Schinckel.net

I found this on a site today. It reminded me of the round of ads that are happening on Adelaide TV at the moment.

I’m not big on religion, but what Jesus said really makes sense.

These are, unsurprisingly, advertisements put out by some Christian organisation or other - the point they seem to be getting across is that “you don’t need to believe in god to be a good person”. Well done Captain Obvious. I like to think I am a ‘Good Person’, and I’m fairly sure I’ve never believed in god. In fact, I think I could make a pretty good argument that it’s easier to be a good person and not believe in god. That whole thing about having to have a personal relationship with god to get into heaven always seemed to be a little bit of a cop-out. Do what you want, as long as you commune with jesus, you’ll make it into heaven. And there have been some pretty evil christians in the past. The crusaders, for instance (and I’m not talking about the NTL permit!). The bible says “Thou shalt not kill”, to which the crusaders interpreted “thou shalt not kill other christians”. Throughout history various groups have judged other groups ‘less than human’, and the apparent respect for slavery amongst many christian sects shows they are not immune. The south of the US, for instance, probably the most fundamental christian area in the world, would probably still be happy to keep slaves, if the meddling north hadn’t interfered. And, the thing that Jaq brought up was that “What jesus said wasn’t new.” Surely other leaders of people, religious or otherwise, had preached tolerance prior to 2000-odd years ago. Come to think of it, much of what christians preach nowadays, or rather how they act, does not reflect what jesus said. And before I get any flaming comments - I have nothing personal against christians, moslems, buddhists or otherwise. I like to judge people by their actions, and their words. I know lots of people who I respect regardless of their faith or otherwise. Because, generally, they are Good People. And that is what I value.