This one paradigm is wholly troubling to me. I have spent a lifetime having to live in a world that prefers to see the best about a sacred institution despite many abysmal performances. I could live with that given that many of these performances are few and far between but nonetheless need addressing. The church on whole provides for a sanctuary for guilt and remorse to be alleviated through confession and contrition. If one can find it within themselves to let go of their guilt and shame then they have that opportunity through the church. But letting go of what is the lesser of our actions or thoughts is not the end of it. There is always change that must occur for the individual to find meaningful purpose to continue. That is the function of the church in my estimation. Not the more glamorous aspects of wealth and privilege that the church has allowed itself to become. I see too many so called leaders of the church living in extravagance and above the law. From the ministries that accumulate wealth as if it were a business to the church offering refuse and protection to it's own child molesters. I often think of the examples in the Bible of Jesus and how he threw the money changers out of the Temple for their greed and how Jesus said that what you do for the least of these you do for me, paraphrased, as it applies to all actions by those who would follow him. I have never been convinced that a "holy" man should put his own immoral desires before his obedience to humility and care. Or his own greed for wealth as greater than the need of the truly desperate. Yet in our society many religions have become a business and the end goal is not a salvation based upon love but a salvation based upon tithes and intolerance. I have a peace about me that incorporates what is best about our species and that is how I choose to live notwithstanding some "holy" man or "sacred" institution that has strayed from the example of Jesus.
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