RSS
A Letter to Some Atheists and False Christians
I am agnostic in that I know that I cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. The militancy of atheists, however, does not strike me as a fair or reasonable answer to the Christian Right — not when so many of the Left are guided in their resolve on behalf of the poor and of peace by Gospels or by Mohammed or Gandhi or Buddha or many other men and women of spirit.
The rational human being must learn not to generalize too broadly. I now identify myself as a hippie, with emphasis here on my belief that people should be free to worship as they see fit or not — as long as they follow the Golden Rule. Though I am not a Christian, though I am often critical of the actions of some Christians who see their religion as the only road to salvation, I also find myself defending the religion from those who lump individuals such as my wife, doug the Mute Troubadour and others like them with the likes of Jerry Falwell. “Religion causes wars” says the militant atheist. My wife, my friends have actively opposed wars. It seems to me that either these atheists have a subtle plan to undermine the true religious message or they simply see what they want to see. My religious friends would counter that war is always caused by materialism, sometimes clothed in religious terminology, sometimes in nationalist terminology, but always geared towards the objective of seizing and plundering. Atheists who do not see this merely kid themselves into thinking that they are immune. Plenty of their kind went along with George W. Bush when my religious friends spoke out, often like prophets in the desert, but always from a place of rock solid faith and conviction stemming from their reading of sacred scripture.
I once met an atheist online who told me that he didn’t get “liberal Christians”, that they seemed less honest than the Fundamentalists he knew. What he meant was that he could trap the Fundamentalists into his picture of religion. They were everything he wanted religion to be. Liberal Christians, on the other hand, thought deeply and challenged themselves in ways that he did not dare do to himself. I will readilly add that a hasty generalization should not be made about atheists based on this experience for I have known rigorously ethical men and women of this type (e.g. Paul Kurtz). But this man represented the worst in a world view which supposedly values truth. And the truth is that all the scriptures of Christianity speak out strongly against materialism and against violence.
The words of Dorothy Day — who is overdue to be proclaimed as a saint — bear reading and pondering. In them, is the answer to the blasphemous Jerry Falwell and his ilk who try to tell us that God has changed His Mind on the poor and on war:
The works of mercy are the opposite of the works of war, feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, nursing the sick, visiting the prisoner. But we are destroying crops, setting fire to entire villages and to the people in them. We are not performing the works of mercy but the works of war. We cannot repeat this enough.
When the apostles wanted to call down fire from heaven on the inhospitable Samaritans, the “enemies” of the Jews, Jesus said to them “You know not of what Spirit you are.” When Peter told our Lord not to accept the way of the cross and His own death, He said “Get behind me, Satan. For you are not on the side of God but of men.” But He also had said, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Peter denied Jesus three times at that time in history, but after the death on the cross, and the Resurrection and the Descent of the Holy Spirit, Peter faced up to Church and state alike and said “We must obey God rather than men.” Deliver us, O Lord, from the fear of our enemies, which makes cowards of us all.
The Catholic Worker
January 1967
Excerpted in A Radical Love, Wisdom from Dorothy Day (Wisdom)
How soon we forget the powerful spiritual witness which spoke out against the war in Vietnam and segregation in the South. I am not asking anyone to believe — I certainly have retained an ambivalence about religion — but I do call on all people of faith or none to recognize the deeply pacifist message of the scripture and to respect those who labor — often in an anger which is not founded on a desire for revenge — to realize peace and justice for all in this world. They, more than the glittering crosses and the words of holy war uttered at the Republican National Convention, represent the Way of Christ. Chide the Right for its blasphemy, its materialism, its vengefulness, but do not mistake it for following Christ. Anyone can say “God is behind me” but the wisdom of the years gives us a very narrow standard to measure this by and, frankly, George W. Bush does not fall into that sliver of silver. By the Sermon on the Mount and the example of the Life of Christ, he and his followers are the Anti-Christ, not a sign of the end, but a constant danger to our fair and true understanding of what it means to live as Christ and his apostles lived.
False Christians believe that by claiming the name they achieve redemption. But this is heresy: Christianity is meant to be lived, risked. No court of law would find them guilty of practicing the words of Christ.
Posted: September 21st, 2004 under Agnosticism, Campaign 2004, Morals & Ethics, Reading.
