I Wish Christianity was on a Higher Moral Plain than Our Culture


I know the standard line in the faith is that all are born sinners but we in the faith are better off knowing that and asking forgiveness. In other words, we are on a higher moral plain than everyone else.

It would be an improvement if the position the church takes on good behavior was actually its behavior. Instead, those in the faith reflect views in the culture, good and bad. Unfortunately, it is often bad. The link is a beautiful essay by a man who is gay and had to put up with condemnation as a child from his priest and the parish's holier-than-thou lay committees. It is a tragic story played out many thousands of time in churches of most Christian ilks.

The Christian faith has a litany of singling out certain groups and labeling them as inferior. Churches in the South used the faith to justify slavery and later segregation. Today many branches do not allow women to be clergy, another version of "women are inferior." Some, mostly men, think women who seek abortions deserve to have prayers shouted at them as they walk to a clinic. And, some in denominations hold their noses high and split to independent denominations over gay marriage.

Everywhere in the world babies are born into cultures that existed long before they came along. To a large extent children soak up what their society thinks is bad behavior and what is good. These include which races and genders are superior and which inferior. It is chilling to realize slavery was legal in the U. S. for 200 years. Certainly parts of the country and parts of Christianity did not approve. The Christian religion did not, however, remove it during those 200 years. It had to be done with politics and war. The dominant portion of Christianity was on the same moral plain as society at large.

It would be a big improvement if the faith led society to higher moral values. Mostly, the faith follows reluctantly when other parts of society leads to something better.


Comments

  1. Ardy BMay 13, 2020 at 4:54 AM

    Jon,
    “The Christian faith has a litany of singling out certain groups and labeling them as inferior.”

    I see the “holier-than-thou” and the “singling out of certain groups and labeling them as inferior” as a consequence of two notions, namely “set apart” and “dominion over the earth”. Setting apart defines the “other”, is conducive to an air of superiority, and will incite hostility in the excluded. The idea of dominion over the earth gives those set apart a directive to influence and shape the lives and moral ecosystem of those around them, i.e. a divine cultural mandate. I do not assert that all believers act on those two principles in the manner I described. Only that as scriptural tools in the hands of clergy, the potential to enlist and stir up zeal for action, defensive or offensive, against those who march to a different drummer is tempting and short work.

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