JPB wrote:You seem to have a dilemma accepting the notion of a non-creedal religion, real life. The mantra of 'deeds not creeds' is well known within UU.
This is the crux of the problem which bible-thumpers will always have with the philosophical viewpoint which you assert is forwarded by the Unitarians. (I say it in that manner because i don't purport to know enough about Unitarians to speak for them.) This is the comparison of the value of "faith" versus "works." Although most fundamentalists reject "Calvinism," and sneer at Presbyterians (the sect remaining today which most embraces and espouses Calvinist religious doctrine), they themselves (the fundamentalists) partake of one of the core doctines of John Calvin, the superiority of faith over works (i.e., of belief over deeds). Fundamentalists habitually display their ignorance, and in rejecting what they selectively view as Calvinism, display their ignorance. Calvin was the first to articulate the concept of the superiority of faith over works, and despite their protestations, fundamentalists firmly adhere to one of the core Calvinist doctrines by asserting the superiority of faith over works.
Essentially, the philosophy of the superiority of faith over works suggests that "god" will be more interested in the genuine fervor of belief of an individual than how said individual behaved toward his or her fellow humans in life. This was the first great hypocricy which disgusted me about christianity, long before i questioned the core assumptions of theism. We so frequently had sermons based on Matthew, Chapter 25:
The King James Version, Matthew 25: wrote:Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
I haven't the least doubt that bible-thumpers will attempt to insist that this passage means something other than it patently says. Nevertheless, it is plain that in this passage at least, the message is that the "righteous" are at least as responsible for assuring their good works as they are of their faith. But fundamentalists have rejected this concept, and hew to the line which was first introduced into Protestant theology by John Calvin, the superiority of faith over works.
It was precisely because i had heard this passage in Matthew worked into sermons so often that i first concluded that modern christians are so often disgustingly hypocritical--talking the talk but not walking the walk. In Matthew 23, the Pharisees are excoriated for their false public works, which did not represent genuine charity and humility, and that passage has also remained in my mind all these many years:
The King James Version, Matthew 23 wrote:Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Of course, i am no longer a theist, let alone a christian. I find my disgust at christian hypocricy arising anew, however, at the contemplation of the contempt expressed here for the Unitarians. We can now add them to the ever lengthening list of those condemned by bible-thumpers, who are always so eager to show their christian love, and who so often do so by denying that people with whom they disagree can possibly be christian.
Hypocrites.
