Friday, July 27, 2007

Why say "He was a good Christian?'

What does it mean to be a "good Christian?" Here in the southern US one hears that phrase all the time. As an atheist I see things a little different. I see good Christians taking advantage of others and trying to force their beliefs on our secular society. I see good Christians such as Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson preaching intolerance and getting wealthy on scraps that poor Christians send to them based on those lies. Remember the PTL and Jim Bakker? I see good Christians like George W. Bush saying that he talks to God then sends our troops to Iraq based on those conversations. I see good Christians like Bush's father who says things like "No, I don't know that Atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under God." I see good Christians within my own family that refuse to talk to me based solely on my non-belief.

I have been called a good Christian many times and I'm always quick to say that I'm an atheist. 100% of the time the reaction is surprise and the comment is usually, "But you're such a good person!" My answer is that it doesn't automatically take religion to be a good person. In fact, it takes religion to make good people do bad things. We don't have to look too far in our past to see evidence of that statement. Here in Houston, a few years ago, a woman drowned her children so they could go to heaven based on the dogma of her Christian faith. The past is riddled with examples such as this and others on a much grander scale.

How about we just say, "He/she is/was a good person?"

6 comments:

Sean Wright said...

All agreed here Summer. Can't believe the intolerance espoused by Bush Senior - idiocy runs in the family by the looks of it.

Can't believe you have relatives that won't speak to you because you are an atheist.

The Super Sweet Atheist said...

Sean, I have several relative that refuse to speak to me because of my atheism. I'm also sure at least two of them will lie about it and say it's me that won't talk to them because they are believers. At this point in time I do ignore them but I rarely see them anyway so it's no big deal.

As a rule, I stay away from Jesus freaks. I always get in a fight! LOL!

Poodles said...

If I had a dollar for every time I heard the "but you are such a nice/good/kind person" line I would be pretty wealthy by now.

Unknown said...

I wonder how many "good" Christians have been divorced, had abortions or "menatally fondled their next of kin" (Oingo Boingo song lyric "Insanity").

I can't count the times I've suspected that people assume I'm Christian because I do good deeds. Opening/holding doors for people, stopping and helping when I can, you name it.
I had a conversation with one of my clients a while back where I was forced to come out to her (she constantly talks about god and jesus...incessantly).
Her immediate response was: "Well, something bad must have happened to you." and something to this affect: "I'm sorry you are so unhappy."

What! Unhappy? I'm as cheerful and as helpful as I can be, and it brings joy to me to be able to help others. Unhappy? Yes, without god and jesus it is obviously a joyless existence. If this is a shining example of Christendom then the lot are sociological handicapped.

Tommykey said...

Yeah Larro. The worst thing an atheist will tell a Christian is that they are stupid or wasting their time.

The best thing a Christian can tell an atheist is "I don't understand, you seem like such a nice person. It's too bad you are going to burn in hell."

The worst thing a Christian can tell an atheist is "You are going to burn in hell if you do not accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior, and I am going to be looking down from heaven and laughing at you."

Will Friday said...

Hey Summer,
I agree with you completely. Many Christian's and other theists assume that all morality and virtue come from God. One of my pet peaves is when people thank God when you do something to help them out. I don't really even care if they thank me but it irks me for them to thank a delusion.

I have a bunch of relatives in the Houston area - my Dad's family. I wasn't born there but I lived there for several years and there is a big difference between the number and kind of fundamentalists in the south as opposed to some other places I've live on the east and west coasts. Southern Bible Thumpers are some of the worst. I have many family members there that won't talk to me either. Even the ones that do are always looking for reasons to insert God into the conversation. They usually don't approach the question of God directly anymore but they wait for something bad to happen in my life or with one of my kids to say it's all because I don't accept Jesus as my personal savior. They're lives can be falling apart compared to mine and they still feel that I need to "get back to Bible basics." It would be funny if it wasn't so sad.