Gospel & Universe ✝︎ Saint Francis
San Francisco
Do Unto Others - On the Other Hand
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Do Unto Others
While the argument I make in Gospel & Universe is against dogma, it also seems to me that there's a danger in rejecting Christian dogma. Can one reject dogma and yet retain the altruism and philanthropy that comes with this dogma?
Not that altruistic values can only come with Christianity. Sartre's essay Existentialism is a Humanism argues that the roots of morality lie deeper than theology. In its more advanced stages, evolution itself requires degrees of selflessness. Bees and ants will sacrifice their own lives for the good of the group. Fathers will face wild beasts to protect their children. One of the finest incarnations of our ability to transcend our own thoughts and desires is the image of Mary, Mother of Grace. There's also Arjuna, who in the Bhagavad-Gita puts duty before personal and family interest. In Buddhism, there's the venerated figure of the bodhisattva, who sacrifices his spiritual freedom — returning again and again to this world of suffering — in order to help those who are trapped in the relentless snare of ambition, lust, self-interest, and ego.
Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on altruism, yet it's a core teaching. In the gospels, Jesus consistently urges us to look beyond our desires and prejudices. Doing so, we're more likely to get along with others, and to assist and understand those who we might otherwise look down on — especially those who have been rejected and devalued.
Saint Francis of Assisi and the Jesuits are famous examples of Christians willing to ignore their own needs in order to help others. Yet there are millions of other compassionate believers.
For instance, I went to a Catholic free school in grade twelve, and part of our curriculum included going to an asylum and helping kids with broken minds and bodies. It was one of the most difficult things I've ever done. It brought me face to face with lives that seemed absolutely meaningless: a three year old smashing his head against the floor. God's Divine Plan was mysteriously absent. Except here was a worker feeding the kid with the battered head, and here were students walking the mentally ill around the yard.
For instance, my Catholic girlfriend in Geneva went every week to an old folks home, where she talked to people who had no one else to talk to. One week I joined her, wheeling their stiff bodies through the blue sky and green trees of a nearby public garden.
For instance, my Protestant sister and her husband spend a great chunk of their savings going to Cambodia and rescuing girls who have been raped and forced into prostitution. I send money every month to Doctors Without Borders, but I don't go to these places, write individual letters of encouragement, or sit around the dinner table worrying about what more I can do.
These are some of the devote, and yes, in some ways dogmatic Christians I know personally. All of them are eager to put into practice the golden rule, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
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On the Other Hand
My list of altruistic Christians is of course a special list. It didn't, for instance, include the 'Christian' camp counsellor who abused me when I was eleven, or any of the other counsellors who exposed themselves to the other boys there. These counsellors talked about openness, a higher love, brotherly love, and all sorts of eroticized dogma, all of which still makes me angry. I can only imagine how the altar boys in Boston felt, or the First Nation students in the infamous residential schools. It would make Saint Francis vomit.
But my point remains: there’s a deep and priceless vein of altruism in Christianity. This altruism urges service over self-interest, understanding over judgment, peace over violence.
Is it possible to retain this selfless idealism while rejecting dogma? Can we draw on a communal spirit of cooperation and caring, without thinking that we understand God better than those who have different ideas about theology?
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Next: ✝︎ The Baby and the Bathwater
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