I’ve been watching a documentary right now about the business of religion—and it’s amplifying something I’ve felt my entire life.
Every expression of religion I’ve walked through had its own kind of loud.
The Catholic church was loud with ritual.
Stand. Sit. Kneel. Repeat.
Prayers memorized, confessions scheduled, rules layered upon rules. I questioned why access to God felt mediated—why forgiveness seemed filtered through people instead of poured out freely.
The Baptist church was loud with certainty.
Membership rules. Rebaptisms. Doctrinal lines drawn so tightly that belonging felt conditional. Warm handshakes inside, cold distance outside. Faith that sounded strong on Sunday but often quiet in compassion the rest of the week.
The non-denominational church was loud in a different way.
Lights. Screens. Fog. Music so loud it drowned out reflection. Coffee in hand, shopping in the lobby, movement everywhere. Sermons shrinking while production expanded. Worship became something to watch, not something to enter.
Different styles. Same outcome.
Noise.
And beneath all of it—money was always loud.
Fundraisers. Campaigns. Trips. Expansions.
So much invested inward while the hurting, the homeless, the abused, the elderly, and the forgotten remained right outside the doors.
This documentary isn’t shocking to me—it’s confirming.
The church, in many places, has become a business. And when faith is packaged, sold, and scaled, something sacred gets lost.
So I stepped away from church.
Not from God.
In the quiet, I opened the Bible for myself. I read it fully—chronologically, in context—and everything changed. The God I found there wasn’t loud. He wasn’t manipulative. He wasn’t selling access or demanding performance.
He was present. Gentle. Truthful.
And deeply concerned with how we love people.
Jesus flipped tables when God’s house became a marketplace.
That wasn’t anger—it was correction.
I’m not anti-faith. I’m not anti-church.
I’m anti-noise that drowns out truth.
If this documentary unsettles you, maybe it’s not meant to push you away from God—but to pull you closer to Him, without the distractions.
Sometimes the loudest thing religion does is keep us from hearing God clearly.
– Heide
If you’re seeking more encouragement today, you may find comfort in our Devotions or be strengthened by our Verse of The Day or Prayers, offering Scripture to carry with you throughout the day.
