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Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
Here’s a slightly edited repost of a column I wrote on May 15, 2024.
I’ve removed the paywall and cleaned up some broken links, but it’s substantially what I originally wrote.
Personally I think it’s one of the best things I’ve ever written.
You do you
Some thoughts on religion, ethics, morality and mythology
May 15, 2024
OK, here’s the thing. I’m going to try to walk a delicate tight-rope here, but I have strong feelings about this, so I’m going to be as honest as I can.
I’m very concerned that there seems to be a push from a fairly large percent of the population of the US to make this a “Christian Nation”.
I was raised in the Presbyterian church, so I have some familiarity with the teachings of Christ. It seems to me that a lot of things being advocated in the name of Christ are not exactly what he had in mind, assuming he existed as documented in the New Testament.
In my tweens and early teens I started having doubts, but at 14 or 15 I took confirmation classes and joined our church, mostly because it was expected of me.
As I grew older, the more I thought about it the more it seemed that there were people, including our pastor and my parents, who were telling me they knew things they could not possibly know, like that there was a God, he was a Christian God, and that they knew what he wanted, and that I should accept these teachings uncritically.
“Have faith!” they said.
I came to realize that the statements “I believe…” and “I have faith that…” are semantically equivalent to saying, “In my opinion…”
I was told that the Judeo/Christian God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent, and that his will is not conceivable by us mere mortals. As I matured I found it the height of arrogance for anyone, ANYONE to say they know what God wants.
This made me extremely angry. During most of my 20s I was militantly anti-religious, and to this day I still think that on balance, organized religion has done more harm than good. Wars have been fought over it. Genocide has been justified by it.
Such a waste.
I have no problem with anyone saying, “My religion says I shouldn’t do [whatever] so I won’t do that.” I will fight to the death for your right to follow the tenets of your religion as long as they effect you and others who share your faith, and nobody else.
However, there are a lot of folks these days, many of them in positions of authority, who are saying, “My religions says you shouldn’t do [whatever] so we’re going to pass laws to keep anyone from doing that.”
That doesn’t fly.
According to this chart about 70% of Americans identify as Christian. Currently 23% of Americans are “Unaffiliated” and 2% either don’t know or refused to answer the question.
That leaves about 5% who are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Unitarian/Universalist or “Other”.
So enforcing so-called “Christian Values” on everyone would force about 30% of the population to follow rules they don’t necessarily agree with, and that are, as near as I can tell, based largely on campfire stories told by nomadic herders back in the bronze age and before.
If you were raised Christian you probably consider Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Rastafarianism, Pastafarianism 😉 and other non-Abrahamic religions to be mythology.
But as Robert Heinlein once said, “One man's theology is another man's belly laugh.”
I’m not saying this to belittle anyone for their beliefs or anger anyone.
But I’m really concerned about the way religion, specifically white evangelical Christianity is being applied to public policy these days.
If your personal religion gives you comfort, knock yourself out. Just don’t try to force those who don’t share your religion to follow it’s rules.
If there was an obvious One True Faith there wouldn’t be so many flavors of Christianity, Judaism and Islam. There are also schisms in other religious traditions. As I’ve said, wars have been fought and untold murders have been committed due to slight disagreements in interpretations of “Holy Books”.
In my experience all religious texts can, to put it mildly, be interpreted in multiple ways.
The Bible is the text I’m most familiar with, and it has been translated, mistranslated, interpreted, reinterpreted and massaged ad nauseum. It’s not exactly a clear step-by-step instruction manual for living a good, ethical and moral life, especially the Old Testament, as illustrated by this West Wing clip, one of my favorite scenes in the series.
This George Carlin clip pretty much sums things up.
Lewis Black says Christians need to stick to the New Testament.
So, how about the New Testament?
I honestly wish a lot of Christians would read the damn thing.
Regarding immigration, here’s a bunch of verses from both testaments on being nice to folks from other countries.
I say, let’s try it!
All the verses below are from the Revised Standard Version, the one I grew up with. The fact that there are so many versions bolsters my argument that this book, while being an interesting look into the lives and philosophies of folks lived millennia ago, is not the revealed word of God.
Regarding abortion, the two most most commonly quoted bible passages I’m aware of are Psalm 139:13-16 (Revised Standard Version):
13 For thou didst form my inward parts,
thou didst knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise thee, for thou art fearful and wonderful.
Wonderful are thy works!
Thou knowest me right well;
15 my frame was not hidden from thee,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.
16 Thy eyes beheld my unformed substance;
in thy book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
And Jeremiah 1:5 (RSV)
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Both are from the Old Testament. Neither addresses abortion directly.
