Posted on 11/22/2006 6:35:11 AM PST by WestTexasWend
A defense of lemmings is required. Sir Elton John's words, reprinted in the American-Statesman on Nov. 12, were still fresh in my mind as I sat in the church pew: "Organized religion doesn't seem to work. It turns people into really hateful lemmings, and it's not really compassionate."
The Gospel reading that day was about the widow who gave her last two coins to charity. The priest reminded us to follow her example, and then he turned the pulpit over to two missionaries.
Those two lemmings have followed Christ right into poor villages in Guatemala and Mexico. They have built schools and clinics and fed the hungry.
"Not really compassionate?" The missionaries asked for our help, explaining that $500 (likely a fraction of the entertainer's lavish weekly budget) will provide a village family clean drinking water from a rainwater collection system installed at their home.
Not really compassionate? I suspect that many lemmings in the congregation that day followed Christ right into sacrificial giving, knowing that even if they can afford to give only $20, when 25 others do likewise, they will be giving water to the thirsty.
Not really compassionate? The empirical data prove otherwise. A report from the Independent Sector titled "Faith and Philanthropy: The Connection Between Charitable Behavior and Giving to Religion" found that in 2000, people who supported only secular charities donated an average of $623 annually, whereas those supporting only religious congregations gave $1,154. The most generous givers, however, were those who supported religious congregations as well as secular charities, averaging $2,247 in donations. Indeed, "over 87 percent of all giving comes from households that give to religion."
Similarly, religion provides powerful motivation to volunteer not just at church, but in the community as well. The same report found, "The small group of people (8.6 percent of the population) who volunteer to both congregations and secular organizations accounts for over 30 percent of all volunteering hours."
Not really compassionate? Jewish, Hindu, Muslim and Christian lemmings can proudly recite their forebears' accomplishments that have made the world a better place — algebra, architecture, passive-resistance and impressive scholarship.
Lemmings are followers of their deity, but they are also leaders — fighting ignorance (churches and monasteries offered some of the only safe havens for scientific knowledge during the Dark Ages), slavery and racial oppression.
Yet for all the good that has come from these faiths, the Inquisition and Sept. 11 are evidence that religion and its followers aren't immune from evil.
Therefore, could banning religion (a move urged by Elton John) rid the world of horror? Not according to the evidence. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was responsible for a death toll estimated in tens of millions. Stalin's atrocities and those of Mao Tse-Tung and Pol Pot occurred in regimes in which religion was officially repressed and atheism was promoted.
So why, pray tell, are some celebrities and intellectuals committed to attacking religion and trying to prove it false?
Part of the answer lies in their belief in their Supreme Self: I consult only myself and believe only I know what's right for me.
Yet their hypocrisy betrays them.
What they really seem to say is "Religion is wrong not just for me, but for everyone else, too."
When they seek to impose their beliefs on the rest of us, we must oppose their narrow-minded judgment and appeal for tolerance (that is especially true at this time of year when the word "Christmas" or the sight of a crèche causes some folks to call for an inquisition).
Which is scarier — people claiming to know truth because they consulted themselves, or those who seek truth from religions that have grappled with the thorniest questions of morality and life's meaning in conversations spanning millennia? Although we should properly debate religious teachings, it's not possible to do that with people who myopically see only religion's flaws.
Indeed, even when religious leaders explain their teachings in terms of natural law and science, those who disagree with them sometimes inaccurately accuse them of relying on blind faith.
Let's debate the individual issues without making preposterous claims that condemn all aspects of religion.
The evidence is irrefutable: In this country, lemmings who worship Allah, Yahweh and Christ are more likely to give time and money that make the world a better place.
That is compassionate.
Worked in the Soviet Union.
North Korea, too, is most beneficially served by its lack of religion.
His words should be taken very, very seriously.
I loved the recent episode of South Park where religion had finally been eliminated, and 500 years in the future, there were several warring sects of atheists, each claiming the One True Science.
It is a nice sounding theory that when you separate the Christian Church from the state, you get stability, but it does not pass the common sense test.
For instance, I know it is the first words out of any atheist mouth when you try to talk with them about Jesus, “Explain the Inquisition," and “Look how evil the church was!" and "Look what they did in the name of Jesus!"
It is true that about 500 years ago, Christian fanatics killed about 10,000 people over a 100 year time period (about 100/year) in the name of the Roman Catholic church. It is a shame on the record of an organization that claims to be promoting the ministry of Christ. Now compare this record to the example of the countries that have officially done away with religion. To the countries that have outright banned religion and imprisoned those who try to practice it (the ultimate test of the theory of separation of church and state).
Yes, I am talking about Communist countries. In the Communist Manifesto, Engel and Marx declared, "Communism abolishes all religion." In my father's lifetime, the numbers of people that officially atheist countries have murdered in the name of no-religion is staggering; the USSR slaughtered 20 million, China slaughtered 10 million, Communist Cambodia slaughtered 2 million, Communist North Korea has/continues to murder untold numbers, Communist Cuba has/continues to murder untold numbers, the list goes on.
The grand total is over 50 million+ dead in the last 80-year time span (over 600,000/year). Even comparing the worst time of "Christian Persecution" to an average time of a just one country that has officially and forcefully separated church and state, the conclusion is obvious: Christianity has a huge calming influence on government.
If you know what the first words out of an atheists mouth are going to be, why do you keep talking about Jesus, why not change the subject?
The world would be a much better place to live in if people actually made an earnest effort to follow the Ten Commandments as opposed to eliminating religion.
You're about 50 million low on the victims of Communism.
Nazi Germany led the way in the pro-active banning of organized religion.
No 'hateful lemmings' in that 'compassionate' bunch.
/sarc/sarc
According to Elton Joh, there is no greater "horror" in the world than gays suffering in the closet.
Does the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong "Chiapet" Il count as a religion?
Elton John spends more on flowers in a year than a family spends on food in a year.
You forgot the..... /s............
The writer has an excellent point, but also fails to note that a lot of conflicts are essentially religious wars.
Our current War on Terror is certainly the result of at least a radical element of one religion declaring war on us. "Sectarian violence" is code for religious war, and we're seeing that in Iraq. "The Troubles" was code for religious war in Ireland.
The answer isn't abolishing religion. The answer is competing religions tolerating each other, at least to the point where we don't start shooting or bombing.
We need to design more comfortable closets.
I can't stand Elton John. He seems to either be completely unaware of how compassionate Christian charity organizations are, or he's deliberately ignoring that fact.
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