Christianity - What He Said: The Words of Jesus Christ

Posts Tagged ‘Christianity’

The National Religion

Friday, August 26th, 2011 by JEL

Debate has been going on for years, and will continue to do so, about whether the U.S. is a “Christian Nation.” Reading the constitution, one gets the clear impression that our founding fathers bent over backwards to ensure religious freedom for all, to keep government out of religion, and religion out of government. Others obviously have their own interpretation.

To David Sirota, the whole argument is moot. Our national religion is not Christianity, says he, it is Denialism:

Some branches of this religion deny the science documenting humans’ role in climate change. Others deny tax cuts’ connection to deficits and deregulation’s role in the recession. But regardless of the issue, Denialists all share a basic hostility to facts.

As this know-nothing theology expands, none of its denominations claims a bigger membership than the one obsessed with race. Today, many reject the fact that black people typically face bigger obstacles to economic and political success than whites. Instead, they insist that whites are oppressed.

His entire piece is an interesting read.

Tags: Christian nation, Christianity, David Sirota, Denialism
Posted in In The News | No Comments »

“Christianity and War”

Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 by JEL

I’ve long been perplexed by the view so many American Christians share on war. Killing foreigners just never seems to bother them, especially if these foreigners are not Christians, themselves. This view already puts them in Jesus’ doghouse, but then there’s their hypocrisy to deal with. Namely, their virulent pro-life stance. “Pro-life” means just what it says: preserving the sanctity of human life. Except to these folks, they narrow it down to unborn American babies. Innocent civilians on the other side of the world who happen to have the misfortune of getting in the way of a bullet or bomb be damned.

Today I ran across an article on the libertarian Lew Rockwell site, of all places. It was written by Laurence M. Vance and I think it makes a number of strong points. Here are some snippets, but please check out the whole thing:

I write extensively about the biblical, economic, and political fallacies of religious people, and especially on the topic of Christianity and war. This is a subject where ignorance abounds in both pulpit and pew, and most of it willful ignorance. This is a subject that exposes Bible scholars as Bible illiterates. This is a subject that turns Christians into disgraceful apologists of the state, its leaders, its military, and its wars. This is a subject that reveals pro-life Christians to be two-faced supporters of wholesale murder.

[…]

But modern-day Christianity is in a sad state. There is an unholy desire on the part of a great many Christians to legitimize killing in war. There persists the idea among too many Christians that mass killing in war is acceptable, but the killing of one’s neighbor violates the sixth commandment’s prohibition against killing.

[…]

Many Christians have a warped view of what it means to be pro-life. Why is it that foreigners don’t have the same right to life as unborn American babies? There should be no difference between being for abortion and for war. Both result in the death of innocents. Both are unnecessary. Both cause psychological harm to the one who signs a consent form or fires a weapon. Why is it that to many Christians an American doctor in a white coat is considered a murderer if he kills an unborn baby, but an American soldier in a uniform is considered a hero if he kills an adult?

There’s a lot more where that came from. Read the whole thing.

Tags: Christianity, Christianity and War, Laurence M. Vance, pro-life
Posted in In The News, The Bible, Words of Christ | No Comments »

Christianism vs. Christianity

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 by JEL

Tom Zirpoli is a columnist for the Carroll County Times. In today’s piece, he introduced me to a term I’d never heard of before: Christianism. He actually referenced Andrew Sullivan’s use of the word to describe the “political co-opters.” Here are four great paragraphs from Zirpoli’s column:

Many politicians who call themselves Christian insist on health care for the unborn, then vote to cut health care funding for millions of babies and their mothers. Come to think of it, they no longer even support health care for the unborn; just their birth.

I have always wondered why some people are so protective of the unborn, but don’t care much for helping children after they are born. Perhaps it is easier for people to advocate for the unborn because it doesn’t cost them anything. They don’t have to feed the unborn or provide them with shelter. And after they are born and in need, they can be someone else’s problem.

Self-proclaimed Christian politicians in Washington want to pay down the national debt on the backs of the poor, the elderly and the disabled while they continue to protect generous tax breaks for the rich who are enjoying the lowest tax rates in decades.

Andrew Sullivan uses the term “Christianism” to delineate Christianity and real Christians “from their political co-opters” who have “the desperate need to control all the levers of political power to control or guide the lives of others.” Sullivan views Christianism as he does Islamism. Both, he says, “are panicked by the complexity and choices of modernity into a fanatical embrace of a simplistic parody of religion in order to attack what they see as their cultural and social enemies. They are not about genuine faith; they are about the instrumentality of faith as a political bludgeon.”