I read the Psalms passage as amazement of what occurs in a woman’s womb during pregnancy. I agree, it’s pretty nifty.
The Jeremiah verse is sweet, but an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God would not be bound by time and space, so of course they would know you in the womb, and throughout your life.
In my research I found this verse, Exodus 21:22-25:
22 “When men strive together, and hurt a woman with child, so that there is a miscarriage, and yet no harm follows, the one who hurt her shall be fined, according as the woman’s husband shall lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
If I’m interpreting this correctly, if someone attacks a pregnant woman and causes a miscarriage they can pay off the husband as long as the woman wasn’t otherwise harmed, but if the woman is injured or killed it’s “eye for an eye” time!
I interpret this to mean that until birth, a fetus is not a human child.
And why pay off the husband? He wasn't the one attacked. I suspect the Biblical teachings that treat women as property underly a lot of the misogyny being displayed by the Forced Birth movement.
Except in the Roman Catholic church abortion wasn’t even an issue for Christians until the late ‘70s, when the religious right needed a new wedge issue because segregation wasn’t landing any more.
The sheer hypocrisy used to anger me, but now it just makes me sad.
Regarding the whole omnipotence thing, here’s another Heinlein quote:
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks, please. Cash and in small bills.
Remember, if what I’ve been told is true, God made me an agnostic. Maybe he put me and other agnostics and atheists on this Earth to test your faith. One might say I was Born This Way.
You're welcome.
Again, I don't wish to anger or insult anyone here.
As an agnostic I’m a seeker of truth.
I think that if you follow the Golden Rule you can live a happy, moral and ethical life. No need to complicate things.
I find atheism to be problematic. Atheists are saying they know for sure there is no creator or prime mover. I don’t know that. I find it unlikely, but I can’t rule it out. No evidence one way or the other.
One thing I’m almost absolutely sure of, though, is that if there is some form of creator, they are almost certainly not described by, nor are they limited by descriptions in any of the holy writings, whether they be the Bible, the Koran, the Tibetan Book of the Dead or you name it.
“But”, you say, “this nation was founded by Christians!”
Well some of the founding fathers were Christian. But many of them were influenced by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Isaac Newton, and John Locke, all deists. My understanding is that George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson were almost certainly deists, as were others.
They believed that there was a creator who formed this universe and then went on to other projects.
This entire universe may be an old science fair project left in some celestial attic.
If there is evidence, empirical, tested and repeatable evidence, that there is a God who not only is aware of our existence, but is actively involved in our lives, I’d like to see it. Revealed Truth doesn’t count.
Jefferson cut up a New Testament to eliminate miracles and supernatural events, leaving only the philosophy of Jesus.
My kind of guy.
A while ago I wondered aloud to my wife and sister why it is that the age of miracles seems to have come to an end a long, long time ago. I heard one of them murmur something about having to look for your miracles.
If you have to look for them they’re not miracles.
I’m talking about Biblical miracles such as sun standing still in the sky for a full day, fiery letters in the sky, floods that cover the entire Earth, etc. Things that our current understanding of physics won’t explain. Why did those type of miracles only happen a very long time ago in faraway lands? Pretty convenient.
I don’t know about you, but when I tell stories they tend to get better with time. My strong suspicion is that this is what happens with religious texts.
Why this sudden polemic on religion? Because the current Speaker of the House has said he uses the Bible as his guide to governing.
Federal judges at all levels are quoting biblical verses in their decisions to restrict the rights of women, and LGBTQ+ folks among others.
This scares me. Theocracies rarely end well.
I know and love many Christians who are Pro-Choice and in favor of comprehensive immigration reform. I’m married to one.
Many of these Christians acknowledge that there are many roads to enlightenment and don’t judge me for the road I’ve taken.
These same Christians also consider women and LGBTQ+ people to be, well, people, to be treated with the same respect and dignity as everyone else, including full bodily autonomy.
One friend of mine tells of his father teaching him to stop worrying about the souls of others. It’s a full time job working on your own soul.
Matthew 7:3-5
Revised Standard Version
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Here’s another place where I wonder about the translation. Since I was a kid I’ve thought the image of someone with a log in their eye was ludicrous.
Finally, I know and love a few Christians who know and love me, but are very concerned that I will go to hell because of my belief in freedom of choice.
Maybe I’ll pray for them. Can’t hurt, might help.
Anyone can comment on this week’s column. Please be respectful.
© 2025 Gary Fisher
Call your Congresscritters! Keep Calling!
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