Christianity and the Desperate Need for Change

This is an analysis of the Christian religion, and how it has not kept pace with humanistic ideals, with comments from Martin Luther King Jr. and Bertram Russell.

Christianity and the Desperate Need for Change
Throughout the course of history, the march of progress has only been possible because of one natural dynamic force: change. There has been change in geology, change in human evolution, and most importantly, change in social consciousness. Most of us except this point readily and easily, yet there seem to be a complete failure on the part of religious members to act when it comes to social and scientific change. Why are religious leaders so fearful of change, and what do they hope to achieve by thwarting social and scientific progress?
In April of nineteen-sixty-three, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was jailed in Birmingham for parading without a permit. He negotiated with downtown business leaders so that they would remove the "No Colored" segregation signs from their windows, and after they reneged on their agreement, led a march in protest. While in jail, King wrote a letter to several clergymen about what he perceives as a complete failure to act from the religious community in the issue of fighting for civil rights. In his famous "Letter from Birmingham Jail," King writes," I felt that the white ministers, priests and rabbis of the South would be some of our strongest allies. Instead, some have been outright opponents, refusing to understand the freedom movement and misrepresenting its leaders; all too many others have been more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows " (748). King is incredulous that Church leaders are criticizing him for being an "outside agitator" and for not being a "law-abiding citizen." Of the former, king counters, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (739). Of the latter, king states, "Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis [civil disobedience] and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue" (741). The author also reiterates the justification for his cause by stating, "We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed" (741). King admonishes the church leaders for what he perceives as a complete reversal of Christian values; he writes, 'In those [early] days the Church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society" (750). King issues a dire warning; "If the Church of today does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early Church, it will lose its authentic ring, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century" (750). In conclusion, Dr. King writes, "Let us hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away and the deep fog of misunderstanding will be lifted from our fear-drenched communities and in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great nation with all of their scintillating beauty" (753).
Another eminent social commentator, Bertrand Russell, in his seminal work, "Why I am Not a Christian," (delivered as a lecture in 1927 to the National Secular Society) defines religion as being accepted primarily on emotional grounds rather than rational. Emotions are valued above thought because of a poor fund of knowledge. He states, "Religion is based, I think, primarily and mainly upon fear. It is partly terror of the unknown and partly, as I have said, the wish to feel that you have a kind of elder brother who will stand by you in all your troubles and disputes. Fear is the basis for the whole thing-fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion go hand in hand" (785). Fear of the unknown has been the primary reason for the conflict in the first place. On this, Russell says, "Then I think the next most powerful reason is the wish for safety, a sort of feeling that there is a Big Brother who will look after you. That plays a very profound part in influencing people's desire for a belief in God" (780). On the inability of the Church to address social and scientific issues, Russell intones, "You find as you look around the world that every single bit of progress in humane feeling, every improvement in criminal law, every step toward the diminution of war, every step toward better treatment of [ethnic minorities], or every mitigation of slavery, every moral progress that there has been in the world, has been consistently opposed by the organized churches of the world" (784). This fear for safety would seem to include the fear of offending God; of usurping His power. Russell, an unabashed agnostic, states on the existence of God, "When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this world, with all the things that are in it, with all its defects, should be the best that omnipotence and omniscience have been able to produce in millions of years". He further asks, "Do you think that, if you were granted omnipotence and omniscience, and millions of years in which to perfect your world, you could produce nothing better than the Ku Klux Klan or the Fascists?" (778). Russell ended on a positive note when he said, "Science can help us get over the craven fear that mankind has lived for so many generations. Science can teach us, and I think our own hearts can teach us, no longer to look for imaginary supports, no longer to invent aliens in the sky, but rather to look to our own efforts here below to make this world a fit place to live in, instead of the sort of place that the churches in all these centuries have made it" (779). In his concluding remarks, Russell offers this advice, "A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men" (784).
The problem may be further exacerbated by the fact that many people of faith have been taught from infancy to believe in God, and his swift judgment as a way of controlling their errant behavior as small children. The result of which causes a conflict of logic (like finding out that the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus do not exist) resulting in complete polarization. The end result of this can become manifest a complete annihilation of a world view.It is as if Christians suffer from a lack of ability to discriminate between the concrete or abstract, and the general or specific aspects of reality. Most people are able to reconcile the two world views; they realize that there are relative truths, and beliefs need to be compartmentalized to the form of ideas; (which in fact, they are) and not absolute reality (the idea that God controls all aspects of life does not seem to be true). Others are even able to recognize that Biblical teachings are metaphorical, and not to be taken literally. Of those that develop complete polarization, a kind of fortress mentality ensues. Since they are unable to recognize the difference between relative and absolute truths, many are reacting violently to a perceived force that threatens to destroy their world. Another component to this fear is the fear of the unknown; a tendency to treat all things new as a threat. As the story of Adam and Eve and the exile from The Garden of Eden illustrates, knowledge can be a dangerous thing. According to proponents of Christianity, this very act resulted in the loss of innocence, and the "fall" of mankind. As a result, the Catholic Church gained complete control of all education, science, and government for several hundred years. All ideas that countered the churches' Dogma were considered heretical, and by implication, Satanic. religious zealots use the name of Satan to invoke fear and to maintain unquestioning obedience. As a result, dissent was discouraged, dismissed, or even violently suppressed, because to do so would be acting "against God's Will."
There seems to be a complete difference of perspective between humanists and practitioners of Christian dogma, and this may be the most important point of contention. Russell states it perfectly; he remarks that the Church, "is in its major part an opponent still of progress, and of improvement in all the ways that diminish suffering in the world, because it has chosen to label as morality a certain narrow set of rules of conduct which have nothing to do with the matter at all. 'What has human happiness to do with morals? The object of morals is not to make people happy" (784). In essence, people don't matter; humanistic concerns are trivial, at best. King laments, "Where were their voices of support when tired, bruised, and weary Negro men and women decided to rise from the dark dungeons of complacency to the bright hills of creative protest?" (749). There seems to be a great reluctance toward humanistic endeavor because of a great sense of faith that justice will ultimately prevail, and that Jesus will return to restore His "Kingdom, and all will be "made anew." What is not mentioned is when this is all going to happen? After waiting two thousand years, it might be a good time to begin fixing the problems of society ourselves, rather than to continue waiting. Human kind is in great need of change; economic, educational, social, scientific, and most of all, ethical. To be fair, there have been many great reformers in the Church; Moses, Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi, and Dr. Martin Luther King. All of these were great men, and they were religious leaders. Since change is the driving force in this universe, it is imperative that the Church learns to grow and adapt with the times, and not be afraid.





Works Cited

King, Dr. Martin Luther. "Letter from the Birmingham Jail." 738-753.
Russell, Bertrand. "Why I am Not a Christian." 773-786.
The Writers Presence. Ed. Donald McQuade and Robert Aswan.
5thed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin's, ©2006.

Patrick McClellan