Originally posted by Lauren
Honestly, my friends and I were talking about religion before school ended, and they all agreed that religion isn't a building or a specific group of people. Quoting my friend George, "The Church is BS, what does a building and shiny jewelry have to do with God?"
The idea behind adorning church buildings with all the shiny, glittery stuff is "You give your best to God". Kind of like how the Jews would bring in the best of their chickens, their lambs, their oxen, etc, for the ritual sacrifices. After all: if you're giving stuff you don't really care about, it isn't a sacrifice, is it?

The problem with all the glittery, shiny stuff is when we get too attached to it... and that goes for religious leaders. Priests/ministers, rabbis, holy men, shamans, and so forth: anyone is prone to temptation and corruption. To want to gain the shiny stuff for them, not for God. Or to demand more shiny stuff for God than the people can reasonably afford, just to make them "look better."
At one time the Catholic faith was a MAJOR governing institution, and (IHMO) sin is part of the job description for governments. They're as worldy as they come. That's why I believe (and our founding fathers did, too) that the two should NEVER mix, because one gets corrupted by the other. During the Middle Ages, we had all sorts of governmental taxings and purges from the Catholic Church. They were the same things everyone else was going, but with the added "shield" of being done in His holy name. Martin Luther saw the governmental excesses (sale of indulgences, the Inquisition, etc.) and disagreed with them so much that he nailed his thesis to the door, demanding change. The shiny stuff had gotten in the way.
It's not wealth that's the sin. Nor is it simply the pursuit of wealth that's bad. It's the pursuit of wealth
above all else that causes so much trouble. The shiny stuff dwells hapilly, without trouble, in churches and mosques, in temples and synagogs, and even in the simplest of shrines. It is the best people can give, whether that's gold and jewels, or gifts of time and effort. It's the motive behind them that makes it a true gift or meaningless, repetitive ritual.
Like NL said, the Church referrs to the people: capital C for the congregation, small c for the building. The reason the Church is important (as opposed to the little building itself) is that humanity isn't generally designed to "go it alone". We need the presence and support of others. (This is why solitary confinement is a punishment in jails, and why we have "go sit in the corner" as a punishment for unruly children.)
Even monks and nuns, who have sealed themselves off to further their devotions, will congregate in groups. The true hermits, who go by themselves to be closer to God, are rare, but still acceptable. However, the hermits have (hopefully) made an enlightened choice, in the fullness of knowing the rest of the world, and they're the extreme minority. The rest of us just aren't designed to work that way. So we attend the Church by being around everyone else (whethet it's in attendence of a religious ceremony, a school, a party, or any other gathering). This is what makes Nightcrawler's situation doubly tragic. He may be part of the Church, but cannot express it by going to attend ceremonies in church with the rest of the congregation, because of his appearance. His solitude, his hermit status, has been kind of foisted upon him... and still he has the grace and love to deal with it instead of turning into a misanthropic nightmare.