Two columns coming out this week encourage Deep Thinking on matters that may actually matter quite a lot.
The first column, to be published in the Selma Sun in Alabama, is entitled, “Relief Belief: No Sin, Satan or Hot Sulfur to Fear?” (Selma Sun)
Here’s a brief excerpt:
“Imagine your religion, if you have one, has no threatening force of evil to tempt, and no threat of flaming punishment after death. Just imagine. How would your beliefs be different than traditional believe-or-else religion? What would your faith look like? Without built-in threats, without a faith constantly on the lookout for shadowy badguys, could faith become a stronger force for good?”
I ask questions about satan, hell, and original sin. Without these beliefs, I wonder how much fundamentalist or evangelical faith would survive.
The other column, is entitled,
Think on These Things: What Paul Got Right (Citizen-Times). I shine a light on a passage in Paul’s letter to the early Christian community at Philippi, where he writes:
“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8)
I surmise:
“Taking a break from relentlessly policing new Christian communities, using his pen as a scribal sword swung by an invisible Author, he stops to think that believing isn’t the only subject to preach about. Thinking matters too.”
Both will be published here after they appear in the newspapers.
Friendly Freethinker 
Well as usual Chris, we are on the same wave length. I think religious populism is alive in well in the White Christian nationalist worldview. It is immigrants, the drug cartels, government bureaucrats and liberal woke DEI supporters than will bring down the most powerful country in the world. After 100 + days how great has the USA become. It is not longer a partner with the EU and NATO, it has lost it’s leadership in the free world, and has alienated many allies like us Canucks.
Fear has been used by autocratic leaders for millennia to stir up action to gain control of the masses and have them align in a cultish figure like Trump. The fear response takes dominance in the brain and we stop thinking rationally and look for escape, in desperate actions preying on those easy to believe the end is in sight. It has a historical lineage that goes back to pre-literate society. If you want to get people on board the safe ship tell them theirs is sinking. They jump off into the water of anxiety and need rescuing. Original sin, Hell and damnation are the Manichean version of theology and it brings scared people together to hide.
Thanks as usual for your insight and stimulating my writing aptitudes. Cheers,
Well said, Marty. Thanks for this response. Fear is indeed a driving force behind the push for supremacy, esp. evident in the Madness of King Donny. Such a (dangerous) embarrassment.
Please publish the Relief Belief column in readable form. The newspaper copy doesn’t enlarge on a phone.
You may need to check your phone settings, or read the columns on a larger screen. Thanks for reading.