Proselytizing @ MindSay

There is something that strikes me here about some recent top blogs. I hope no one minds if I put in my two cents. If you do, feel free to stop here, and go back to your book and tea, or whatever else you may have been up to before you started. :)

Here I go!


Now as much as everyone likes to bash on Christianity’s shortcomings, I think the religion, or rather the philosophy behind the religion, needs a little standing up for. Because it’s not really the morals that are the problem.

Now, I know as soon as these words slip from my fingers and onto the screen, some of you are immediately looking for fault or for confirmation in everything I say next. Pretty please, with sugar on top, do me the personal favor of suspending your judgment till just the end of this page…

And here’s the disclaimer: I am not a Christian. While raised in a Christian household, I do not identify with the religion. The reason is mostly to keep from being associated with many of its “spokesmen”.

But.

 I am going to defend the idea, and I’ll tell you why.

A belief that stems from the Eastern religions (in fact, a rough interpretation of one of, if not the first line in the Tao Te Ching) is this: When you think you’ve got it, you’ve lost it.

It, the reason, the pathway, the guide to life, whatever you want to label it. Basically, those questions that religion was invented to answer.

It seems to me that what gets everyone fired up isn’t Christianity. The debates that are heated and personal are not the ones that center on the very principle philosophic beliefs behind whatever religion is being discussed. It’s argument over the presentation.

In one word: Proselytizing. In the case of Christianity, they call it Evangelism. Now, this is one of those ideas that sounds great… in theory. But in the rush to get out there and “spread the word”, people are missing something big.

Firstly, I don’t think that anyone wants to learn anything from someone if they found out that person was unqualified. Take a moment to explore an analogy with me.

Your Life = your house.
Religion = roofing your house.

There are a lot of different kinds of roofs, a variety of materials, methods to keep the elements out. Think tiles, tar, thatching, etc… Some work better in one condition than others, but generally they’re all there for the same thing.

No one just “knows” how to roof a house when they are born; most of the time, you need someone to give you a rough outline of what to do. Many people prefer having someone else build the roof for them, and use it without really knowing how it works. But for the most part, the general idea of what you are trying to accomplish is just common sense. Usually when someone sees a roof, they don’t ask, “Hey, what’s that for?”

It takes a lot of trial and error to get the technique down; some people have had a lot of this and can give you some ideas as to what has worked for them. But depending on whether or not they’re building the same kind of roof, even the most experienced person can give you the wrong information.

…Are you following? Because now we get to my point.

No one wants to learn how to roof a house form someone who is unqualified.
No one wants his or her house roofed by someone who is unqualified.

Because if you do, what do you get? A leaky roof. The roof doesn’t serve its purpose.

“Of course,” you say, “This is common sense.”

But how many people are out their who think they know what they are doing, but don’t? Like I said, even the most experienced person can give you the wrong information if you’re building different roofs. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions, if you don’t mind the expression.

Which leads me to my own conclusion: those who don’t qualify should not be building roofs for other people, or teaching them how to build. Sharing ideas is one thing, but thinking you can single-handedly whip up the basis of their shelter just based of your personal experience is ludicrous, especially when you’ve never lived in their house.

So lets get out of this analogy and re-apply this to religion.

People almost always get touchy when they think a person is unqualified to be speaking about something, even though the person is adamant about their skills. This is where the issue comes from. It has NOTHING to do with whether or not the roofing method/religion is ‘correct’.

It brings me back to what I said in the beginning.

Who are most often the people who don’t know what they are doing? Who do I think is unqualified? The people who say they have it. The people who know, for sure, that what they have is the way. Because like I said, even the most experienced person can give the wrong advice.

Everyone’s house/life is different, and the wise person knows this. So instead of saying “THIS IS THE WAY, I’VE SEEN IT!” in my mind you’d be more likely to hear them say, “I can’t show you the way, but I can give you an idea based on what I've seen.”

I have no qualms with any religion. Whatever works is great. Christianity is no exception to this rule.

But I do have a problem with teaching done by unqualified people. And since no one lives the same life, yet the point of proselytizing is to convey that only one path is the correct path, I think the only person you're qualified to be proselytizing to is yourself. Share with me your experiences, your thoughts, your ideas. I can defend your right to ideas, even the ones I don't agree with. But don’t use your path as a yardstick against the path I or anyone else takes. Because in the end you just end up as the unqualified trying to teach.

And that’s not faith, it’s condescension.

Last night, I received an e-card from someone whose email address I didn't recognize.  And when I saw what email address it was sent to, I was immediately suspicious.  It's an email address I only use on my old website that I maintained from '96 to '06.  But it was from a legitimate e-card site, so I clicked the link to pick it up.

Sure enough, my suspicions were true.  It was from a complete stranger, and it was an e-card filled with proselytizing Bible verses and whatnot.  (Part of my old website was The Atheist Attic, which holds more than 200 freethought articles.)

There was a day when I'd have replied with something snarky, perhaps.  Or with a genuine inquiry of why this person felt the need to do such a thing.  See, even at my most militant stage of atheism, I never, ever would have sent an email to a believer to tell them that they were misguided or fucked up or otherwise insult them.  Nor would I drop in on a religious forum and "challenge" the people there.  You would be appalled (maybe) by the number of vicious, insulting emails I've received from religious folks over the past decade or so.  And lots of believers feel obligated to try to "challenge" non-believers, at which point I believe they deserve whatever verbal reaming they get.

But I didn't reply.  Instead, I just deleted it, and was happy with myself for not giving in to the temptation of retaliation, even if only a polite, "please mind your own business" type of retaliation.

This morning, of course, I got up to find that this moron had sent three more of them after I logged off last night.

What an ass.