Some posts of late have made me just stop and and reflect on the christian response to issues of ethics, HT to John for posting on ethics and stem cell research; Marc for reflecting on abortion and Alan for making my brain ache raising human 2.0.
Me on my soap box...
I know what my natural inclination of a response is - an emotive outburst which would label, judge and belittle people for their shallow ethics and questionable morals. I would I am sure reflect on the arrogant of scientists playing at God and remember that quote from the film Jurassic Park:
"scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
In fact I would be more than happy to stand on the soap box for a long time, I would be a very hard man to shift, but I think in reading all these posts something has been nagging away at me, am I any less ethical than the people I am condemming? So I'd like in the rest of this post to first challenge my own shoddy ethics and then wonder with you if there is not a much more excellent way?
Continue reading "Ethically Christian cleansing vs. a life/love down off my soapbox?" »
Jason Clark has argued that consumerism has become the new religous zeitgeist, or as he puts it:
"...non/pre christians aren’t neutral to the Gospel, they are entrenched in a religious system as totalising as Islam or any other religion. Indeed Theocapitalism offers a way of life, that scorns any alternative. To see people come to faith in Jesus, and his mission through the church to the world, is not to make church more relevant, but to offer a new religion."
The title of this post comes from this fascinating Washington Post article: Acquiring Minds - inside America's all consuming passion which echos/supports/underpins Jason's thesis, to quote from the article:
"Consumerism was the triumphant winner of the ideological wars of the 20th century, beating out both religion and politics as the path millions of Americans follow to find purpose, meaning, order and transcendent exaltation in their lives...
The Bayler University Religious survey makes fascinating reading, although it is US survey I think it still makes great reading for us in the UK. From the press release:
"One area that emerged from the survey that has excited the researchers is what they call the "Four Gods." Depending on how engaged people think God is in the world and how angry God is with the world.
If you think about people perceiving God as high in anger, low in anger, high in engagement, low in engagement, it results in four different types of gods.
What researchers found was that the type of god people believe in can predict their political and moral attitudes more so than just looking at their religious tradition.
Researchers found that none of the "four gods" dominated among believers. The data showed:
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