I’ve been an atheist since my teens. When the New Atheist movement kicked off in the oughts I ate it right up. Dawkins, Harris, & eventually Hitchens became favorites because of their uncompromising militancy for common sense. I found myself indulging in mockery at the sheer nonsense of religious belief. It was great to finally have a sense that there was a movement with me and I could say what I really believed. I have a rational brain and the idea of miracles, virgin birth, resurrection, etc., is insulting to me as a modern human being.
And yet, I continued to have a fascination with the Jesus myth. I call it a myth because it is certainly not clear that any of the events of that story actually happened or even that the man existed. Too much is plagiarized from earlier myths and assembled into a narrative that fit the needs of the political factions on the rise in the early decades of the first millennium AD. There was no need for Jesus to have walked in the flesh to serve such aims, and there is obviously no sanctity in the quotes and stories attributed to him. Too much harm has been caused in the enforcement of belief to ever make me a friend of organized religion. So what fascinates me? The ideas that someone wrote down in his name, some of the best philosophical ideas anyone has ever come up with, right up there with the man who came to be known as the Buddha.
The idea that I think most unites the Christian spirit and that of the progressive ideal is summed up in the golden rule and what lies at its core; "love thy neighbor as thyself." But who is thy neighbor?
Now I have to admit that the motivation for this post is drawn directly from a marvelous post by Robert Creamer entitled The Real Attack on the Spirit of Christmas -- 2015. In this essay, Creamer eloquently makes the point that the right wing attitude against the other, be it gays, refugees, or those that worship another god, is the farthest thing from the core Christian ideal expressed in that quote. And it all comes down to how we define our neighbor. Up until a couple of thousand years ago, there was no sense in which a resident of a foreign country or even tribe was considered a neighbor. They were barbarians, lessors, competitors, and only to be feared if not dominated. Whoever wrote the parable of the Good Samaritan and attributed it to the man he called Jesus, had a sensational and outrageous idea; that everyone is the neighbor, no matter how far outside the tribe or what offenses his or her people had committed against one. This is identical with the core progressive principle. We are all in this together, friend and foe, man and woman, whatever realm or continent or culture from which one originates.
I will only cite one segment from Creamer’s marvelous essay, and ask the reader to go and read it in its entirety, because I feel I can’t begin to do it justice. The part I will include is the part that the ancient writer attributed to Jesus, the parable of the Good Samaritan itself. Creamer’s commentary on it is beautiful and timely and I urge everyone to read it themselves here.
On one occasion, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"What is written in the law?" He replied. "How do you read it?"
He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and, love your neighbor as yourself."
But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "and who is my neighbor?"
In reply, Jesus said:
"A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. "Look after him," he said, "and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have."
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."