A Christian & Religious Apologetic

I recently had a discussion/argument with someone about how the modern world seems to have a major “hangup” on Christianity, religion, clergy, ritual, etc. There seems to be a growing number of people resorting to a kind of “Christian-bashing” because they feel religion, and the Catholic Church in particular, is the source of many (if not all) of our current problems (the same has also been extended to Islam over the last few years). I don’t agree with them, because I think it’s not as black and white as that, and I believe Catholicism has done a lot of good for us and is a beautiful religion, regardless of those few who abuse it.

Nowadays we hear about the collapse of Catholicism (though, I feel, while it is not as popular as it was and holds less power now, it’s not the same type of collapse as, say, the Nazis, and I have heard people compare Catholicism to Nazism [as well as others saying the same thing about various political parties], which I believe is an extremely insulting exaggeration). We hear about pedophile priests and the Church’s cover-up of that. We hear about religious wars, the persecution of minority faiths, the tyranny of Church leaders, etc., etc. But do we ever hear about the millions of people who live a happy and fulfilling life as a Christian? Do we hear about those thousands of priests who have not only not committed a crime, but are outraged by what fellow priests have done, and are actually contributing to the benefit of many of the members of our society? Do we hear about all those many Christian charities and people who want to spread the love of God? These things don’t make the news; there won’t be an article on charitable clergy and laity on the front page of the papers; there won’t be radio coverage of the good deeds done in the name of religion.

I’ve heard so many people say things like “Nothing good has come out of religion” or that all Christians are misguided or that all clergy are abusing their position, abusing power (all of which are gross exaggerations). One person I met on a forum recently asked why “Religion” and “Spirituality” were grouped together – they said “they’re [two] complete different things like chalk and cheese”, and that “religion … divides people and spirituality doesn’t”. Not only is that a naïve sentiment, in my opinion, as spirituality can just as easily divide people, like anything else – but it is also a divisive comment. The two were grouped together and this person wanted them separated as if religion was not a spiritual thing, as if religious people somehow are not following a spiritual path.

Now, just because I think that some good has come from religion and the like, and just because I feel we should not be so quick to dismiss an entire faith and long-lasting tradition (that, by the way, is based on even older myths, and is our tradition), this doesn’t mean that I’m either approving Fundamentalism (as it is today in its most negative guise) or saying we should not act against iniquities and inequalities. I don’t like Fundamentalism anymore than the rest of you, whether it is Christian, Islamic, or other. I think it’s an unhealthy extremism. I don’t like the problems of this world, and I feel we should act on them. We need to address iniquity, war, poverty, famine, corruption, and other forms of injustice. But religious ignorance is not the only problem out there, and I think we need to address our own ignorance when we slam another faith, regardless of whether it is being abused or not.

Ironically enough, I wrote this essay two days ago, but decided to hold off on posting it ‘til today. Yesterday I heard that Pope Benedict XVI made blatantly insulting and inflammatory remarks regarding Islam when he quoted a 14th Century Christian emperor who said that Muhammad and Islam had brought the world only “evil and inhuman” things. The Vatican has said that the Pope meant no disrespect or insult (though really, how could such a statement not be taken as disrespectful and insulting to Islam?), but the Muslim world have called for him to make a public apology (which I agree with, even if it wasn’t intended as an insult, because quoting such material is just bad taste in our current climate, especially to come from someone so many people look up to and whose opinion they trust as truthful).

What can we learn from this most recent event? No, we should not use it as yet another excuse to defame Christianity, but why not do better than the Pope? Why not try to demonstrate to people that we can live in a world with respect for all religions, faiths, and spiritual paths? If we think the Catholic Church is judgemental, insulting to other faiths, and closed-minded to other opinions, then why should we do likewise and judge all Christians, insult Christianity, and consider Christian opinion as wrong or confused?

[Feel free to replace “Christianity”, etc. with any other religion here, because the same applies for all]