“… I've found that today's religious marketplace obscures a basic truth: the Church isn't a business. Unlike commercial enterprises that sell widgets or life insurance, the Church doesn't exist to satisfy the wants of customers. The Church needs to serve the higher purpose of transforming what its ‘customers’ want, of diminishing certain primitive desires, while cultivating holier ones. People need the church to help them rise above their lower natures and come to care deeply about higher things, such as the well-being of a stranger in need, or the redemption of a hardened criminal. Our society depends on this elevating force to produce people who offer a conscientious compass in public discourse. But this force is rendered impotent in today's religious marketplace, where churches must either satisfy demand or go out of business.”
(G. Jeffrey MacDonald, Thieves in the Temple, xiii)