An Encounter with Christianity

Some background...

As most readers know, I am an atheist. I am not a proselytizing atheist, because I hate being the subject of missionary zeal, and, therefore, do not seek to dish it out. Maybe I'm just a "live and let live" atheist. I'm not afraid to engage in religious discussion, but never do I attempt "conversion."

Now to the story...

I ran into a fellow this evening at the cigar store. I'd shared a smoke with him many times before, but all conversations had been bereft of religious discourse. How we got onto the subject of religion, I do not know. He presented possibly the most compassionate view of Christianity that I've ever encountered. The man spoke of Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit and how they are the agents of love, not hatred. Passionately the man spoke of judgement, especially eternal judgement, and how it was singularly not up to him to decide. That's God's job, he said, and I'm just here to love all people.

I was gobsmacked. Here's a full-bore Southern Christian man preaching against judgement and prejudice. Here's a religious man I can deal with, I thought to myself. He was not bothered by my atheism, but spoke of how he enjoyed my company and sought to treat me as Jesus would have wanted him to treat me.

I guess this was because I was white and straight. As the conversation proceeded, I prompted him on slavery in the bible. "Oh, that's what they did back then, " he said. Slavery in America wasn't stopped until about 150 year ago, I said. "Then the black folks didn't have it that bad, " he retorted. "The Jews were slaves for thousands of years. Blacks in America didn't have it near that bad." Uh, oh. I thought.

And then to gayness. He told me about how the bible explicitly forbade homosexuality and that he, for one, could never have a gay friend. "What happened to not judging and loving all people as Jesus wanted?" I asked. He remarked that it was against God's will. I asked about the condonement of slavery being God's will. That's different. "That's just what was done back then, " he repeated.

This man is, to me, a very nice fellow and, coincidentally, in a business not at all foreign to homosexualism. I've enjoyed his conversation in the past, on more blase subject, and I assume I will in the future. I departed with an "enjoyed talkin' to you about religion without breaking out into a fight" collegial handshake. So goes my latest brush with Christianism.

Consistency, people. That's all I want. I'm an avowed relativist and I'll accept "it depends" as an answer. Please don't tell me that your an absolute literalist and then pick the parts you like.