Tags: Andrew Sullivan, Christianism, Christianity, Tom Zirpoli
Posted in In The News, Words of Christ | No Comments »

Take the Christianity Quiz

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 by JEL

There’s a new group called Changing the Face of Christianity with a mission to “reverse Christian intolerance, hypocrisy, homophobia, judgmentalism, and other negative Christian stereotypes, by helping Christians to be more like Jesus Christ.” Sounds like our kind of group! And one where What He Said should help play a role.

They’ve developed a “How Christian Are You?” quiz that is pretty illuminating. Try to be honest with your answers; it’s pretty obvious which response is the most Jesus-like. Go on, take the quiz ! >>

If you’re interested in more information about the group, check out the video below.

Tags: Changing the Face of Christianity, Christianity, Christianity quiz
Posted in Words of Christ | No Comments »

What About the Animals?

Friday, June 17th, 2011 by JEL

I became a vegetarian 11 years ago after reading a book and realizing I could no longer hide behind ignorance. Going off in the woods and shooting your own turkey is one thing (still not for me); buying a package at the grocery store that results from a brief, miserable life of suffering is something else entirely.

As I’ve worked on this blog over the past year and a half, I’ve wanted to see more on how Christianity sees the plight of animals. Today I found Laura Hobgood-Oster’s piece:

Yes, once we open our eyes to see them, animals are everywhere in the history of Christianity. But at least in recent memory, animals have been ignored and even demeaned by Christians and Christianity. Humans became the sole focus of most forms of Christianity and, as a result, cultures influenced by Christianity have not been kind places for most animals.

In the U.S., where approximately 75 percent of adults identify as Christian, the lives of many animals are miserable and short. According to statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2010 almost 10 billion animals were killed for food in the U.S. alone. That is the equivalent of almost thirty animals per person. Thirty animals per person! The vast majority of these animals live in cramped, filthy conditions. They are forcibly removed from their mothers, who are treated as breeding machines not as living, breathing beings. In the Bible God is compared to a mother hen who protects her young under her wings. In the U.S. a mother hen is kept in a battery breeding cage, she is never allowed to protect herself or her young.

Several years ago I was honored to be part of a documentary produced by the Humane Society of the United States entitled “Eating Mercifully.” We examined the history of Christianity and asked how beliefs intersect with practices of eating. Christianity, which not only focuses on justice for humans but also has a rich tradition of thoughtful eating, is no longer living up to its own calls for compassion. Numerous saints chose diets that caused the least amount of pain and suffering to others. Fridays were traditionally a day of fasting or, at the very least, of not eating meat. Christians seem to have forgotten that what we eat is a reflection of what we believe.

Tags: Animal Liberation, animal welfare, Christianity, eating mercifully, Laura Hobgood-Oster
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Flexible Christianity

Friday, June 10th, 2011 by JEL

Quaker minister Philip Gulley has a new book out called “The Evolution of Faith: How God is Creating a Better Christianity.” The book description is right up my alley:

“For too long, American Christianity has been poisoned by a narrowness of mind and spirit, demanding we believe the implausible, affirm the absurd, and despise the different. For many, the concepts of original sin, a God who sends people to hell, and Jesus as the only path to God can no longer be stomached. Thus thoughtful people leave the church in droves, no longer willing to diminish their lives or the lives of others for the sake of faith.

But what if there were another way? What if God wanted us to grow and change, both in our theology and our beliefs? In The Evolution of Faith, Philip Gulley invites us to put aside slavish obedience to antiquated faith claims and worldviews that no longer ring true, and discover what we really believe, rather than what we’ve always been taught.”

Gulley’s last book, “If the Church Were Christian: Rediscovering the Values of Jesus,” has, as one might imagine, a wide range of comments over at Amazon.

Tags: Christianity, flexible Christianity, Phillip Gulley
Posted in In The News, Words of Christ | No Comments »

Kristin Wins!

Friday, May 27th, 2011 by JEL

Some of you may know Kristin Chenoweth from Glee, others from her amazing voice and starring roles on Broadway. Me? I first encountered her as the character Annabeth Schott on The West Wing. I had no idea she could even sing. Anyway, she’s going to have to make room on her mantle (slide over, Tony and Emmy) for a new award: best quote on Christianity.

