The Atheist Chaplain at Harvard Represents Something New


There have been so many kinds of atheists who have become prominent, and perhaps wealthy, in the past decade. Our group in Fargo paid Sam Harris to come and speak. We had to deal with his agent. Richard Dawkins is so wealthy and prominent he runs a big foundation. There are other atheists and other approaches.

Currently the buzz is about an atheist Chaplain at Harvard who was elected the chair the other 40 staff who hold the title of Chaplain. His statement about his election and the book he authored argue for the strong moral and ethical positions that come from atheism. Even the tenets of The Satanic Temple I wrote about recently are deep into moralistic principles. While "nones", those who do not identify with any religion, are growing rapidly, atheists numbers have not risen as much. There remains some suspicion of atheists and the Chaplain at Harvard is presenting atheism in a different way. 

The ethical core of this kind of atheism is social justice. As we know, Christianity has a social justice branch but it is not growing like the branch called Pentecostalism. The Pope comes from a social justice career but faces headwinds in the world wide Catholic Church.

While it's impossible to predict the future, looking at people under 20 years old gives us one possible peak at what might be ahead. That group is cool to religion, more than any such group since way back, and it big into social justice. Among young people you find a strong majority in favor of gay rights and other principled views. It might be they will find comfort in atheism as the years pass.

Christianity has from day one had a tough time making the argument it represents some sort of high mark in moralism. If we are to believe the Bible, God killed two million innocent people. For fun, God tempted people. Jesus treated his mother badly and told his guy friends to leave their wives and hang out with him. Slaves were OK. Just don't covet those your neighbor bought. 

When you compare it to Christianity, the morals of atheism and social justice have something good going for them. The Harvard atheist Chaplain is marketing it. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more