I think religious institutions that create nominal/cultural Christians are the fault of nominal/cultural Christians. Chicken/Egg, both/and. Either way, the absence of Jesus Life is the real problem.

Lee’s point about religion and desperation could be valid, but I think Mother Theressa is a bad example. She wasn’t converting the irreligious because they were desperate as they were dying, she was showing the love of Christ to the outcasts of a (very religious) Hindu society. I was under the impression that she was pretty widely respected over there.

On the other hand, it could be in that in a crisis (physical or spiritual) that we learn what people really DO believe. It could be that so many culturally ‘christian’ Americans have just never been there, and are pretty happy to stay that way.

I don’t have a problem with wishy-washy cultural Christians, but with religious systems that create them. It’s clear that I need to address this in a future post.

I have a huge respect for the intellect of Penn Gillette. I know for a fact that he does a better job than most when it comes to giving believers. However (like most Christians do for atheists) this essay shows him taking unnecessary jabs and attacking a straw man.

One of my top five reasons I’m not an atheist, is that, unlike guys like Penn, Dawkins and others, I do not share their high respect for modernism. I am not convinced that methods inquiry and quantification they employ for understanding the world can truly address whole of the human experience. That is another discussion altogether.

Its not that they don’t care, they just don’t feel pressure or connection. Would you want them to feel pressured to make a false connection? It isn’t a new stance, and it isn’t just the current generation. Most people live this way, I think, and religion only comes to them in crisis times and as they age and find it a comfort. That is why Mother Theresa looked like such a saint–she only helped the dying. In reality, her fellow Calcuttans thought her saintliness was heavily tainted as she took advantage of the desperate. She is the saint Calcutta loves to dislike. Crisis makes folks believe all kinds of things, even if it goes against previous convictions or lack-of-conviction.

Faith is work, just like science–it requires the kind of constant thinking and re-thinking you are actively doing, and most people are not willing to commit to that much work. But don’t throw those non-committal non-thinking, lazy folks in my atheist back yard! I think the better term for these folks is agnostic–they believe, they just do it from a tolerable distance. It is easier that way, and it keeps their options open. Like it or not, this is how many people feel: both religion and science serve their purpose when convenient.

Now, as for the little bold bit at the end of your post, be careful not to throw stones at these middle-of-the-roaders! Just because they don’t see things like you do is no reason to sling “atheist” around like a dirty word. I don’t think these folks are atheists or Christians, just people. Isn’t that a Christian way to see them? Just sayin’. And as for the top 5 reasons I am an atheist, well, see this “This I Believe” essay.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5015557

I like what Penn GiIlette has to say quite a lot, and I think you can hold on to your own faith and agree with him that when “people say, ‘I have faith [insert any belief system here], I believe this in my heart and nothing you can say or do can shake my faith.’ That’s just a long-winded religious way to say, ‘shut up,’ or another two words that the FCC likes less. But all obscenity is less insulting than, ‘How I was brought up and my imaginary friend means more to me than anything you can ever say or do.’”

You catch a majority of “Christians” red-handed in their lack of conviction, but that does not mean they have the real temerity to call themselves atheists. Focus on your own faith, keep leading by example, and in doing so you will find your own truth, and that matters a whole lot more than what you think of a bunch of wishy-washy folks out there. In fact, by embracing your own dualities without resorting to name-calling, you’ll garner more interest and respect in your own viewpoint. Thanks for provoking my thoughts this morning! Keep at it!