Interesting article from Nigel Farndale in the Telegraph back in March about being an Anglican Atheist. I don't know that I quite agree with everything he says there - much as I respect the Anglican tradition, and regard myself as an Atheistic Christian, all this pox about political correctness trying to stamp on Christians is really a load of old wet. Stop yapping, Archbishop! Grow some nuts. Whatever its history, the UK is a secular country, as it should be - you can't claim special privilege for one religion over another.
Where in the gospels is the verse: "Jesus whinged"? It's not there. Jesus NEVER yapped about feeling that his rights were being infringed; if we take an idealised version of the life of Jesus as a humanist hero (and let's set probable historical actualities gently to the side for a moment, because that's what we all do, theist or atheist), then Jesus stood up for people who were *really* being oppressed - the poor, the needy, the marginalised.
Yes, the wheels fell off the wagon pretty quickly after Jesus left the scene, but we have our model, and the scenes of whingeing archbishops and lamenting columnists are just a little bit embarrassing to those of us who like our Christianity real, meaningful and world-changing.
So, I delicately suggest, perhaps we should move away from this tedious moaning, and promote a Christianity that does not exclude people, be they Muslims, Jews, Atheists, Hindus, Pagans or whatever. The Christianity of Jesus was about the here and now - the Kingdom of God is a metaphor for the establishment of a caring and altruistic society where we all take responsibility to help each other out, whatever their circumstances. Stop whitewashing the sepulchres, people. When you're dead, you're dead. The Kingdom of God is NOW.
And as an Atheist, I have no problem in saying that.
Any comments?
A commenter on my site recently reminded me of the book 'The Life of Pi', where the main character converts to Christianity, Islam and Hinduism all at the same time. There's plenty of room in religious words for more definitions!
ReplyDeleteThe Kingdom of God has to be one of the most misunderstood and sorely abused parts of the bible. One suggestion I've heard of is we should re-translate it to the 'Kin-dom' of Heaven on Earth, to stress the relational, family, human meanings behind it.
Would it work?
Andrew, you may have a point (yet to read the Life of Pi - now that *really* makes me a heathen!). Actually, the "Kingdom of God" translates over into an atheistic model pretty easily, as Ian over at Irreducible Complexity will also attest: http://irrco.org
ReplyDeleteI agree, we should move away from the tedious moaning and scapegoating of those identified as *enemies of christianity* and just accept people for who they are, not just those who belong/ are initiated into a specific religious tribe. It would be great if we could re-ignite the socially caring aspect of christianity that tackled so many social injustices of the 19th century in the UK.That side of christianity and its willingless to help anyone who needed it is one legacy we should keep
ReplyDeleteThanks Anonymous - I think a lot of good humanistic values *have* been written back into at least some forms of Christianity by a sort of analog to the natural selection process of evolution writing useful adaptations back into the gene pool. At one level I think it is vital to challenge the belief aspects of Christianity, and to sow positive doubt where once there was faith (faith being a vice in my worldview). But on another level, I don't think the wider notion of "Christianity" is as hidebound as all that, and if we can get Christians to realise that atheism is a valid expression of a Christian worldview, we may gain allies in the fight against the crazy stuff like creationism and homophobia.
ReplyDeleteI also think we need to be robust in debate, and not let our theistic brethren away with too many silly things. As a Christian Atheist, I am entitled to my fully human Jesus too! :-)