The war against tradition

I can't figure out why there is such an aversion to tradition in Protestant churches.  It seems to me we have traditions in all other areas of our lives, traditions that are both full of meaning and useful to us, and yet when it comes to our religion (another off-limits word it seems) we want all traces of tradition wiped clean.  It is of course a futile pursuit for as soon as you have done something twice it is on its way to becoming a tradition.  So is it only the oldest traditions that are to be expelled? 

 

A tradition is merely a custom or belief handed from one generation to the next.  It seems like a case of "If it ain't broke, don't use it".  If something has worked for generations, why do we feel an obligation to stop using it, as if tradition is a communicable disease that we only wish we could be immunized against? It seems to me, and I believe this can be statistically confirmed, that wherever tradition is despised, the church (both Catholic and Protestant) is shrinking.  In these time of pragmatism and utilitarianism you would think that this alone would inspire a return to tradition rather than a further spurning of it.  But such is the way of our capitalist-inspired North American religious institutions.  "Try everything until you find something that works, then re-invent yourself every 10 years or so" seems to be the ruling philosophy.