Divinity, Humanity, and Theological Nitwits

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door today. After a discussion that lasted nearly an hour, they told me that “this has been a fascinating conversation. Would it be okay for us to come back and learn more about what you’re saying.” I said certainly, but I know they won’t come back. They’ve said that before, and they never return. Probably because by the time they say “fascinating conversation,” they are starting to question their beliefs and see that it may be possible to believe more than one truth, rather than only “The Truth.”

Or, maybe it’s just because they see someone with a strong, unshakable, and well-rounded spirituality as a less than likely convert. Either way, about the time I start explaining what it means to be god, they bugger off to greener pastures. It’s a shame really. Because I truly believe that fundamentalist religious adherents could learn a great deal by believing in other religions.

Theological Nitwits

My father used to have a saying- at least he use to loudly say this after making people who came to his door disappeared, often in tears: “I will not have a theological discussion with nitwits!”

When he said that, it was a pronouncement, as if the entire world was looking at him and wondering why he would not play as expected. To be fair, I know a bit of why he would think that. For a Black Indian who told me that “Christianity is the White man’s religion,” it probably did seem like the whole world was wondering why we wouldn’t play as expected. I mean, Christianity is an evangelical religion, and many people around him were Christian, and thus many people around him would probably have liked it if he were Christian too.

Christianity == Truth

I know what my father felt because I have felt it too, even from members of my own family.  It’s as if the world is looking at you askance. Waiting for you to grow out of “a phase.” It’s the strong believe– no, the knowledge– that Christianity is The Way. It’s not even a choice between religions, it’s a choice between Christianity and, well, Hell, I guess.

But this is America. And America is a Christian land, and so you either are a Christian, or should be a Christian.

At issue is the often made a priori assumption that Christianity is The religion, and that if you are not Christian, it is because you either used to be Christian and have fallen, or you haven’t yet heard about this great thing called Christianity. It’s the belief that if you just start going to church, or going to church again, that you’ll see The Truth, and that you’ve been living a lie.

Oh, sure, there are The Jews- those wacky people who think Jesus was just some regular dude. Sure there are the Muslims who are just a bunch of weird people who don’t even understand– with or get along with– themselves. Sure, there are some people in Asia who paint elephants or have tea ceremonies and fall on swords. There’s all kinds of strange Oriental practices around the world.¹ But this is America. And America is a Christian land, and so you either are a Christian, or you should be a Christian.

Humanity, Truth & Choices

Never, (well, rarely) in this view, is there an appreciation that another religion is as true as Christianity. Because Christianity teaches The Truth, the duality of thought that is “Good” and “Bad.” Christianity is a “my way or the highway” religion that doesn’t have the spiritual or intellectual space for the honest truth of other ways.

Or, at least, that’s how my dad saw it. Honestly, that’s how I saw it too for a long time. More and more, however, I find that, there are individual Christians who see, appreciate, and respect that truth exists in many words, and The Word is one of them.

While a fundamental mandate of Christianity does seem to be “convert those heathen bastards into Christians,” I know an increasing number of Christians who don’t want to convert me– rather, they want to honestly learn about other ways. I know one Christian who studied Buddism– devoutly… for years– solely because, he said, it made him a better Christian.

Now that’s a cool thought!

My dad looked at all Christians as “theological nitwits” who did not have brains large enough to have any space for more than one truth, for more than a simplistic “good/bad” duality. I used to think that to, but somewhere in my early adulthood I started wanting to see people more positively, and with a more complex eye.

I mean, let’s be honest, calling all Christians “Stupid, simplistic people” is, well, pretty stupid and simplistic, isn’t it?

There are smart people and there are dumb people. There are people who make good choices and people who make bad choices. Then there are smart people who do dumb things and dumb people who do smart things.

Some of those dumb people make choices that I see as dumb because, well, I’m too dumb to know they’re actually smart.

But really, there are just people. Sure, there are people who make choices that I think are dumb. But some of those dumb choices I see as dumb simply because I don’t have all the facts– I don’t know what they know.

And, horrible thought, some of those dumb people make choices that I see as dumb because, well, I’m too dumb to know they’re actually smart.

At some point, I wanted to stop seeing the world as good vs. bad, or as Christian vs. smart. At some point, I started looking at the world simply as a series of choices and consequences. Christians made choices, some had positive consequences for themselves and/or the people around them, and some had negative consequences. That’s the same that can be said for any person, for any individual.

It’s hard to explain, but at some point, it became less a question of “religion” and more a question of “humanity.”

Theological Nitwits, Revisited

At some point, I wanted to stop having the knee-jerk, culturally-wounded reaction that all Christians were “Theological Nitwits.” I started engaging them in conversation, mostly on the concept of divinity, but often on the concepts of evangelism, cultural and spiritual respect, humanism, unity, etc.

For the most part, these conversations have not gone horribly badly. Honestly, there are not many that go very well, but there are enough to make me find many Christians who, rather than believing in the trappings of righteousness and Truth, believe in the fundamental spiritual core which all religions find valid. There are those who view Christianity as one interpretation of a spiritual truth, one in a beautiful field of many. Those are good Christians. Those are the ones I enjoy talking to. Those are the ones I want to learn about Jesus from.

When those kinds of Christians talk to me, they never try to convert. They talk about Jesus as a guy with a really good idea. He stops being some strange separated God figure and starts to be more a really cool guy who basically said things like “hey, try being kind to people for a change,” and “Uh, heaven ain’t ‘up there,’ it’s right here, so start living it, man.”

In those interactions, I start to see more of the universal spiritual core that we all have as a human family. Those interactions are the ones that I find the most culturally fullfilling.

Unto These Witnesses Of Jehovah

Some Jehovah’s Witnesses came to my door today. After a discussion that lasted nearly an hour, they told me that “this has been a fascinating conversation. Would it be okay for us to come back and learn more about what you’re saying.” I said certainly, but I know they won’t come back. They’ve said that before, and they never return. Probably because by the time they say “fascinating conversation,” they are starting to question their beliefs and see that it may be possible to believe more than one truth, rather than only “The Truth.”

After they left, I started thinking about how much I write, and how much I have– but not  in recent years– written on the subject of spirituality and religion. More appropriately, on the subject of divinity and humanity.

I started writing a blog post that summarized our conversation. That became so long that I broke it up into a series of posts. But that wasn’t really right either.

So, I’ll introduce a category.

I’ve written on missing meditation- that’s about as spiritual as I’ve gotten so far. This is a new category about missing, and discussing, my spirituality. It’s about why I am not, and never will be Christian, but it’s not about “why Christianity sucks.” Honestly, the more I learn about Christianity by good, non-converty Christians, the more I really like the religion.²

I hope that, at least to some extent, it’s about what’s true in Christianity that is also true in other religions. Or what’s true for me that may also agree with The Truth of Christianity and the truth of Judaism and the truth of Ásatrú and the truth of…

And ye, unto these Jehovah’s Witnesses who never come back, I bestow this new category, for they whom shall never read the stupid thing anyway shall be written for! And ye, those who shall read the words, and think henceforth that I am a very silly person, they will have wastedeth their time with the bloggings of the wicked and the profane!

Or something like that.

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1. we have missions to take care of that problem [↩]
2. I also learn more of the reasons why I will never be a Christian, but that’s alright with me. I love Buddhism too, but am not a Buddhist. Respect doesn’t need to mean conversion. [↩]