Brief reply:
Even if you believe in God, it's hard to truly place him at the centre of your life as you ought to. There are so many other things competing for your time and energy. Much like Mustachianism, it's easy to be tempted by the easy, fun, right-now thing.
And the thing about church is that it is in the world but not of the world. Once you have accepted the church as the conduit of God's authority, worldly standards just don't apply - so arguing that the church should update and "get with the programme" is poor logic. The world needs to get with the church, not the other way around. It's predicated on a belief in Jesus founding the church as a divine institution, but once you've accepted that* it seems pretty weird to apply the logic of the fallen world to the ideal pattern for the church.
(Obviously it's run by humans so fucks up a lot. But we can still know and strive towards the perfect divine plan for the church in the world.)
*No need to start a big discussion about whether you personally have. But if X then Y should be understandable to non-Christians even if you would argue against X.
Fair point. I actually don't have a problem with churches/mosques/temples/synagogues setting standards of behavior and practice for themselves. I was raised in a religious family and attended Catholic schools. I understand why people believe in God (although I am not one of them). The problem is that in the USA and many other places, those standards increasingly spill over in what should be secular arenas.
I guess what I don't get is why there has to be so much influence of religious belief in secular areas. I don't want to live in a theocracy. Different issue, and you're right that it isn't fair to conflate the two.
My perception (never actually been) is that this is very very different in America to how it is in England - that religion is much more in-yer-face in America, and that people do wave it about all over the place. There's a difference between being proud of your faith and being an interfering knobhead which it seems many people have yet to master.
Unfortunately, Italy is like this too. It's not an officially Catholic country but the Catholic church basically dictates policy on reproductive rights, abortion, divorce, adoption, gay marriage, sterilization as contraception (illegal here), IVF, end of life issues etc. I always find it ironic that churches here are empty on Sundays yet the Church as an institution has so much political power. I also think it's very strange that a supposedly Catholic country has one of the world's lowest birth rates. Obviously, a lot of people aren't following Catholic teachings.
When I read this, I'm so glad I'm in western Europe and not in the US or parts of Europe where the church is an important political factor. We have a truly secular society, while at the same time not really restricting religious people in practising their beliefs. For example, parents can choose between secular school and religious schools, both are state funded, as long as they meet certain educational criteria (this includes teaching evolution theory and sex education). This has the additional advantage of limiting the influence of churches on schools, because they are financially independent.
One consequence of secularisation is that we don't have a lot of moderate churches left. Most people no longer go to church, only the very orthodox still do. When a majority of people go to church, churches are forced to preach moderate views. When only the most devout people still go to church, there's less space for moderate teaching. I grew up in a catholic area and the catholic church is purging moderate priests there. When I grew up (in the 90s, not half a century ago) most people still felt some kind of attachment to chuch, even though they didn't go to Mass every week, and my town's priest was a very wise, moderate man with a lot of informal influence in the town. He was replaced by a hardliner about 15 years ago. A lot of believers left. At the same time, a very tight-knit, hardline conservative church community has originated, with many young members. For the first time since the 60s, there's a growing movement of young people choosing to enter a convent or the priesthood (although it's of course still a very small group). It seems that the catholic church is actively trying to purge moderates in favour of a smaller group of conservative believers. I understand why they make that choice, but it alienates the church from society.
After another frustrating job interview, one thing I don't get is why it's so difficult for employers to understand people with a disability or chronic illness can be good employees too. I have a good CV, a good degree, I have many different skills, but due to an auto-immune disease I just can't work more than 30 hours a week. Because of my illness I'm great at time management, I have a wealth of life experience, I'm super motivated and I'm not the type of person that calls in sick with a minor illness. I haven't been in hospital for years, I don't need any special treatment from an employer. I get told all the time to apply to the organization's special list of "jobs for disabled people" that always seem to be boring and badly paid jobs. I don't want a special job, I want the job that suits my degree and experience, and I know I can do that job, except I can only be in the office for 4 days a week.
I have a law degree and as a result of not being able to find a job I'm working on setting up my own business, I already have an appointment with a potential first client this week, but I know that I lack legal experience. I know I will learn this on the job, but when you're dealing with customers who put their trust in your skills, that's a huge responsability. In my current job I'm also the only person with a law degree, but at least I don't own that business, so I don't feel like it's my responsability if things were to go wrong.