Because God Said So

The rules for moral and ethical conduct are not truly handed down to us by our parents, our priests, or our teachers.  They do not come codified in any book.  And they are never the literal, spoken word of any deity.  As human beings, we don't do things because God told us to do them (unless, of course, your interpretation is that God is our collective unconscious).

We do what we feel is right because of our needs and our nature.

One may choose to obey a particular interpretation of moral conduct as transliterated in a specific book or set of books.  Yet, the more restrictive the interpretation, the less its umbrella covers the breadth of human experience and desire.  A falling out with one's faith is inevitable in any situation where those rules are in conflict with one's nature.  And nature, one way or another, always wins.

If the power of human imagination can create the concept of the Trinity to resolve textual paradoxes, how can it not fathom a creator that speaks through natural forces rather than in texts--and choose to reinterpret those text under a more natural (and scientific) set of rules?

Rather than call specific religious institutions and spiritual leaders on the carpet, I would instead challenge them to adapt to human needs rather than stay at odds with them.  This means accepting certain things they would have previously felt as "wrong" only because it is spelled out as such in a text somewhere, or because it is something that is "wrong" for them, personally--but not universally wrong for all human beings at all times.

Our conscience warns us when we do things that are out of step with our own nature.  There is a different reaction, almost a "fight or flight" instinct, that kicks in when we do things that are in conflict with our social environment.  Both are powerful forces and very natural instincts.  The latter encourages us to move on to a social group that is more in line with our values, but the former puts us at odds with ourselves.  Often a self-directed conflict ends in suicide.  The number of suicide-related casualties due to religious or other social peer pressure is inestimable (the CDC puts this rate at around 4,500 teen suicides per year in the United States, with over 100,000 teen suicide attempts).  Is it any wonder that the majority of such casualties occur during and around puberty, when we are suddenly aware of the pressures to behave one way but our natures direct us otherwise?