough English speaking friends in the neighborhood, we encouraged her to go to the church.  She went a couple times but it appears she didn't like sitting still and listening any more than I do, probably where I get it.

More recently the building was some kind of African (not African American) church, and the last time I was by there it appeared to be abandoned.  I will look into it during my next trip back to the hood sometime this summer.

The pastor might have allowed Black people into the church of our youth, but I doubt that the congregation would.  Do you remember if the church had a position during the local racial troubles of the sixties?

I think you are right about Elsdon's most prominent doctrine was We Ain't Catholic.  I am sure that is why my family sent us kids there, neither of them had much of a religious upbringing, but they thought maybe the kids should have one, and they didn't know what they were, but they were pretty sure they weren't Catholic.

What I mean by incurious is the way people so seldom question anything, the way it is so hard to get them into any kind of philosophical discussion and then when you do it is apparent they have never thought too much about anything.

Modern day philosophers, well maybe I mean the existentialists since they are the most fun to read about, but they used to get all upset about the lack of meaning in life, I think it was Camus who said the only important issue for philosophy to discuss was why don't we all commit suicide. 

Well that's what I meant by maybe it is more adaptive to not have much curiosity beyond your own job and hobbies, but that is just speculation on my part.

I think of those shamans as more like scientists than religious figures.  They were trying to figure out how things worked and spells and sacrifices probably made as much sense as math and physics to them.  I think they were more interested in what seemed to work than in what is good and evil. 

If you look at those early religions, probably what we call myths these days, they don't seem to have much in the way of morality in them, just my god is stronger than your god and don't cross god or he will mess you up.  See I don't know, the headman would mess you up to if you crossed him, but you weren't expected to love him, you just obeyed him because that was to your mutual benefit. 

So why love god, just because he is the big man?  I've never understood that.