Chris Willie Williams (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} disclaimerwill) wrote in oswaldtherabbit, |
There's a big difference between having faith and imposing your personal faith on others. Politically, I agree with everything here (including that Kristof, whoever that is, sounds like a total blowhard), but to blame faith itself is misguided. I know you and I are probably never going to see eye-to-eye on this, and I get where you're coming from, but as far as this article goes, I don't think there's any contradiction in having some sort of spiritual faith in something and possessing critical thinking skills. (As long as you admit that faith is faith; that is, something that's not based in demonstrable fact.)
As this excerpt points out, there is nothing in the Bible that equates abortion with murder (nor is there anything that explicitly condemns premarital sex, to name just one thing); centuries of mistranslations aside, these issues are just remoras that have glommed onto the faith, not tenets of the faith itself. Thus, these political crusades that are undertaken in the name of Christianity have little if anything to do with actual faith and everything to do with simple, cynical demagoguery. So why blame Christianity?
To blame spirituality for the actions of the purported adherents of various religions (who, often as not, seem not to be terribly familiar with the holy scriptures of their chosen faiths, and rather rely on other people to interpret what those writings say) is too easy, to me. It's like blaming everyone who watches American Idol for the fact that there's nothing good on the radio. Ignorance is the problem. Plenty of ignorant people consider themselves religious, but there are also plenty of people who fall into one camp but not the other.
I agree that no one has any business citing religious or moral reasons when drafting legislation or using government funds- that's bullshit- nor should one person's personal beliefs ever intrude on another person's to the point where the latter feels uncomfortable, but to blame religion for the actions of, say, the Bush administration is to give credence to Bush's facade of spirituality, when in fact, he's just a greedy douchebag whose advisors know how to prey on those who don't like to think for themselves. Religion's the avenue to get there in many cases, sure, but I really don't think that's the source of the problem.
Interesting quotations, though. I may want to read that book.
As this excerpt points out, there is nothing in the Bible that equates abortion with murder (nor is there anything that explicitly condemns premarital sex, to name just one thing); centuries of mistranslations aside, these issues are just remoras that have glommed onto the faith, not tenets of the faith itself. Thus, these political crusades that are undertaken in the name of Christianity have little if anything to do with actual faith and everything to do with simple, cynical demagoguery. So why blame Christianity?
To blame spirituality for the actions of the purported adherents of various religions (who, often as not, seem not to be terribly familiar with the holy scriptures of their chosen faiths, and rather rely on other people to interpret what those writings say) is too easy, to me. It's like blaming everyone who watches American Idol for the fact that there's nothing good on the radio. Ignorance is the problem. Plenty of ignorant people consider themselves religious, but there are also plenty of people who fall into one camp but not the other.
I agree that no one has any business citing religious or moral reasons when drafting legislation or using government funds- that's bullshit- nor should one person's personal beliefs ever intrude on another person's to the point where the latter feels uncomfortable, but to blame religion for the actions of, say, the Bush administration is to give credence to Bush's facade of spirituality, when in fact, he's just a greedy douchebag whose advisors know how to prey on those who don't like to think for themselves. Religion's the avenue to get there in many cases, sure, but I really don't think that's the source of the problem.
Interesting quotations, though. I may want to read that book.
