Christian Arrogance or American Stupidity

There is a certain arrogance among Christians that is, frankly, starting to piss me off. I am not getting upset because of some deep understood truth that Christians are correct in their insane socio-political beliefs but because of the respect they receive because of this blatant stupidity. Take, for instance, the Rev. Rick Warren. This man utilized a scare tactic to obtain 2.4 million dollars in donations and called this a miracle.

Apparently Rev. Warren is ignoring the fact that when you ask devote Christians to give a church money in order to help bring the church out of the red, they will give money without question as has been illustrated throughout history time and time again. The fact that Rev. Warren even had to ask for this money makes me wonder that if Rev. Warren, along with his church, had not been so supportive of Prop 8 (which had loads of financial support from the religious community) than perhaps they would never have been so financially strapped in the first place.

Next we have Brit Hume of Fox News. Mr. Hume made some noteworthy commentary when he said that Tiger Woods needed to convert to Christianity in order to fully recover from his affair. After acknowledging Tiger’s faith as a Buddhist, Mr. Hume made some capitalistic analysis by ranking world faiths in order of “forgiveness” and suggested that Christianity would somehow be the best choice. While Mr. Hume did not use this analogy directly, it was blatantly implied with the words, “I don’t think that faith offers the kind of forgiveness and redemption that is offered in the Christian faith.”

Now if we look back further into history, we can find a large host of pastors and such who have utilized Christianity as some cheap means to salvation. This entire phenomenon can be illustrated through what is known as “Prosperity Gospel.” The basic premise of the “Prosperity Gospel” is that if one devotes enough of their material and spiritual positions (money and time) than they will be rewarded with things such as good health, financial success, and overall happiness. Preachers such as Kenneth Copland, Joyce Meyer, or Pat Robertson, have repeatedly said that Christians can reap the “rewards of the spirit” if they are faithful in the one true God (and always stating this prior to asking for donations).

Thus the arrogance is revealed. Christianity is apparently the only faith that delivers meaningful truth or happiness and to obtain this, one must give 10 percent of all they own. What makes this utterly amazing is that people believe this nonsense. People actually believe that by giving money to a church that it goes somewhere else rather than the church’s tax-free bank account to be put to use as the pastor/financial board (yes some churches have a financial board) sees fit. Tell me again, why was Bill Maher said to be so wrong when he stated that the majority of Americans were stupid? It would seem that events such as the ones mentioned above would adequately support Bill Maher’s statement.