Humanism's Most Devout Servants

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's talk about humanism.

One of my favorite magazines to read is The Humanist. I enjoy reading their articles about religion and science or religion and atheism.

It’s a slick magazine, so those articles I could not care less about make a nice kitty litter pad.

Time and time again, I see there that the best thinkers and writers are atheists. When I read many evangelicals writing about their god, they write about him poorly and unconvincingly.

One reason is because they write about a male deity. Make no mistake, their god is male. He kills and tortures, but he loves his tribe. He created biology whereby millions of species die so a few might live, but he sees every sparrow fall.

Somebody please show me an evangelical who does not reason that way about their god. Some evangelical writers seek to rebut a really good atheist argument by leading their readers back to that lame idea of a god.

The truth is that the god that many evangelicals believe in is an ancient, finite symbol that points to our infinite God of love, but does not encompass our God. As a symbol, that god was meaningful in a universe without solar systems and galaxies.

Many evangelicals do not know, nor do they care to know, that they are worshiping an ancient idea of god that is becoming more impossible for reasonable people to believe. Any idea about our infinite God that becomes immutable and dogmatic is an idol of the mind.

Now, I am only sharing what thousands of other Christians have been discovering for the past one hundred years.

When atheists write books to persuade us that there is no god, they are writing about the ancient sky god that many evangelicals defend. 

A HUGE problem with that god is that he is not ultimate nor is he infinite. He is a being among other beings. He is a Supreme Being, that is, just another super sized sky god. 

I do not believe in that god.  In that sense, I am an atheist.

What is interesting to consider is the following irony:  many evangelicals believe they own God and many atheists believe they own humanism.

The truth is that atheists share humanism with Christians. Indeed, any who bring our God of love to the world the way Jesus manifested kindness, acceptance, and wisdom, qualify as humanists in a most profound way.

Any atheist who loves like Christ while denying Christ and God incarnates the poetry of, “God being with you when you know it not.”

That’s the way of God, isn’t it?  Our infinite God of love is with us whether we know it or not and whether we believe it or deny it. Worse than denying God is imagining a god who is wholly ungodlike. Think of the person who imagines a god who wants him or her to murder other people who do not believe in him.

Of course, like the atheist, our infinite God of love is with that person too although he or she knows it not.

I admire anyone, a person of faith or an atheist, who values humanity. He values humanity so much he takes the time to know humanity.  When she does that she learns that we are all good and evil. A Christian or an atheist can be a force for healing in this world.

I know students who are so poor they wear the same clothes for weeks. Brown stains appear on their clothes on a Monday and by Friday they are permanent tattoos in the fabric. Their shoes are searched daily for hidden shanks and drugs. The holes in their socks reveal that their feet need to be washed. 

But for the grace of God go I, right? My upbringing included many advantages and blessings. Had I been born in a home without books and magazines, without parents who did not feed me, clothe me, and guide me…well?

Truly, there is not one child I have taught, not the worst, most violent and obtuse kid, who is less human than I and who is not a child of our infinite God of love.

So if an atheist works with me to bring mercy, justice, and healing where people are suffering and evil, then we are humanists. 

So if an atheist loves and the Church loves, never stopping even if there is no reward, and loving because this way is the last great hope for our despairing world, then we are humanists.

So if an atheist is as humane as our God of love--who is more humane than we could ever be, past misrepresentations notwithstanding--and we who are Christians seek to be as humane as God, then we are humanists.

So, to my eternal Church family, I urge you to know that it is okay to be a humanist. In fact, we cannot be Christians and not be humanists.

Let our lives serve humanity. We may learn that we have more in common with those atheists who claim to be humanists than we do with many of our evangelical brothers and sisters. That’s okay because we love them too.

Let us stay true.  Others will join us. They may not join our churches, and they do not have to if they join our mission.

Indeed, also, let us subscribe to The Humanist, write articles for it, read it boldly and with glad hearts if we are the humanists God would pray for us to be.

Blessings...