If you punched Jesus in the face, would he forgive you?
Kids say the darnedest things, especially when dissecting the myths and teachings about the Bible. Check out this funny clip from the British sitcom Outnumbered. The best part is watching the vicar squirm as theories and challenges come flying at him from all sides.
I think my favorite part is the bit about Jesus dying for us. “That’s a bit selfish of humankind, isn’t it?” asks Ben. The little girl then wonders if Jesus could have written to somebody asking them to be better before something bad happened. These children are brilliant!
Last month, a man named John Hunt won his battle to have his record of baptism removed from the church history. This raised some questions, and I hope you’ll tell me what you think.
First, some history.
I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church as an infant. My mother was Catholic and my father was Protestant, but they agreed to compromise; before you knew it, the stain of original sin was removed from my soul. Or so they believed.
Today, I’m a godless heathen who doesn’t care whether I was baptized, initiated, confirmed, or whatever else. I have left religion behind and I do not believe in a spiritual reality. That baptism was for my parents; in my eyes, it had no effect on me.
Now back to Mr. Hunt. Why do non-theists care whether they were baptized or not? If you don’t believe in a spiritual realm, afterlife, or sin, why is baptism anything more than a splash or dunk of water? It’s an empty religious tradition, isn’t it? Why the fuss about removing it? The only reason I can dream up is that it affects your social status and you don’t want to be identified with that group for legal, political, or safety reasons.
I’m sorry folks, but you can’t undo the impact religion has had on your life; you can’t change your past. I don’t mind if one feels a personal drive to be de-baptized, but all I ask is why?
Photo by babsteve
Not all Christians are literalistic fundamentalists or even orthodox in their theologies. There do exist “liberal” Christians who focus on a loving, generous message of Jesus rather than the more traditional views of God’s fitful nature. Many liberal Christians consider parts of the Bible mythology, metaphor, and primitive, bronze-age expression of the unknown. With those points, skeptics may agree and also appreciate the holistic approach to the scriptures.
This view is much more friendly and acceptable than the hellfire and brimstone extremist views held by a few overly-vocal groups. However, I still have problems understanding how someone can be a liberal Christian without cherry-picking, contradiction, and unsure/unsteady beliefs.
My first question is: Do liberal Christians trust Jesus?
Read the Rest! Post a comment (75)As a former Christian, I’m used to capitalizing the word God when speaking about the Christian god, Yahweh. Hell, I even spent two years of my life spelling it G-d so I wouldn’t offend the guy with a vowel. Since I’m still detoxing from religion, I’m not quite sure how to frame references to the Christian god. Do I capitalize God as if it’s a name? What about referencing other gods? Should I perhaps start using “Yahweh” in order to differentiate between deities? Yikes, this is getting silly.
I want people to understand what I’m writing about and the context that comes with the word. If I say “God”, most people know what I’m referencing and the religion/beliefs that go along with it.
If I just do “god”, then it’s more ambiguous which deity/tradition I’m speaking about, but it keeps me from giving respect to something I don’t believe exists–and thus is not a proper noun.
If I use Yahweh, well… I don’t know. Perhaps I’m just not far enough away from my knee-rattling fear of blasphemy to feel comfortable using “the Name” yet.
I’m sure other non-theist bloggers out there have come up with a solution to my little dilemma. Any opinions or ideas? For now, I’m going to toss them all on the wall to see which one sticks.
Chris on 
Bill the Heathen on 
jabran on 
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