What I meant to say is that Evangelical Christians, those who make up the majority of the Religious Right, are defined by their beliefs. They believe in the inerrancy of the bible and allow their religious beliefs to dictate their outlook on life. Their beliefs leave no room for doubt or inquisition as to how or why they should believe what they do and go forth zealously secure in their truths.
What I did not mean to insinuate is that I don't believe, though the title of my blog lends an Atheistic tint to my writing. There's plenty that I believe in:
I believe in gravity. I take great comfort in the idea that there's an invisible force that is keeping me from flying off of the surface of the Earth, an earth that I don't know is round. I've never actually seen it from space, only pictures and what people tell me, but I take it on faith that they're telling me the truth and that all this is real.I can test this when I jump up and come right back down.
I believe in the power of faith and what it can do for a community. I've seen people come together based on religious beliefs and do great humanistic things. Charity, community service, great artistic works devoted to their faith and their God. People are capable of amazingly creative and altruistic feats when they put their minds to it and are motivated by their religious beliefs.
I also believe in the danger and destructive power of organized religion. As creative and altruistic as people can be, they possess the same capacity for malice and destruction, especially when allowed to do so in the name of religion. Instead of professing tolerance and the need for humane treatment of our neighbors, organized religion has been responsible for using the cover of 'god's will' to excuse spreading fear and xenophobia, horrendous acts and countless wars.
Because of the above, I believe in a secular state, a government that is free of religion, though not amoral. A state that bases its actions on humanistic principles. I believe that our government should do everything in its power to alleviate poverty and use taxed monies to provide education to all of its citizens; an education that provides the means for citizens to think for themselves and freely critique society. I believe in a government for the people, funny, where have I heard that before?
I believe in many things strongly, but my own religious faith is weak. I'm closer to those nanzi-panzy agnostics than I am to a true christian. Then again, the idea of a "true christian" is so foreign to this country that I really couldn't give you an example. I can try: one who follows the teachings of Christ to the best of his ability and is tolerant of any and all other ways of life, one who is charitable and does good works for the betterment of society. Then again, this definition runs contrary to many Christians that I've butted heads with over the years, so maybe I'm wrong.
I also believe it's time to wrap this up, and to do so I'll tie this all back to science, the new religion sweeping the land. One based on proof, and not on faith. I'll take out one of my favorite quotes, from the father of modern science, Galileo Galilei:
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use."
3 comments:
"I can try: one who follows the teachings of Christ to the best of his ability and is tolerant of any and all other ways of life, one who is charitable and does good works for the betterment of society."
I've found over my own journey in Catholicism that you meet many different kinds of Christians. So the term, in my opinion, can be used loosely. A person can be all those things but still be a douchebag. A person who doesn't believe in God at all, can also be that so it really depends on perspective.
It's hard to find a "true" Christian in America, because one is not really defined. For example, those confrontational evangelist that come to campus every now and then. They say they're Christians, but a lot of people view that their way of spreading the word is very un-Christian. You know, with all the accusing and condemning and all. :)
Anyway, just thought I'd put in my two cents.
Wow, somebody's reading this. That's a bit more impressive than I think I can convey.
I ran across this comic, and I think it fits the bill:
http://cectic.com/070.html
"People are capable of amazingly creative and altruistic feats when they put their minds to it and are motivated by their religious beliefs."
I hope you don't mean to imply that religious beliefs are the only motivation for altristic behavior. One of the fundies' favorite tricks is to convince that athiests are immoral, selfish beings without the potential for altruism.
Just a thought. My personal feeling is that if you need a book to tell you right from wrong, then you are a dangerous psychopath, restrained only by ancient writing. But hey, I'm just a beligerent wookiee...
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