“I think it’s important to remember that Christianity was based in love and tolerance and forgiveness and acceptance. I don’t want Christianity to be a negative word anymore. I want people to understand that there is a group of Christians out there who want to be more open and understanding and tolerant and loving of all kinds of people, even the people that don’t believe in God at all. I guess that’s one of my purposes in this life is to make sure people know that Jesus would have taught the same thing and did teach the same thing. If he were alive today, where would he be hanging out? He wouldn’t be hanging out at Neiman Marcus. He probably wouldn’t even be at church. He would be downtown feeding the poor and helping the sick. That’s what it’s about.”

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend, everyone.

Tags: Christianity, Glee, Kristen Chenoweth, The West Wing
Posted in Four Gospels, Words of Christ | No Comments »

Mind Your Own…Faith

Wednesday, May 4th, 2011 by JEL

I happen to be a big proponent of the separation of Church and State. Believe in whatever God/faith you wish, but please don’t impose your beliefs on me or others who don’t share those beliefs. Sounds pretty simple, and it’s worked pretty well here in the US for over 200 years.

Others disagree. Newt Gingrich for one. Newt, who has a long history of behavior inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ, feels there is currently a “crisis of secularism” in America:

“The American elites are guided by their desire to emulate the European elites and, as a result, anti-religious values and principles are coming to dominate the academic, news media and judicial class in America.”

And then there’s Vishal Mangalwadi, a Christian scholar in India, who thinks the Antichrist is going to come from the U.S.

“If America does not return to the Bible as the cultural authority – having influence over the Congress, over the courts, over the universities – if that does not happen, then the antichrist in the 21st century will come from America.”

And of course there’s Gary North’s Reconstructionism that seeks to institute Old Testament Biblical law throughout our system of government and schools (kind of like the Taliban does with the Koran). Adherents shoo away Jesus’ commands to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and heal the sick, and claim that the Bible is against any form of welfare. Capitalism is what it’s all about.

The Public Religion Research Institute released a study on April 21 where they investigated whether people thought capitalism was in conflict with Christianity. People who thought they were in competition beat out those who thought they were compatible by 44% to 36%. 53% of Democrats see capitalism and Christian values at odds, while only 37 % of Republicans have trouble with the combination.

Tags: capitalism, Christianity, Gary North, Newt Gingrich, reconstructionism, secularism, Vishal Mangalwadi
Posted in In The News, The Bible | No Comments »

Bible Complexity…And Lots of Angry People

Wednesday, February 16th, 2011 by JEL

Those of you who regularly read this blog know my despair concerning online discourse. Read the comments following any article on the Web, however innocuous, and you will see example after example of uninformed rage.

Along these lines, I took some solace in Timothy Beal’s latest column. Beal, the author of The Rise and Fall of the Bible: The Unexpected History of an Accidental Book, is a Christian, a Sunday School teacher, and a college professor of biblical literature for over 20 years.

Anyway, he wrote an article for AskMen.com called “Five Things You Didn’t Know About the Bible.” One of them was that there are multiple creation stories in the Bible. In one Genesis story, God creates the world (light, water, land, vegetation, animals) and then adds humankind–both male and female–as the final touch. In the other Genesis story, God creates a single human first (not yet male or female) out of the dust of the earth and then breathes life into his nostrils.

Fascinating, right? Two completely different stories, right next to each other in the same book of the Bible! Beal, who can point out plenty of other contradictions and complexities in the Bible, intended the article to be a discussion starter and impetus to pull out the Bible and–gasp–to even think.

What he got was pure bile. He was called a “gay moron” and “fatass nerd editor” and one commenter wrote “the OP [“original poster,” Beal] needs to actually check his facts. You would think one might actually read the books objectively before commenting on them. Seriously??? Differences in Gen 1&2??? Are you nuts!!!” And that was one of the nicer ones.

How hard would it have been for that commenter to take one of his many Bibles off the shelf and actually read Genesis to see that Beal had it right? I wish all of those who responded could read his article and see its conclusion:

“The Bible canonizes contradiction. It holds together a tense diversity of perspectives and voices, difference and argument — even and especially when it comes to the profoundest questions of faith, questions that inevitably outlive all their answers.

The Bible is not a book of answers but a library of questions. As such it opens up space for us to explore different voices and perspectives, to discuss, to disagree and, above all, to think. Too often, however, that’s not what happens.”

Tags: Christianity, creation stories, Genesis, Timothy Beal
Posted in In The News, The Bible | No Comments »