On multiple blogs today, it was raised that the 'Church' is not interested in attempting to affect, regulate or otherwise constrain thought, but rather is interested in modifying external behaviours. This is most recently evidenced in the Vatican's address to the UN Human Rights Council on homosexuality, where they simultaneously defend a person's right to think and feel as they choose, but a person's right to act upon those thoughts and feelings should be regulated by the state (or, by extension, the church).
Christ goes on at some length against the pharisees (Mat 5:27-28, 15:18-20, Mk. 7: 20-23, etc.) who argue that this and that action must or must not be done, saying instead that it is the intent behind those actions which matter.
To me, it is most plainly stated in the simple phrase that the sum of all the Law and the Prophets is to love God and love your neighbour. Love isn't an action...it is a mover, a prime intent. It's the 'why' behind the 'what' we do (or don't do). THAT is what religion is about, what the Divine wishes us to examine and hone. To look after our 'why'...our intent. If we are clear and honest about that, then the 'what' is far more likely to conform to the 'why', the actions will more naturally follow the intent.
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