Hi all, I just posted a version of this on Facebook in response to an ongoing discussion with several atheist friends. It is probably the best summary of the “job to be done” I have for Christianity.
I look forward to your comments. :-) —- >From my friend: > you seem incapable of questioning the existence of God or the rational basis > for any faith within. Ah! Well, yes, but probably not the way you think. As a physicist, I honestly can't question the idea that Something created the observable universe. To me, that would involve questioning whether the universe exists, has a beginning, or can be explainable in mathematical terms. I know there are people who do question those things, but I just can't. However, that only gets us to a sort of scientific deism, "Einstein's God. " If you will. That Something may just be quantum foam, a mathematical algorithm, or even a computer simulation. I suspect you don't really have much of a problem with that (I've never met an adeist :-). But the Christian idea of God? I question **that** all the time. Is there anything in the universe I can trust more than myself? Is that Something really a Person like me? Does it love me? Do I have a moral obligation to obey it? Is it really that bad if I lie to myself? I have this horrible suspicion that you may have been interpreting all my questions about atheism as rhetorical and dismissive. On the contrary, I'm sincerely curious. In fact, I gotta be honest: I'm kinda envious of atheists. I'm sincerely hoping you've found a viable way to at least partially address the problems Christianity claims to solve. Let me let you in on a dirty little secret: being a Christian kind of sucks (at least if you're doing it right :-). If there is really a God who created me and loves me, then it is natural and healthy for me to love Him back. If I love Him, I want Him to be happy. That means I also have to treat all the other people He loves in a loving way, because when I hurt them I hurt Him. This is where it get messy. Every viable community I've seen requires some version of "love your neighbor (not just your friends) as yourself" to function. At some point somebody has to sacrifice their personal convenience for the good of the group. Which is why groups call those people heroes, and shun those who refuse to sacrifice their fair share. I love R’s idea of a community that requires nothing more of its members than "do no harm," but I've never seen any evidence that can work in the real world. I'd be delighted to find a counter-example! As far as I can tell, that only works for aristocratic lords dependent on slaves and serfs, not authentic individuals in interdependent community. The flip side of this is Fundamental Attribution Error: judging other people by their actions, but myself by my motives. It is easy to see the evil in the world around me, but hard to see it in myself. I quickly see when my neighbor doesn't love me, but am blind to when I fail to love my neighbor. While I've learned a lot from the Buddhist and stoic traditions, Christianity (for all its flaws) is the only system I've found that gives me the courage to face the fact that the evil I see outside of me also lives within me. So that if I yell at my children, it is more because of my lack of love rather than their lack of obedience. If I am resentful toward my wife (not just hurt by her actions), it is because of my unforgiveness rather than the way she has treated me. Of course external evil exists, and other people are also responsible for their actions. But my primary duty is to do the hard work of discovering where I am lying to myself, and trust that if I do my part God will take care of the rest. This is not fun. In fact, it often hurts like hell. I'd love to find a way to live authentically and responsibly in community that doesn't involve getting nailed to a cross. Which is why I'm genuinely curious how (and whether) atheists deal with these issues. Even if I don't buy your solution, I'm hoping it might provide some insights that could improve my own practice. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to radicalcentrism+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
