Storm Clouds and the Sacred Church

Reading my blog-friends posts, the religious news seems to be centered around populi versus auctoritas.  You have what appears to be a fundamental disconnect between the needs of the faithful and the dictates of the organization.  This is not, I would note, a problem specifically with Rome or Canterbury (though they are the most visible as of late) but rather it is within nearly any organized religious structure which is based upon theological principles that have not been seriously examined since Pascal's Pensées and haven't been 'reality-checked' for relevancy since men landed on the moon.

Today's reading is from Luke 12:54-57.

Then Jesus said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud coming in the west, you immediately say, ‘There's going to be a storm,’ and that's what happens. When you see a south wind blowing, you say, ‘It's going to be hot,’ and so it is. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, yet you don't know how to interpret the present time? Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" 

I'm sorry, Jesus.  I couldn't hear that last bit over the church telling me who I should love, how I should worship and which way I should vote.  Could you repeat that?

Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?

What? Seriously?   *sighs, exasperated*

OK Look...this sort of thing has to stop.  First it was free love, then you've got free will and free eternal life and now this.  How's a church supposed to earn a buck with this damned hippy around giving everything away?