For the Love of God!

I don’t know if there’s a God and I don’t spend much time worrying about it. I don’t know if Jesus was a historical personage, but the man presented in the Gospels is a compelling figure. Leaving the question of Jesus’ divinity aside, much can be learned from his humanity. Jesus wept because others’ pain became his own.

Empathy is a good thing. Better than guilt. Better than faith. Better than wisdom. Concern for our neighbors physical and emotional well-being is amiable. Don’t ever let anyone tell you otherwise. A bleeding heart beats with a purpose. People should be fed and clothed, children should be protected and cherished, and animals should be treated kindly.

We are here to take care of each other, not to decide who deserves to be taken care of. Any real Christian would accept this fact without question or debate and act accordingly. A truly religious person would want his or her government to help people in need. Only government has the resources to undertake certain important tasks and should be encouraged to do so.

Anti-poverty measures -- food stamps, aid for dependent mothers, school lunch programs, grants for education and the elderly, unemployment insurance, and subsidized healthcare -- are not entitlements, but benefits paid for with the blood and sweat of countless generations of workers.

The social safety net was constructed to prevent people from falling through the cracks and to their deaths. The fact that sometimes aid is given to the undeserving shouldn’t make us distrust all government assistance. I would rather a few cheaters game the system than a single destitute person be denied the help they need.

The world is cruel because people are cruel. And people are cruel because they’ve been raised to be selfish, short-sighted, and insensitive. When presented with the choice of loving a distant and possibly non-existent deity and loving a creature of flesh and blood the true and active heart will always choose the later.

Yet, if love of God -- whatever that means and whatever your idea of God is -- results in a corresponding desire to do good in the world I have no problem with the irrationality of your belief system. My thinking on the matter is pragmatic. If your faith makes the world a better place I am willing to let it pass with a minimal amount of critical analysis.