The army of salvation and how it goes salvatin' across the world, kinda, rather I started to ramble

Another great outlet for cheap clothing is the series of stores ran by the Salvation Army (SA). The best SA stores I saw were located in Detroit. Some of the them were huge, as big as Wal-marts and held great choices in everything from clothing to furniture. Their stores play a large part in their overall organization. For example, check this out on their website.

This is the Salvation Army's mission statement, stated at the bottom of their website.

"The Salvation Army, an international movement, is an evangelical part of the universal Christian Church. Its message is based on the Bible. Its ministry is motivated by the love of God.
Its mission is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and to meet human needs in His name without discrimination."

Now, I'm not a devout Christian. I got nothing against devout Christians. I bring it up mainly for the fact that I wonder how much religion is preached to those who need the help. Someone who wants a job probably doesn't want to hear how God loves them. Spiritual organizations mean well because God tells them that they should care. What's wrong with caring for the sake of caring?

I feel a shpeal comin' on.

Religion is great. It instills morals to those who aren't philosophical thinkers. It creates order and makes a community out of radically different people. It allows values to be embraced amongst groups of people. It gives meaning to life. Following a purpose-driven life without a guidebook can be difficult. Religion is that guidebook.

Religion has a downside though. Religion has many downsides, especially if those following stop questioning it. My primary problem with religion is that those who follow stop looking around them. Their gaze has turned upward. They start giving glory to God and not to their fellow man. For example, there was this case where a man trained for a marathon so he could help his mentally retarded son achieve something great. The man pushed his son in a wheelchair during the marathon. He did it for his son. People, including the man, gave the event to God, claiming that without him none of this would've happened. I disagree. The man did it. He may have prayed to God to help, but in the end, an all mighty being isn't helping one man and his son.

The way that Christians paint their God is ridiculous. God does minor miracles just for fun and leaves the majority of humanity to languish in bad conditions without food. God is not a logical being. The way they explain is that God is beyond our understanding. God uses God logic, or rather, something close to the logic of a 1st grader. Rather let's praise those around us for great acts.

Let's look down, let's look at earthly events and try to fix those things we can. For those things, that are too big, let's join together and fix them.

Christians have this serenity prayer thing:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

I believe I'm not here for the sake of having serenity, rather let me change all that I can with all my strength for the benefit of all mankind.

Grant me the strength
to accept the few things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to never acknowledge the difference
for the benefit of all.

or something, it's a work in progress.