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I love Christians and Atheists, & hold us all accountable [1]

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Date: 2023-02-17  

Loving both Atheists & Christians, it tears my heart to hear them going at each other, blaming each other for the world’s problems. This world would not be as rich without the diverse points of view both groups bring to the discussions of how to make the world a better place, and I have to challenge both groups to admit that treating others as enemies and asserting that life would be better without them is bigoted and misguided in the extreme. As an agnostic, one who admits that I can neither prove nor disprove the existence of God, I often find my self feeling like the child of parents going through a divorce, being tugged in both directions and wanting to shout at both of them, STOP YOUR CHILDISH BEHAVIOR! I LOVE BOTH OF YOU, AND YOUR ENMITY IS TEARING ME APART! ANIMOSITY IS MAKING EACH OF YOU LOOK VERY UGLY!

I was raised as a Christian, but also by a science teacher, who taught me the principles of the scientific method ant his belief that there is no contradiction between having Christian faith and the use of science to study the universe. One of Dad’s favorite passages was Christ’s admonition to his followers that we should first remove the log in our own eyes so we can see clearly to remove the mote of sawdust in our neighbor’s eyes. Another was Christ’s answer to the question, “who is my neighbor?” in which he makes it clear that the most neighborly person in his parable was not the two religious jews who shared the same religion as the injured victim robbed and left to die along the side of the road, for those men of faith could not be bothered to help the unfortunate. Instead the victim was rescued by a hated Samaritan whose religious beliefs were in opposition to that of the jewish victim, yet the man the victim would have despised on religious principle was the one who saved the victim’s life at great cost to himself, making sure he had every comfort he could offer, apparently motivated by nothing more than compassion for a suffering soul. These passages and more from the Gospels assure me that Jesus would regard atheists as his “neighbor” and give them the same caring regard and respect he gave to his own disciples. Jesus said we are to “Love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us”. I am sure that Jesus would not have written a diary defending Christians and chiding atheists; he would be far more likely to chide his own followers that they should confront any hateful judgement of non-Christians that they encounter coming from other Christians, BEFORE it can be voiced to the non-Christians.

Similarly, the atheist philosophers I have read make it clear that they do not need faith in God to act in accordance to as high a level of ethics as any follower of a religious faith. So if one is acting in accordance with atheist principles, would not one want to demonstrate that the highest ethical principles and behavior can be held and become the wellspring of every action without any need for belief in a deity? Surely writing a diary that castigates people for having opinions different from your own on a subject like the subjective existence of a God which can be neither incontrovertably proved or disproved (via the use of the scientific method which atheists cherish as the means and methodology of science and logic) is not making a good case for the ethical behavior of atheists. You know full well that you can not reason people of faith away from their beliefs, as they are, by definition, not based upon reason or logic, but upon faith, and emotional experiences unique to that individual. Surely you can understand what it is like to have people reject the philosophical foundations of your own life, and can thus understand how people of faith feel when their philosophical foundations are attacked when you attack their religion. You can’t change people by indulging in attacks on their essence, so why do you persist in doing so, especially within what is intended to be a diverse community of minds like Daily Kos?

Neither Christians nor Atheists are going to change each other’s minds, so can we please all agree to disagree on the subject of religion and faith and philosophy, and instead focus on extending mutual respect as neighbors and members of a shared community to those who seem to be most different from ourselves. And to remember that in order to live together in peace, we need to remind those who share the same philosophical background as ourselves, that we need to be most careful to be respectful to those with whom we disagree the most, and to treat them with the same regard as we ourselves would want to be treated.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/17/2153551/-I-love-Christians-and-Atheists-hold-us-all-accountable

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