Snakes

Last week's scripture readings at Church got me thinking about religious authorities.  The prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the asp and the adder would be harmless.  John then, in the Gospel reading, refers to the religious leaders as vipers.  I started thinking, if religious leaders are snakes, they have fulfilled prophesy in a way; they have become relatively harmless.  The separation of Church and state, democracy, and the growing impotency of the Church in society has made these snakes mostly harmless.  Although, they can still deny burial in sacred ground to suicides, deny marriage to the unchurched, deny communion to the unbaptized, marginalize the outcasts and those with excess alike, restrict participation of the unlike minded, use Church/faith as a means to an end, and deny ordination to those who may hold traditional and opposing views on doctrine or theology.