Comment from Reader
At the risks of you slapping your forehead, what is it that gives us the desire to be honest, kind, merciful, generous, and all that? For that matter, what about hate? ~ S. Bell
Dear Reader,
Though your inquiry is valid, judging by your context and
wording, you likely suffer the belief that some cause creates the desire to
act positively or negatively. The Christian-dominated society teaches us to
polarize ideas because simple black-and-white thinking avoids the complexity
of many questions that cast doubt on the religion.
Good and bad, A causes B, and other oversimplifications provide solutions that blur more meaningful answers.
Claiming honesty, kindness, and mercy result from God makes saying atheists are dishonest, unkind, and unmerciful easy. Readily seen in this answer are the terrible implications for believers since they now exclude many people who don’t believe in God or the same God. This is the foundation upon which Christianity diversifies itself into racists like White Supremacists and other sects.
Now, consider for a moment the Christian claims all lives matter, kindness for everyone, brotherly love, and charity. If God or Christianity causes honesty, kindness, and mercy, then why do so many Christians consistently support laws to forbid teaching critical race theory and oppose affirmative action, then deny the fact systemic racism exists?
According to one source, white Americans with a Master’s Degree have a 38% chance of earning $1 million. Another source estimates that 21.5% of white people who are college-educated and middle-aged are or will become millionaires. These probabilities are higher than those for African Americans with similar education and age levels, which are around 6%. ~Source Bing AI Chat
Behavior is a complex area of human nature that cannot reduce to a simple reason. In The Sociopath Next Door, Martha Stout describes how sociopaths, endowed with many traits such as lack of empathy and lying, gravitate toward and advance in business and other fields because they don’t care about hurting others. Stout also states these individuals are not desirable because if everyone acted selfishly and uncaringly, society would fall apart. However, sociopathically behaving people contribute to many problems like racial inequality.
There are many factors that contribute to the gap between white and black millionaires in the U.S., but one of the main ones is the racial wealth gap. This is the difference in net worth between white and black households, which reflects the effects of inequality, discrimination, and lack of opportunity that have been present for centuries.
The racial wealth gap makes it harder for Black households to acquire and keep capital, such as savings, investments, property, and inheritance. This means they have less wealth to pass on to their children and less resources to invest in education, health, and entrepreneurship. These factors affect their income potential and their chances of becoming millionaires.
According to CNN, the median net worth of white households was $188,200 in 2019, while that of black households was only $24,100. That’s a difference of almost $164,000. ~Source Bing AI Chat
In a very real way, Christians, like sociopaths, care only about their needs and desires while ignoring and justifying the suffering of others. Christianity is the reason inequality persists! Systemic racism is just one example that Christians don’t even recognize due to their polarized thought that reduces everything to simple answers.
- There is no racism because Black people are lazy.
- There is no racism because Black people take lower paying jobs.
- There is no racism because Black people commit more crime.
- There is no racism because Black people are their own worst enemy.
Millions of Christians, the majority of them, voted for President Trump who supported these beliefs in one form or another, proving beyond a doubt that God, especially the Christian God, is no catalyst for kindness, honesty, or brotherly love.
Honesty, kindness, mercy, or any loving attribute or act results from a complex combination of upbringing, socialization, and personality traits that cannot reduce to a single cause.
Christians act as though the entire world will erupt into a violent, hate-filled inferno without their religion, which ignores billions of Buddhists and other religions that don’t believe in Christ. So much for the world needing Christianity to save it! Even more compelling is the pragmatic need for humans to work together for their survival and recognize how this religiously-driven sociopathy doesn’t just hinder social growth but threatens it.
Christianity and God are not honesty, kindness, and love’s wellspring but the cause of hate, violence, poverty, and racism.
