{"id":2000,"date":"2012-02-26T17:43:28","date_gmt":"2012-02-26T22:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=2000"},"modified":"2012-12-06T15:12:48","modified_gmt":"2012-12-06T20:12:48","slug":"atheist-lent-and-false-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/02\/atheist-lent-and-false-unity.html","title":{"rendered":"‘Atheist Lent’ and False Unity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Remember you can vote once per day for the About.com Atheism Awards. \u00a0I\u2019m one of five nominees for Best Atheist Blog<\/a>. \u00a0More details here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m always pleased with the traffic bump that comes with a link from the Daily Dish, but the headline Sullivan used on my block quote gave me pause: Why Atheists Should Observe Lent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Look, let me be blunt: I try to be shamelessly opportunistic when it comes to reforming my character, and the Lenten season with attendant ritual and social reinforcement seemed like a good tool at hand. \u00a0But making a change during<\/em> Lent is different from making a change for<\/em> Lent, and though I might encourage other atheists to do the former, if it helps, I think it\u2019s impossible to do the latter as a non-Christian.<\/p>\n

Both sides are ill-served if we try to find points of overlap by papering over foundational disagreements. \u00a0Talking about Lent as a time of self-improvement that anyone can get behind is a pretty shallow reading of Lent, and it means we\u2019re skipping over the face that Catholics have a pretty strong opinion of what self-improvement looks like: it\u2019s dressing up like Christ.<\/p>\n

In a post titled \u201cLent: New Year\u2019s Resolutions for Jesus<\/a>\u201d Shannon Burgdorf at Friendly Atheist gave suggestions for charity work, writing:<\/p>\n

My proposal this Lenten season: Instead of publicly declaring one\u2019s devotion to a specific faith by making empty gestures loudly, let\u2019s start a list of good deeds that we can do in anticipation of the coming Spring. Who\u2019s with me?<\/p>\n

By doing good things that actually matter, we can make our world a better place. And isn\u2019t that what Lent is all about? \u2026 No? Well, it should be.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The trouble is that both sides want to spend Lent (and the rest of the year) doing \u201cgood things that really matter.\u201d \u00a0It\u2019s just that we have radically different beliefs about which things are good (metaphysics) and how we double check (epistemology and\u00a0empirics).<\/p>\n

There are Christians I disagree with who act out of homophobia or <\/span>misogyny<\/span>, but plenty of others who are trying to help others as best as they know how. <\/span>In a conservative Christian framework, encouraging a gay friend to live a celibate life is<\/em> willing their good, since having sex isn\u2019t a good in itself, and is certainly trumped by an eternity with God. \u00a0It\u2019s better to have the real<\/em> fight about what telos<\/em> we\u2019re supposed to live out.<\/p>\n

We all want to improve ourselves, but there\u2019s no use in celebrating unity on that point unless we\u2019re agreed about the model we\u2019re aiming at. \u00a0So put your metaphysical and ethical cards on the table<\/a> and come prepared to scrap.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember you can vote once per day for the About.com Atheism Awards. \u00a0I\u2019m one of five nominees for Best Atheist Blog. \u00a0More details here. I\u2019m always pleased with the traffic bump that comes with a link from the Daily Dish, but the headline Sullivan used on my block quote gave me pause: Why Atheists Should […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-2000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-debatetactics","tag-interfaith-dialogue"],"yoast_head":"\n'Atheist Lent' and False Unity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Remember you can vote once per day for the About.com Atheism Awards. \u00a0I'm one of five nominees for Best Atheist Blog. \u00a0More details here. 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