The church the world needs will be a strange place, if it ever comes to be. The church the world needs will hold the holy torch of reason above the occluding smoke of dogma. Religious education will no longer produce minds closed in sectarian belief, but ones open to living truths. The sacred will be praised not with pacified curiosity, but with scientific wonder. The highest praise will be given not to those who memorize traditional answers, but to those who ask honest questions. The church will be less afraid of heretics and more afraid of its own prejudices.
The church the world needs will value spontaneous creativity over established worship. The polished lyrics of the dead will no longer drown out the heartfelt music of the living. The paintings of the masters will take second place to the drawings of the children. People will leave worship with eyes hungry for seeing and fingers thirsty for living.
The church the world needs will place principled compassion over merciless rules. Centuries of abusive discipline will be replaced with a burning passion for universal human happiness. The tragic supplication each nation makes in support of its own warriors will be replaced by a universal prayer for the peacemakers who call us to live as one human family. The church the world needs will be a strange place, if it ever comes to be.