Would you treat an employee this way? Jesus says it's OK!

This morning's Gospel reading was from Luke, Chapter 17:7-10:

"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"

(New International Version 1984)

Now I don't know about you, but if I had a servant (these days we call them "employees"!) who had spent the whole day out back plowing the North Forty, and he came into the house all hot, tired and sweaty, you're damn right I would say, "Come along now and sit down to eat!" Poor guy.


Actually, I'd probably say, "Wow, you really look tired! Why don't you take a break, shower, etc.? Take about half an hour and then come and start putting dinner on the table. Thanks, pal!"


What kind of human being would I be if I ignored another human being's suffering just because he worked for me? And Christians are always saying how compassionate Jesus was. This sure didn't sound all that compassionate to me.

Maybe that servant just didn't belong to the right union.

 

Ten Good Things About Having a Religion

Just off the top of my head:

1.     Free coffee and donuts every Sunday and some holidays. Also sometimes there's lunch, if you stay late enough.

2.     Someone to blame when things go wrong.

3.     Someone to thank when things go right.

4.     Virtuous feelings when broke.

5.     Inability to get any sex can be viewed positively.

6.     Sickness can be turned to your advantage.

7.     Belting out hymns in public encouraged, regardless of singing talent.

8.     No reason to fear death as long as you’ve done it right

9.     People who cut you off in traffic will get theirs, someday

10.  Free donuts (yes, I repeated it twice, but still … )

Next week: Ten good things about NOT having a religion!

Atheism vs anti-theism, or won't someone please think of the children?

There’s a tendency, especially among Christians, to use the word “atheist” as an insult.

“You – you filthy atheist!”

(Stings a little, doesn’t it?)

Yes, all over the Internet and beyond, "atheist" is almost synonymous with "evil" (and "militant" is a given).

And yet an atheist is simply (as defined in  The Free Dictionary): “One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods”.

Simply lacking a belief in God or gods is not a character flaw or a crime (dare I say, “Thank God!”?). Yet some theists think it is exactly that. It’s certainly a sin, in most religious belief systems.

Yet how can that be? If you don’t believe, you don’t believe, and that’s it.

You can’t force someone to believe in something. (Well ... you can. But the methods are generally unpleasant, if not illegal. And the desire to force someone to believe anything seems like a character flaw in and of itself, at least to me.)

So I’m not going to use “atheist” as a pejorative in this blog. (And if, as may occasionally occur, I slip up and do exactly that, please feel free to call me on it!)

Look - if you believe in something (or Someone), great. If you don’t - great again.

Frankly, I don’t really care what someone believes or doesn’t believe. What I DO care about is how that belief, or disbelief, affects how you behave towards others - specifically, yours truly!.

Which brings me to “anti-theism”.

Anti-theists are not just atheists. They fit the definition - they don't believe in a God or gods. But they don't stop there. They don't shrug their shoulders and say, "Oh well, live and let live, just don't ask me to share your weird delusions."

No, no - anti-theists are people who don't believe - and don't think anyone else should, either. And are willing to do whatever they can to make that happen.

As an analogy, think of nonsmokers and antismokers. Nonsmokers disapprove of smoking, and will support laws banning smoking in public places. But if smokers insist on continuing their filthy habit, well, it’s their life and more power to them, just don’t blow the smoke in my face, that’s all.

Antismokers, on the other hand, KNOW that smoking is always and everywhere dangerious, and are constantly proposing new legislation to make it illegal for anyone to smoke, anywhere – even in the privacy of their own homes or cars.

“Think of the CHILDREN!” they wail.

So I’d classify people like Richard Dawkins, the late Christopher Hitchens, etc. as "anti-theists", rather than just ordinary garden-variety atheists.

Dawkins especially incurs my irritation, because of his ridiculous – and, if ever enacted into law, EXTREMELY dangerous – assertion that parents who teach their religious beliefs to their children are committing child abuse.

Child abuse. Really? Yes, he does say that.

“Think of the CHILDREN!”

To me, that’s not one whit different than the religious nuts (shall I call them "pro-theists"?) who want prayer reinstated in the public schools and the 10 Commandments on display at every courthouse in America.

Thank God (or gods) that our great country, the United States of America, has laws protecting the general public from BOTH anti-theists and pro-theists. We don’t allow our government institutions to promote religion, but we also don’t use our government institutions to forbid the free exercise of religion.

Sure, from time to time we go a little too far in one direction or the other. But the mechanisms are in place to correct the wrongs, and generally keep everything pretty well-balanced.

So no, you can't put up a Nativity scene on the lawn in front of City Hall.

But no, you can't pass laws forbidding private citizens from displaying even the most ludicrous of Nativity scenes on their own property.

And I like it that way. I like it that way just fine.

So – my criticisms of atheism or theism, here in this blog, are aimed primarily towards the extremists on both sides – the anti-theists and the anti-atheists.

Like anti-smokers, they have a right to their opinion, but they have a tendency to be a pain in the butt.