A Lovely Response to Criticisms of the Churched

This goes back to the statement of Gandhi that he likes Christian ideas, and that Christians are so unlike Christ. Or Voltaire, "Is it any wonder that there are atheists in the world, when the church behaves so abominably?" We all fall short of our beliefs, no matter what we are. If you're a Christian, by definition you're a hypocrite according to this view. I would like to see a rationalist/Atheist read and live "The Imitation of Christ" by Thomas Kempis for ninety days, and tell us Christians how easy it is. Atheists make up their own rules and rationalizations, so it's much easier to live by those.

This following is from a book I've started reading, by an atheist turned believer, Francis Collins, "The Language of God". He is the head of the Human Genome Project.
Addressing one of the criticisms of the history of church, namely the people that attend with their shortcomings, or in church language, their sins and battles with sinning, he writes:

"The church is made up of fallen people. The pure, clean water of spiritual truth is placed in rusty containers, and the subsequent failing of the church down throughout the centuries should not be projected onto the faith itself, as if the water had been the problem. It is no wonder that those who assess the truth and appeal of spiritual faith by the behavior of any particular church find it impossible to imagine themselves joining up."

"...the earnest seeker must look beyond the behavior of flawed humans in order to find the truth. Would you condemn an oak tree because its timbers had been used to build battering rams? Would you blame the air for allowing lies to be transmitted through it? Would you judge Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' on the basis of a poorly rehearsed performance by fifth-graders? If you had never seen a real sunset over the Pacific, would you allow a tourist brochure as a substitute? Would you evaluate the power of romantic love solely in the light of an abusive marriage next door?

No. A real evaluation of the truth of faith depends upon looking at the clean, pure water, not at the rusty containers."