I thought I’d quote and display the actual booboo in the headline in case someone changes it later.
Why didn’t anyone proofread that first? I mean really. Obviously you can’t count on a god to fix your mistakes, people. If he can’t fix a sentence, how can he be counted on to fix the world?
Anyway, the point of the editorial is to remind readers that Christmas only exists because of Jesus and God. He’s writing the thing like a letter to a 21st century Virginia.
if there was no God and no Christ child, where would the good in our lives come from? Where would the generosity; the love; the peace come from? It certainly does not come from us. Look around at our world. Ours is, and always has been, a world that is troubled. We have always been selfish; always leaned toward self-preservation; always looked for the easy way out.
All through our history we have lived like heathens; killed our brothers and sisters; and crucified our saviors. But for a few days every year, something cuts through all the bitterness, anger and selfishness in our lives. That something, Virginia, is God. That something, Virginia, is the gift of God in Jesus Christ.
Well, he’s a pastor, according to the bottom of the page, so of course he’s going to claim that only goodness comes from a god. But he’s misinformed. It’s possible to be a kind and decent human being without religion. I manage that every single day.
Take yesterday for an example – while driving to work, I took care to let people yield when getting onto the freeway. I signaled and moved into the left lane when there was time and space to do so, or I slowed down so people could pull in. I didn’t hog two parking spots once I got to work. I kept a couple promises yesterday, too. A co-worker wanted to see a craft project my mom made me one year and I remembered to bring it to work to show her. And I apologized for forgetting to do it earlier. I’d also been given a get well card to pass to another co-worker and at my first opportunity I presented it. I held doors open for her (hell of a broken foot accident – one step off a stool and she separated her foot in three places! Ghastly!) when we all went out for a Christmas lunch. I donated some leftover Christmas ornaments to work and volunteered to help set up the tree. I also offered a CD of Christmas tunes we could listen to while we did that. After work, I didn’t get irate when I realized I had no idea where the power cord for the car’s block heater was. I couldn’t remember putting it in my vehicle that morning so I decided I should stop at Canadian Tire and buy a new one, just in case the one I left at home had been stolen by someone while I was at work (and yes, it was). I politely asked an employee where I’d find them and said thanks when she said where they’d be. I found what I needed and waited patiently in line. And, while watching DVDs until late last night, I kept the volume down so it wouldn’t bother my downstairs neighbour. I always listen to my music at a low volume because it’s polite. I’ll also play the subtitles when I watch a movie so I don’t have to turn the sound up too high.
It’s just my nature to not be a pain in the ass. I know my folks drilled a lot of good stuff into me, too, and neither one of them is religious. My mom is a very helpful and kind person. She’s always gone above and beyond to help friends and relatives. Dad, too.
I’m not saying all this to brag about how nice I am. I’m using it as an example. Good people can believe in god but belief in god doesn’t automatically make people good. It’s a very fallacious argument to claim otherwise and quite easy to prove how wrong it is — I just did.
Atheists and humanists of all types and shades will say the same thing. Goodness comes from a very human desire to be good. I admit goodness gets a little relative sometimes, but with a little co-operation and joint effort, some rating system could get sorted out independent of commandments and 2000 year old rules for slave and sacrificial etiquette. I’m sure we could figure something out that would benefit everyone. We really shouldn’t be looking for help outside of ourselves for this. We need to make more efforts to be good not because we think we’ll be rewarded for it at the end of days, but because it’s something that needs to be done in order to save us from ourselves.
