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elfs"Waste no more time arguing about what a decent man should be. Be one." - Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
I was reminded of that quote when I read Richard Beck's absolutely illuminating essay, The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity. Beck uses the phenomenon known as the "church lunch crowd," describing it as "the most well-dressed, entitled, dismissive, haughty and cheap collection of Christians ever seen on the face of the earth."
Beck's core argument is simple: modern Christianity has this program called "working on my relationship to God" that is a substitute for Jesus's program on Earth: love one another. Be a decent human being. "Work on your relationship with God by being an exemplary human being." Rather than be a decent human being, you can pat yourself on the back for your Christian adherence to the program: "Go to church," "Read the bible," "Argue with evolutionists," "Home-school your kids," "Don't read Harry Potter," and many, many more!
Beck is a Christian (although certainly a liberal, even radical one-- he became a Universalist a while back, convinced that, in the end, everyone gets into heaven, it's only a matter of time), so he knows of what he speaks. But I know Jews, Muslims, and even Buddhists who also regularly "work on their relationship with God/Allah/whatever" but who cling nonetheless to a retributional, coercive, cruel and unrelenting view of their responsibility as a member of their tribe.
The nice thing about atheism is there's no such program to latch on to. If you're an asshole, you get to take full responsibility.
I was reminded of that quote when I read Richard Beck's absolutely illuminating essay, The Bait and Switch of Contemporary Christianity. Beck uses the phenomenon known as the "church lunch crowd," describing it as "the most well-dressed, entitled, dismissive, haughty and cheap collection of Christians ever seen on the face of the earth."
Beck's core argument is simple: modern Christianity has this program called "working on my relationship to God" that is a substitute for Jesus's program on Earth: love one another. Be a decent human being. "Work on your relationship with God by being an exemplary human being." Rather than be a decent human being, you can pat yourself on the back for your Christian adherence to the program: "Go to church," "Read the bible," "Argue with evolutionists," "Home-school your kids," "Don't read Harry Potter," and many, many more!
Beck is a Christian (although certainly a liberal, even radical one-- he became a Universalist a while back, convinced that, in the end, everyone gets into heaven, it's only a matter of time), so he knows of what he speaks. But I know Jews, Muslims, and even Buddhists who also regularly "work on their relationship with God/Allah/whatever" but who cling nonetheless to a retributional, coercive, cruel and unrelenting view of their responsibility as a member of their tribe.
The nice thing about atheism is there's no such program to latch on to. If you're an asshole, you get to take full responsibility.
