Christian philosophy

[Keneke]

I was pretty much raised on a somewhat liberal Christian philosophy, and even in the midst of my newfound (meaning, new this decade) skepticism and non-theism, I retain many of my Christian teachings. Most of the time, these teachings are found to be the moral thing to do by some other, more mundane process of thought.

For example, the Golden Rule. Basic, simple, logical. Also, tithing. Tithing was once explained to me as "giving money to what feeds your soul". In short, you buy warm fuzzies the same way you buy art, food, and fashion. You can "tithe" JREF. And yes, my church resisted fundamentalists who were too literal to not think abstractly.

My point is, there is a large group of people in America (and possibly Europe and elsewhere) who follow Christian teachings and do not necessarily go to Church, or even believe in God. This describes my philosophy, which is oftren subconscious and ingrained in my upbringing. What should I call following a Christian philosophy yet not believeing in God?

Christian philosophist?
Unitarian Universalist? (harhar)
Christian code?

Or, perhaps I could call it something myself. (Kenism!) I am so vain that way.

Note that this does not supercede skeptical thought (in me, anyway).

 

[Marc]

Here you will open a whole can of worms on what exactly is "Christian Philosophy"? Clearly the philosophies of the Pope do not match those of Pat Robertson or Fred Phelps on some things. Actually each of their philosophies view homosexuality as a sin, is that included in your philosophy? I would think there are probably as many different 'christian philosophies' as there are sects.


Even if you are able to distill the good out of the various versions and get a good philosophy out of christian teachings, is it truly christian? Or does it hold in common the good points found in many other religions and even non-religious philosophies? Why would it even be a christian philosophy then?


The philosophy I live by I call "try to be a good person". No other fancy name needed.

 

[Suddenly]

Kind of what Marc said above.

Generally, saying something is "Christian" is largely used as a buzzword for good, and varies on context. I'd suggest isolating the things you have retained and then compare them to the actual bible and other known works to see if there is a connection.

For most "modern" Christian sects I'd suspect that they attribute their own prized virtues onto what they call "Christ" and not the other way around. They then scour the books to find consistency. During my transition to atheism I tried to reread the gospels. I didn't get too far before I was convinced that Jesus was a bit of a jerk.

I used to think I took some of the teachings and principles I learned through Christianity with me, but I have a feeling that those principles were superimposed on Christianity to begin with that I'm just simply not a Christian of any sort, and just some guy tying to get along.

 

[Keneke]

You have a point there. Homosexuality, in my church, wasn't really harped on. I can see how the widely varying nature of sects within Xianity can make for confusing settings.

Especially when a lot of it is just believing in jesus and nothing else.

 

[whitefork]

Technically it's not a philosophy because it's not a critically and systematically derived set of principles. For that, you'd probably want Thomas Aquinas, Tillich, Kung - theologians. That's philosophy. What you seem to be talking about is a number of beliefs that you've accepted, perhaps largely uncritically. Nothing wrong with that, and you're in the same position as probably 99% of the rest of the world, atheists, deists, fundamentalists alike.

If you start examining your beliefs, then you're starting to do philosophy.

You could call your beliefs "Jesus-lite". All the ethics with none of the metaphysics.

 

[c4ts]

I thought he may have been talking about ideas derived from Plato and Aristotle, which were taken in by Christianity but by themselves don't require a belief in God to understand.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

"Christian" to me stands for "hypocrite" for the most part. Sorry. When it comes to morality, I hate that christians think they have cornered the market. I know a lot of christians who lack morals. Christians are people. Non christians are people.

Morality is essential in society for the most part, and non-christians can be just as good and moral as any religious folk who practice it to martyrdom.

It's respecting others, and 'doing unto others'. Recognizing consequences. Learning from your mistakes. Just because religious folk have a 'book' on it, that doesn't mean the non-religious don't teach their children morality.

Why do christians view non-christians as having such loose morals? How do you know that I don't preach abstinence to my kids, and tell them the ten commandments in my own version?

I simply have different reasons for good behaviour that don't include 'you have to avoid hell'.

I instead teach logical consequences. You watch TV in the morning instead of eating breakfast before going to school...then you're hungry and you won't concentrate as well. You have to be good to your body to keep your mind sharp.

Just one example among a zillion.

 

[Keneke]

When it comes to morality, I hate that christians think they have cornered the market.

Thank goodness that kind of Christian is not in the majority, eh?

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Thank goodness that kind of Christian is not in the majority, eh?

I would hope you know, and I can only take your word for it, but in my experience it has been the majority (I live in a bible belt of bigots that hate non-believers and anyone that ever goes on social assistance-I believe the word 'parasite' comes up alot)

My son went to church a few times, and then came back with all kinds of ideas. He saw a boy spill some of his ice cream cone on his own parent's vehicle-my son said he must not be a christian. My son was 11.

I got right in on the discussion that christians are people, and just as fallible as anyone else. I even told him about all the pedophiles being charged in the churches when that was all big in the new.