CHRISTIANISTS GIVE REAL CHRISTIANS A BAD NAME.

And a study reveals that less religious people tend to be more generous than religious ones.

DEEP THOUGHT OF THE DAY

{Posted in America, Deep Thought, Rants on April 25th, 2012 by Scott }

“I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

Those who at times call themselves Fundamentalist Christians, Evangelicals, Born Again, People of Faith…whatever…these are the very people who are giving the Christian religion a bad name. 

It is not surprising that these religious fanatics have introduced themselves and oftentimes bullied their way into every aspect of American life…from education to business, from politics to government. Their resolve is easily explained by the very fact that their religions urge them to go out and proselytize, to convert others, to influence their society every which way they can. 

I often say that it doesn’t matter if they have to kill you to convert you. These people must have validation, they have to prove to the whole world that their religions are the one and only and that their views of humanity and society in general are the only valid ones. 

Ironically, these are a minority within the Christian majority in America but while the great majority of Christians remains aloof and disconnected…these other ones are working feverishly to take over everything in sight.

I have always suspected that these people who describe themselves as people of faith or Christians are not really all that generous nor are they in the least compassionate as one might expect since the main theme and reason for Christianity is to encourage the practice of the teachings of Christ…these range from compassion to empathy, from generosity to forgiveness, from nurturing to love. These people practice none of these.

Are religious people more moved by compassion than those who described themselves as less religious or non-religious?

A group of scientists at the University of California, Berkeley set out to answer that question and what they found would surprise some: In three experiments, the social scientists found that the less religious were more generous when presented with situations that stimulated their compassion, which the scientists defined as "an emotion felt when people see the suffering of others which then motivates them to help, often at a personal risk or cost."

Here's how Berkeley sums up the study in its press release:

"The results challenge a widespread assumption that acts of generosity and charity are largely driven by feelings of empathy and compassion, researchers said. In the study, the link between compassion and generosity was found to be stronger for those who identified as being non-religious or less religious.
"'Overall, we find that for less religious people, the strength of their emotional connection to another person is critical to whether they will help that person or not,' said UC Berkeley social psychologist Robb Willer, a co-author of the study. 'The more religious, on the other hand, may ground their generosity less in emotion, and more in other factors such as doctrine, a communal identity, or reputational concerns.'"

I have a theory as to why this is the case: when religious people see misery and suffering they tend to pass on the cause as “the will of God” and leave it up to that god to fix it, prevent it or end it. When non-religious people see suffering or misery they are motivated to do something about it because they know that if they don’t no other person or deity will. 

In other words, there is a general feeling of futility when it comes to religious people, a train of thought that runs deep and tells them that no matter what they do God will always have the last word or “thy will be done”. (The words, “Thy will be done as it is in heaven,” are taken from the Lord Jesus’ model prayer in Matthew 6:10 and Luke 11:2. )That also explains why these Christianists are not concerned about the future, the fate of their offspring or making any valuable contributions to society or improvements to the country they live in and seem to think that prayer solves all the problems. 

Yet, these people’s fanaticism seeks to strip away the rights of the non-religious, women, gays, people of color, the poor and anyone else who is not a member in good standing of their club.  A club which more and more means, simply, white conservative males. But this hateful and hate-filled minority giving the majority of Christians a bad name but they are also tearing away at the fabric of our society and destroying America in the process.

It is very difficult to build a bridge or a highway, educate your children or even take care of others in need if you think the end of the world is going to happen the day after tomorrow. 

The findings are published in the latest edition of the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.