Comments: 7 |
Twitterings
Comments
Comment from Hamburger Lad
Time: 9/22/2004, 9:50 pm
Can’t speak for the Christian majority, but I can’t say “that isn’t us” because “that IS us”. I can disagree with the right wingers or point to all sorts of instances where their actions violate Jesus’ teaching, but to declare them to BE Christian or non-Christian isn’t my call. Membership isn’t based on how well you follow the rules, but whther you believe in the founder. (And that’s a good thing, because if perfection was required to be a Christian, I wouldn’t have a prayer of making the cut.)
Comment from Joel
Time: 9/22/2004, 11:24 pm
Michael: I don’t know where you’ve been, but for the last twenty years I’ve known more than a few leftist Christians who have been more than vocal in their criticisms of the Right. Sojourners Magazine, for example, focuses very intensely on the ways in which the Right twists scripture.
I believe that what you are observing is the failure of the press to speak of this segment of the Christian population, to identify Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as the “official voices of Christianity” in the US. It’s not for want of trying: in the simple-minded partisanship of the press it is a division between those who believe in God and those who don’t. It’s more like those who believe in the Golden Rule and those who put the emphasis on materialism.
HBL: Antinomianism is a heresy of long-standing. If we go by the words of Christ, you can’t just say that you are a Christian: you have to live it. The measure that Christ gave was rejection of materialism, hatred, and violence. If you explicitly reject those doctrines as “unworkable” then you are not a Christian.
There is, on the other hand, a doctrine of forgiveness in Christianity, a realization that the road is not easy. Of course, many don’t jump there right away. But by saying all you have to do is claim Jesus as your personal savior, you are giving up the struggle, what Christians call The Way of the Cross. I wouldn’t measure up well either, but I see value in the Beatitudes. They’re not pipe dreams as the Right seems to think. They can be lived, though it is not easy to live them. When you give up trying to live them, when you turn your back on the goal of becoming more Christlike, it is then that you cease being a Christian.
You cannot celebrate War and despise the poor and be a Christian. The Way of Christ allows for slips but not quitting.
Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are quitters. Their followers avidly seek ways to be materialist, hateful, and warlike as if the word of God could be read like a human law for loopholes. They have turned their backs on Christ by becoming like the Romans who crucified Him.
Comment from Hamburger Lad
Time: 9/24/2004, 1:32 am
Hmmmm, you are right about having to follow Jesus in order to be a Christian. Faith without works is dead, after all. I agree with about 90% of what you’ve said. But I would maintain that the key to being a Christian is that relationship with Jesus. Ghandi, for example, was a great guy but he wasn’t a Christian. The reason I can’t say “that isn’t us” about the Falwells of this world is that I personally cannot say if they’ve crossed the line and have been rejected by Christ. The Teacher who instructed us to forgive 70 times 7 times certainly is more willing to forgive than I am. Until God sorts it all out, I have to give folks the benefit of the doubt. That means I also have to admit a kinship with those who claim Christianity, whether I like them or not.
Comment from Joel
Time: 9/24/2004, 10:22 am
But the labeling IS the problem. They don’t help. They are nothing more than personal choices of identify, signs to hang on ourselves.
When Falwell says “God loves war” in contradiction to the Beatitudes and the example of Christ, we can safely say that his words are out of keeping with those of Christ. As thoughtful and committed lovers of the example of Christ, we can do as Christ Himself did and ~point this out~.
Perhaps that is our grounds for compromise: the words of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson do not match those of Christ.
Comment from Hamburger Lad
Time: 9/24/2004, 4:37 pm
On that point we do agree, alas.
Comment from Joel
Time: 9/24/2004, 5:55 pm
And it is fair play to point that out, particularly if you are a Christian who truly cares about leading others to redemption.
Time: 9/22/2004, 2:00 pm
Even as a militant atheist, I agree with a lot of your points. Religion, by no means, causes/caused all wars, though it’s been a major influence in many of them. But there are definitely wonderful lessons in the teachings of many holy men and women, just as there are teachings I believe are harmful.
My major beef with mainstream/”liberal” Christianity, especially in the last 10 years, has been it’s general silence on the topic of their conservative, hateful brothers. Most American Christians are not the hardcore, evangelical, hate mongers we see in the Republican party and on the 700 Club. But to someone like me who doesn’t attend church and doesn’t socialize in primarily Christian circles, it sure as hell looks like it. The Christian majority in this country needs to stand up and say “that isn’t us”, but until they do, in large numbers, it’s easy for me to put just as much blame on them for the action carried out in their name.