Hello H,
I appreciate your very interesting comments. In reality, almost everyone, including religionist behave as the situation dictates, especially in critical situations.
(1) >As a
>Christian, I am commanded to obey the Law in both the Old and New
>Testaments. Then the New Testament tells me that acting within the Law is
>only a base line, my intent or “the stuff I think when no knows I am
>thinking it” is the real measure of my worthiness. This dilutes the
>absoluteness of the commandments to behave in certain ways.
There are 613 commandments given in Old Testament, including the so called
“Ten Commandments” in 2 completely different versions. Are you saying that
you use these as part of your base line?
>my intent or “the stuff I think when no knows I am
>>thinking it” is the real measure of my worthiness
I agree.
(2) >Incidentally, it has been said (probably by Fletcher or by Rollo May) that
>the commandment to love makes Christian love (agape, concern, etc.) unique
>among the kinds of love. All other kinds of love are a response to
>something that is loveable. The command is to love the unlovable.
>
I disagree with the uniqueness of this kind of love to Christians. I find it in various degrees in the vast majority of people, Christian or not.
Assuming you are right. In practice though it doesn’t make a difference.
(a) There is no evidence that being a Christian or being religious makes better people,
with good moral or ethical behavior. A number of studies have actually shown
the opposite. Example: less than 1% of inmates are non-believers, but they
make up about 10% of the U.S. population.
(b) A major study to show that Christians have no higher standards than atheists is in George Barna’s book, The Second Coming Of The Church (Word
Publishing, 1998). Barna is a born-again Christian, sociologist, founder
and president of Barna Research Group, which releases many meaningful
survey results.
(c) If you look at world stats you find that the U.S. has the highest crime rate
per capita and the highest proportion of Christians of any western country.
Check the Scientific American July/1999 issue. Iceland, Norway, Sweden,
Finland have the least crime/capita and about one fifth as many
regular church attenders as the U.S. The murder rate in the most Christianized
country in the world, the U.S., is declining, but is still the highest of any western country – see (d) below.
(d) The murder rate in all western countries has been dropping in the last years.
Apparently 70% of homicides are committed by young men between the ages of
15 and 29, and the percentage of people in this category is steadily declining.
In Canada the murder rate has halved per 100 000 from 1973 to 1998.
The Canadian rate is less than one-third of the rate in the U.S., although it is
higher than most European countries. A reason for the Canadian rate being
so much lower is they have stricter gun controls. A reason for the European
murder rate being even lower is child support — A single parent with a child
in Germany is much better taken care of than in North America.
(d) Reliable studies show that atheists, agnostics tend to have a higher standard
of behavior than religionists, including Christians. This does not mean they are
all “good”. Stalin was said to be an atheist, but he did very evil acts.
There are many Christians in history who accepted Jesus as their savior and were very evil people.
(e) (Moral and ethical behavior) and God belief, including Christian, are not related in real life.
Just some thoughts,
O. Hooge
Naturalism and Religious Experience 