Everyone does it. Its second nature really. I have family members who do it. My best friends do it. Heck, I do it all the time. It is America's favorite past time and is far more popular than football or baseball or pizza or the latest iPhone. Yes, folks its whining. And now that I come think about it, it is something so universal that Americans can't claim it as just their own. Which reminds me, "Why are all these foreigners whining as much as us? We're the best whiners in the world."
Now I know that just like war and the poor and reality television, whining will always be with us. Its human nature, so the story goes. I also know my little blog post is not going to stop me from whining. And if it doesn't stop me, than it certainly will not stop you. What kind of hypocrite would I be, then?1 However, every time I start complaining I do make a mental note of what I am doing. I weigh very carefully the stupid problem I am having with the fact that I am a middle class American, and that alone tends to stop me in my tracks.2
However, I think whining is one of the most crucial subjects to talk about when discussing religion. It may even be more important than the problem of evil and is certainly more important than the number of angels which routinely find it enjoyable to dance upon the head of a pin.3 Yes, without facing the fact that we love to whine when we talk about religion is fundamental.
I'll give you a few examples. I have a good friend who, while discussing religion on a car ride said, "Dawkins was right."4
"How so?" I asked.
"He said that if another religion is attacked by an atheist, the Christian will always back the other religion."
Another time a coworker stated that atheists were the most hated segment of society.5
One of my friends from high school is lamenting that "the government" is systematically trying to remove religion from school systems via "evolution."
What do all of these statements have in common? The answer is whining. Are we a nation that believes what we believe so that it will get us special advantages? Do we join groups to because we want to be well-liked or highly esteemed? Or do we join a group because we believe and maybe even think, that it makes the most sense?
For human beings whining gets down to that most dangerous of human problems: pride. When we whine about our fair share, what we are really saying is that it is not fair that you do not think like me. We are wanting ourselves to be the free-thinking god of the universe and every other person to be a mindless automaton.6 And I think this is something that we Christians and Muslims and Buddhists and maybe even the atheists (if they want to join), can agree upon.
I find it in myself though. I can't understand why Christians aren't as interested in their philosophical heritage or why my non-theist friends just don't agree with me. It isn't for me to worry about though and it certainly isn't for me to whine about. There are too many issues that really need calmly and logically to be addressed without me feeling persecuted.
This is, I guess, the crux of my argument. We all feel persecuted, perhaps we are (albeit in a blunted American way). We all feel as if our opinions are overlooked or ridiculed and we all have a perverse desire to "be right." Instead we have to ask ourselves "Am I angry because I am not being taken seriously or because my position is being ridiculed?" If our position is being ridiculed than either humanity or God will take care of the problem. If it is because we are being ridiculed, than maybe we should rethink why we took up the position in the first place.
Atheists and Theists too often wear their believes as badges of honor and do not realize the humility involved with being chosen to take up their particular cause. I did not become a Christian because I wanted power, or money, or fame, or because it was easy, or because I am stupid. I became a Christian for reasons I do not know and because of answers I cannot even begin to fathom. I think that others chose their viewpoints for quite the same reason; or perhaps they are chosen by their viewpoints. When we shed ourselves of our own pride and fruitless struggling, we find the sad truth; "we are all beggars." Then we are happy for it at last and we realize we have no more reason to whine.
- The Answer: An human being.
- Albeit briefly. I am an human being after all.
- The answer is 42. Deep Thought II hasn't reached this point yet. Aquinas hit upon it somewhere in his Summa ... Whatever. The dude wrote like eighty books because he was a freakin' monk. I mean, imagine one long toilet break and multiply that by like a billion and you are roughly in the ballpark for the kind of time monks had on their hands in the middle ages. When they got bored they created hospitals and eventually beer, but churning out eighty some volumes on every question that enters your I've-just-finished-my-umpteenth-ninety-nine-bottles-of-beer-on-the-wall-in-thirteenth-century-latin marathon is a pretty decent achievement.
- Starting off a thought with something that from the outset is illogical is probably not a good thing.
- Actually no. In my book atheists trail stop light algorithm programmers.
- As a Christian I would argue that if there is a God, he is comfortable enough in His skin to allow us some degree of freedom. Even though He is perfect and free-thinking, He is comfortable with non-automatons.
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