Case #1: Former supervisor. A die-hard Roman Catholic. He was knowledgeable in all the technical intricacies that related to Catholicism. I swear he must have memorized the Catechism. Yet he trusted no one, and was a micro-managing control freak. He had a very pompous attitude toward anyone whom he felt was not as smart as him (which was, well, pretty much everyone). Nothing I did was ever good enough… he always gave me vibes that my work never met his standards. To put it succinctly, he basically just treated everyone like crap. I got a job in a different department when I finally figured out who I was dealing with.
Case #2: My father. One of the most ungenerous and selfish humans that has ever walked the earth. Still has the “first dollar he ever made,” if you know what I mean. Left my mother when I was 11 years old. Never helped with my college expenses. Never spent time with me. Just an all around, self-centered jerk. Always has been, always will.
But now it’s worse. About 15 years ago he “found religion.” He hooked up with some cult-like church and now preaches the bible to everyone. A couple weeks ago he and his wife watched our young children for a couple days. He used it as an opportunity to fill our kids’ minds full of scary images. According to our kids, Grandpa said “the world is going to catch on fire,” and that “devils walk the earth.” He never did anything fun with them, like take them out to a restaurant or movie - those activities would have required the expenditure of (gasp!) money. (Come to think of it, he has never done anything with them that would require him to spend *any *money. The same was true when I was growing up.) From what I could gather, he just did everything he could to scare them with religious stories. What an asshole. :mad:
As much as I dislike religion, I think you’re just dealing with confirmation bias here. As you say, your father was an asshole even before finding religion.
Sure, religion gives assholes a way to justify (to themselves) their behavior, but so does having a good job, possessing a degree, having kids, even being poor – pretty much anything in life can be twisted in that way. I think assholes are assholes either by birth or training and that religion (ultra or otherwise) doesn’t have much if anything to do with that.
Cross Dear Old Dad off the babysitting list!
I think what they would tell you is that God sees them as they are, and since they are still struggling to accept his teachings, God is aware of when they fail, but God forgives them. At least they’re trying.
IOW, it doesn’t matter a damn how self-righteous, hurtful, hateful or just plain stupid they act or speak–they are God’s and therefore Better Than You.
Such is my current take on religion. Broad brush to be sure, but I’m a bit fed up with sanctimony at the moment (RL stuff going on).
People find the brand of religion that confirms what they already think and justifies actions they would take anyway. You like to kill heretics? Lots of religions excuse it. You have disdain for the poor or the rich? No problem - we have the flavor that suits your tastes. Assholes can always find a religious passage (or interpretation thereof) to excuse or even encourage assholery, just as kind, altruistic people can find a religious reason for good works.
No, it does not follow. You’re assuming the distribution of religiousness is the same for both assholes and non-assholes. That’s not necessarily the case.
Well, true. But my father and former supervisor are very high up there on the jerk scale, and both also happen to be ultra-religious. I understand two data points is statistically irrelevant, but I can’t help but make a correlation. I’ve also met quite a few other ultra-religious zealots who were very high up on the jerk scale. I’m thinking there’s a relationship there.
You know who else are jerks? Communists. I can’t think of a single person I knew in college who espoused Communistic/Marxist philosophy who wasn’t a raging self-absorbed asshole. I wonder why Communists feel they have a license to treat people like crap?
But really, I think that anyone who adheres rigidly to dogma will treat other people who don’t adhere to that dogma poorly.
People are taking so much time reading the Bible and interpreting it as they want to while forgetting the one principle that stands out above all others.
Love one another.
Most Christians I know are so much into their denominations and what they teach that they forget about Christ and what He taught.
Because they are people and people have different attributes, some will fall into that category. BTW your father is correct in that demons do walk the earth, and the earth will one day be thrown into the lake of fire, what this has anything to do with why he didn’t take your kids to Disneyland eludes me.
We don’t have to be perfect for Jesus to accept us, if we were perfect then we would not need Him. He takes us how we are.
Just an observation, but this is a typical experience I’ve seen of Christian fundie newbies. After a while, though, it becomes clear to some newbies that: 1) no one is perfect, including the newbie, and 2) things are more complex once you dig down deeper, and 3) faith doesn’t give all the answers. Those who cannot accept this can’t deal with this ambiguity. And while I’m glad they have the confidence (I wish I had it), it also reminds me of being a teenager and knowing it all in perpetuity. I grew out of it because I realized it more about arrogance and power, rather than humility and grace.
Sure, but from what you’ve said, your father was a jerk before he became ultra-religious, too. All the religion has done was give him a new way to be a jerk.
And the bigger production they make out of just how very Christian they are, the fewer and tinier shreds of true Christian love and charity you’ll actually find in them. The ones who have to work “I’m a Christian, you know” into every conversation are, ime, the ones who think it’s just dandy to torture civilians at Guatanamo, who are rude/borderline abusive to waitstaff, who never have a kind word for anyone, who in short wouldn’t give a crippled crab a rubber crutch unless he went through an organization endorsed by Billy Graham.
All that stuff about loving one another and doing unto others as you’d have them do unto you…evidently Jesus just said all that 'cause he liked hearing himself talk.