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October 12, 2005

Stupid Christian Email Forward

I know not all Christians are morons. I got forward from a person I like and know in real life who is far from a moron and doesn't know my religious proclivities . . . where I live everyone is assumed to be Christian and if you say the name "Darwin" you get gasps from people around you. The email basically said Christians are great! They've done all the work for Katrina relief and everyone else has just complained.

Let me say that not everyone who lends a hand to a Christian organization is a Christian. I personally spent a bunch of hours at the Red Cross (I wasn't even aware they were Christian actually) helping. I'm sure others did the same. Just because organizations with Christian names gets the biggest press doesn't mean others have done nothing and that Christians are the bestest.

For example, I know a small group of Pagans here (a club I guess you'd say) who collected money and goods. Small, yes . . . but according to Christian doctrine, even the smallest gift is good enough if it's all you can spare. You don't need a massive organization to give from the heart. They didn't get on the news and say "Pagans for Katrina!" or whatever. Does that make their gift less important because the gave in silence? I'm sure atheists all over the world have given in similar ways. The Jewish have probably also helped.

There are also a lot of secular groups that are helping: http://www.atheists.org/ has some.

Point being that just because you get all the credit, Christians, doesn't mean you did all the good. When someone is in trouble I try to help them, no matter what religion they are and no matter who else tags along. I won't stay home because a Christian is doing the organizing. I don't put my beliefs on display and try to "advertise" for my religion when I'm helping someone out. Being recognized isn't the goal of helping someone. Helping is the goal.

Do you think Jesus Christ only did things so that there would proof he did them? So that he could point to it and say, "look how much better we are than you!" I've read the Bible a few times and I don't remember that. It's attitudes like that (and I know a lot of people have them, it's not a rogue forward) that make me dislike organized religion. I thought the way to preach Christianity was to lead by example not proselytize.

That is not to say that the Pagans and Atheists probably didn’t brag too. That’s human nature. However, I don’t think we should give complete credit to who brags loudest just for their bragging the loudest. Can’t we just say, “Good job mankind…but there’s still work to be done.” Instead of trying to say that one group is better than the other?

Posted by vixen at 05:20 PM | Comments (0)