“Christians are happier than atheists”. That was the consensus of a CNN article in 2013. Duh, you say. Well…hold onto your halos folks. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride to heaven. Here’s the article if you’re so inclined to read it.
Richard Wade, an advice columnist for the blog Friendly Atheist, wrote in response to another article about the CNN report, “The takeaway for most lay people is ‘Atheists are unhappy people.’ … How do you quantify ‘happiness’? How do you quantify ‘analytical thinking? Even in their acknowledgments about the possible biases in their study, the authors still use absurd and meaningless terms like ‘militant atheist,’” he added. “This study suffers from the same negative stereotypes about atheists that most society has, and it has simply reinforced that prejudice with more muddled thinking.
As I was reading the above article, another one caught my eye, so I pulled it up too. The caption was Gay detective’s mother booted from church.
I wonder how the researchers of the first article would have interpreted over 3300 comments on the second one. You can read them too, but here are just a few from so-called “Christians” My BS meter was going off a lot, but there were some honorable mentions:
- From Dale, “If God ever does light this planet on fire, I pray that those churches of hate and prejudice should be the first to burn.” (Wow…can you feel the love oozing from our friend Dale here?!)
- From Starr: “May God treat them the way they have treated this woman.” (Yeah, go get em’ Starr. That’s a sure invite to your church!)
- Then Minnie Poe asks: “How do you justify I Corinthians 5:11 cause to me that is the same as saying even if it is your own child you are not even to eat a meal with them.” (I love when people “quote” scripture)
Okay, I’m done.
Except for the following comment which I believe tells it all:
- From Katy: “Religion preaches hatred…glad I comprehended that at a young age and left Catholicism. Now I am a happy Secular!”
Our egos are forever getting in our way and “Christian” egos are scrumptious, lip-smacking fodder for unbelievers. God certainly gave us minds to use. But when the mind is given dominance over the heart, again Rohr says, “The mind starts steering, judging, analyzing, fixing, controlling, and trying to dominate….your endless mental commentary on everything. It really doesn’t matter what you think about things, believe it or not. This is a revolutionary and humiliating breakthrough for most people. What matters is WHAT IS.”
I believe that when the mind controls our every thought, word, and action it is because we do not have the courage to accept our own imperfections. We make our life’s mission to fix, manage, or adjust everyone else because we know for a fact that they are imperfect slobs in need of a Savior.
Sorry to inform you…none of us have been designated Savior of the world. That position is already taken. The sooner we all realize that the sooner we will stop sending people like Katy running away from God. He’s not pleased with us when we do that, you know. As a matter of fact, the hairs on the back of his neck stand stiff when he sees us acting or speaking like we’ve forgotten we belong to him. Unfortunately, I manage to forget that far too often as some snarky thought or remark manages to slip past my not-so-vigilant-act-like-you-have-the-tiniest-bit-of-Christian-love monitor.
When you are tempted to “set someone straight,” remember that in every circumstance, God calls us to manifest his love at that moment, to that person. Now, look back at the article and comments above and tell me who Christ was for all the people involved? Was it the church that kicked the mother out? The “Christians” who posted mean, insensitive comments?
Do we see God in the actions of the likes of Westboro Baptist Church, which is always in the news because of their hatred toward others? Do we see him in you or me when we judge and speak hatefully to or about others and refuse to accept them?
And let me say this about quoting scripture: That’s fine. But if you find yourself frantically searching with the only purpose of finding that one nugget to smack someone sideways…knock it off! You can cut and paste your beliefs and certainties to try and prove yourself all day long, but what will you have gained for God’s kingdom? Besides, that someone will just cut and paste their own “proof” that they’re right and you’re a moron. And then what?
Words of wisdom from Shane Claiborne, “Something powerful happens when we can connect our faith with the pain of our world…. We’re not throwing out the things we believe, but we’re also focusing on practices that work out those beliefs. I’m hopeful because people have grown tired of a Christianity that can say what it believes on paper but doesn’t have anything to show with our lives. Ideologies and doctrines aren’t easy things to love.
“You can show your love to others by not wishing that they should be better Christians.” –Francis of Assisi
And finally, what your mother always told you is still valid today, “If you can’t say something nice, keep your mouth shut!”
PASSION, PURPOSE & POOPYHEADS 