Maybe Religion is Okay After All

September 19, 2005 Posted by Amy HallcloseAuthor: Amy Hall Name: Amy Hall
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I wrote last week about the fear that many on the Left have of religion.  Would eradicating religion from our society make this country a better place?  Roy Hattersley, a man of the Left, wrote last Monday about his confusion on this subject in his article, “Faith does breed charity:  We atheists have to accept that most believers are better human beings.”

Hattersley notes that Katrina disaster relief is largely being carried out by religious organizations:

Notable by their absence are teams from rationalist societies, free thinkers’ clubs and atheists’ associations–the sort of people who not only scoff at religion’s intellectual absurdity but also regard it as a positive force for evil.

Hattersley, who undoubtedly is used to hearing Christians characterized as angry, intolerant, and hate-filled by his fellow leftists, found something that confounded him when he encountered real-life Christians:

Last week a middle-ranking officer of the Salvation Army, who gave up a well-paid job to devote his life to the poor, attempted to convince me that homosexuality is a mortal sin.  Late at night, on the streets of one of our great cities, that man offers friendship as well as help to the most degraded and (to those of a censorious turn of mind) degenerate human beings who exist just outside the boundaries of our society. And he does what he believes to be his Christian duty without the slightest suggestion of disapproval. Yet, for much of his time, he is meeting needs that result from conduct he regards as intrinsically wicked.

This seems a great contradiction to Hattersley:

Civilized people do not believe that drug addiction and male prostitution offend against divine ordinance. But those who do are the men and women most willing to change the fetid bandages, replace the sodden sleeping bags and–probably most difficult of all–argue, without a trace of impatience, that the time has come for some serious medical treatment.

For people who believe there is no God and, consequently, no real “right” and “wrong,” anyone who calls another person’s behavior “sinful” must be a mean, oppressive, irrational person. Hattersley is only now being confronted with the truth–that is, when you give up the idea of “wrong,” you are also giving up the idea of “right.”  Only those who are submitted to a standard and see clearly what is wrong behavior will also see clearly what is right.  Only those who believe there is such a thing as “better” (and that we’re commanded to seek it) will try to lovingly lift others out of “worse.”  This is why it’s possible for Christians to love and care for those with whom they disagree.  But what reason (not to mention responsibility) has the atheist to love and care for the Christian?

Related posts:

1. Changing the Minds of the “Hattersleys”
2. Is Religion Dangerous?
3. Confusion About Science and Religion – Part Two
4. Brothers and Sisters, Why So Cynical?
5. Confusion About Science and Religion – Part One
6. All Human Rights are "Religious Fundamentalism"

Posted in Amy's Posts, Culture, Main Page, Religion (General)