There are concerning people in every faith tradition – even the New Age ones. No one group is better than another because all groups are filled with humans – and most of them are students, not experts.

Of course – this doesn’t go just for faith communities.  Book clubs can have screwy people. Corporations certainly have screwy people.  It just is simply more glaring when people who profess to having a clue show who they really are.

There’s one guy in a Zoom “A Course in Miracles” meeting I was in during the pandemic who loves to fill up most of the class time with his “downloads” – and often says that “Holy Spirit just told me” and then say something really whacky and ego-based.  This is especially amusing since aCim is all about getting past the ego. He came off every meeting as saying “Look at me, I’m special!”

Another guy in the group openly bragged about the incredibly unethical business practices of his Dad’s tire shop.

His Dad got his kids to go out into the road near his shop and throw nails so it would puncture tires – so folks would have to go to that shop because it was close by. Then later, with the money he made, he’d donate it to the community.

He acted like this was so noble.

I interrupted and challenged him on this – and everyone else in the group looked at me like I was off the script. How dare I judge him in error!  That is against the Course teachings! 

So not only was he bad, the whole group agreed with him, making them bad too. I’ve never returned to that group. (Or any other, for that matter.)

But this doesn’t mean that aCim is completely useless.  It does mean, like with all of the faith traditions that I’ve studied, that it isn’t a foolproof Way for humans to become better humans.

I do find this quote attributed to Buddha to be helpful. It applies to everything, not just religion –  

“Don’t blindly believe what I say. Don’t believe me because others convince you of my words. Don’t believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts. Don’t rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don’t infer or be deceived by appearances. Find out for yourself what is true and virtuous.”