JosephK74 has written a truly excellent diary: a sobering, thoughtful, plain-spoken diary that forced me to examine a secret, cherished belief that I never explicitly shared with the world, but used as the basis for most of my interactions with others, both in the religious and the progressive community.
What is this secret, cherished belief? It's the assumption I make every day -- the assumption not only that they are "wrong" and I am "right," but the added assumption that they are so very, very wrong that their faith has only the barest resemblance to any real expression of truth in this world that it is not worth acknowledging. Upon a occasion I have uttered "but they are not true Christians" or "no real Christian would ever do this." This is, as JosephK74 points out, the No True Scottsman Fallacy, and as he mentions in diary:
Whatever the true version of Christianity might be, the fact remains that there is a worldly institution composed of people that call themselves Christians, that are attacking women, GLBT folk, that are advancing economic policy that creates further inequality, that are assaulting science, and that through their End Time's theology are making it exceedingly difficult to respond to climate change as we need to.
This simple fact lays bare my own petty conceit, because no matter how I may try to distance myself from those worldly institutions (and I try very hard) I cannot escape that at the end of the day those who are part of those institutions say "Lord, Lord" just as I do -- the things they do, whatever the motivations, are done in the very same name of the one I swear allegiance to as well.
But the difference between those institutions and myself is stark, and not in my favor. Those institutions and the people who work within them actually do things. They do terrible things, but they do them... and I, like Pilate, simply wash my hands of their deeds and assume it is enough. By distancing myself from their behavior and making no move to counter it, I excuse it.
And I have no right to excuse it.
I have no right because I cannot claim, in any way, any kind of moral perfection. At Christianity's core is the beleif that everyone is fallen, and that we will struggle with our flaws until the day we die, even those who are born again. The fallacy of the No True Scottsman Fallacy is that when used it implies that the person using it is a true Scottsman, and therefore cannot be held accountable.
In the Christian world, there is only one true Scottsman. The rest of us are just wearing kilts.
I don't know what to do with this revelation just yet. I have been avoiding my responsibilities for years, adopting a cynical veneer of snide contempt and a world-weary facade as a way of not having to deal with the issue at all. Obviously I can't do that, but what to do? I need wisdom, I lack wisdom. But I know one thing, at least:
I must fight in the culture wars.
I don't know how, at this point. I don't have a platform, or resources -- I haven't even clearly identified fellows to stand with. So what I'm going to do now is write. The writing, in itself, will change no thing and convince no one, but it will get me started.
For some time in the future on Daily Kos I will start posting diaries entitled "Fighting the Culture Wars" that illustrate my attempts to struggle and work through these issues. Those of you who are not Christians, beware -- because the Christian Right approaches these issues from a matter of faith first, politics second, I will be working through each article from both a faith and a political perspective. I am not going to post them on Street Prophets because the other side has mainstreamed their dialog, so I have to try to approach it the same way. Your comments and criticisms are welcome.
Perhaps as I do this I will find other flawed Scottsmen wrestling with the same issues. Perhaps it may lead to something useful and productive. Perhaps it will be an empty exercise in futility, doomed to failure as so many grandiose intentions are, especially on the internet. However it leads, wrestle I will.
Maybe someday the kilt will fit.