Dear My Friend the Atheist,
Tonight my cigar is Arturo Fuente and my Scotch is Johnny Walker Gold. They are both best consumed slowly. Likewise, our inquiry into the value of Christianity in America is well served by proceeding carefully.
Is Christianity in America, the sum total of the acts by Christians?
Probably not. For one thing, that definition almost certainly ends the inquiry. It means that Christianity is a wash. Every U.S. President claimed Christianity. I don't think it would help if we limited it to a certain level of devotion. Maybe you kick off Ronald Regan & Thomas Jefferson, but wherever you set the bar, surely you'd be left with Jimmy Carter and George Bush. I bet we'd find similar results if we tried to examine school principals or engineers. It would be like saying the impact of the English language in America is the sum total of English speakers.
Is Christianity in America, represented only by those things that are in line with Christian teaching?
Maybe. But, this is begging the question. Anytime I want to take credit for something good, you can just say, "Yes, but that is not in line with Christian thought." Similarly, every time you want to impugn Christianity, I can say, "Yes, but that is not in line with Christian thought."
Will we know it when we see it?
Trying to do this only in the abstract is problematic. I think there must be some sort of nexus between what Christians do, and what Christianity teaches. So, let's just look at some examples. Which of these is the result, of Christianity in America?
The Civil Rights Movement
The Women's Liberation Movement
Bombing of Abortion Clinics
The Oklahoma City Bombing
Prohibition
Abolition
Slavery
Salem Witch Trials
What do you think?
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1 comment:
If I can paraphrase Sam Harris, the list you compiled at the end is one of the harmless ways to elucidate of the problem of believing that you have in your possession, the unedited, unadulterated how-to-live manual by the creator of the universe.
Because we are flawed humans, we can use these texts to justfy slavery, and we can use them to justify the abolition of slavery. We can use them to justify the death penalty, and we can use them to justify absolute pro-life.
And more dangerously, they give sanction to the idea that there are people who fall into the camp of things deserving an eternity in abject torture.
Matt
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