Spiritual Insight from an Atheist

Somebody is going to be offended watching this video, I'm gonna tell you right now. I don't want to read any comments from someone who doesn't hear me out to the end. Either watch and read this through to the end and then argue/complain, or keep your thoughts to yourself. I have a point I want to make and it's encompassed between the first and last words of this article.

This is one of my current favorite artists: Tim Minchin. You might think that I only like him because he's a long-haired ginger pianist; traits I find quite endearing. He is not only an extremely talented musician, songwriter, and comedian; but he's one of the most intelligent and well-spoken people I've ever heard. He's also an Atheist and quite crass. My parents discovered his closing song on TV and showed him to me because of his blistering piano skills and outrageous persona. We DVRed the next showing of the concert, which was playing several times that night, and I watched it in the morning.

I was particularly struck by one of his songs in the show. It's called "Thank You God." Listen to his story and then the song without the kids present. The monologue is clean, but there is some strong adult language in the song itself. If you're offended by anything he says, I need you to take it easy because I'm gonna explain why I, a devout Christian, think Tim Minchin, a staunch Atheist, presents more practical wisdom for Christians in 11 minutes of talking and singing than most preachers can give you in an hour.

After You're Done Watching

I know that there will be some who take this performance as a direct affront to the Christian faith. Surely, he wrote this song to mock Sam, a Christian he met in Australia; but you need to notice that he's not making fun of him for being a Christian or for being religious and believing in God or for believing that God can heal sickness. Truthfully, if you see more of this guy, you'll understand that he's an active and vocal supporter of religious freedom and is violently opposed to people mistreating one another for any reason: color, gender, creed, nationality, occupation, socio-economic status, etc...

The reason Tim makes fun of Sam is because of Sam's idea of what constitutes evidence of God's existence. Tim is being intellectually honest, an exercise far under-employed in today's churches. This is accountability. We, who claim to be bearers of the truth, must not be afraid of intellectual criticism because the truth needs no defense. I have personally transitioned from feeling the need to defend my religious beliefs to letting my religious beliefs defend themselves. Simply put, it's because I am constantly putting my doctrine and moral system to the test against both the Bible and against my observation of reality and rejecting those beliefs that do not have the integrity to stand up against a barrage of thorough scrutiny. 

The thing is that this song does not suggest that if there really is a god, that he is all of these horrible things Tim's saying. He's not accusing God of being a "sexist, racist, murderous c**t." He's saying, "Okay, Sam. If I believe what you are telling me here and incorporate it with what I already know of the world, this is what your god looks like to me. Is this really how you want people seeing your god?"

My Bubbles!

I hate that many Christians are susceptible to the negative influences of isolation within the Christian bubble. We can get so caught up in our religion that we have no idea and have made no provisions for how stupid we'll look to the outside world. I'm not saying that image is everything because it's not. But if we expect to win converts for Christ, shouldn't we be walking in the world beside them so we can see what they're seeing? I'd like to see people of the church regularly climb in next to those who have been hurt by religious institutions, listen, and say, "Yea. I've been there too. The church can get really messy and really ugly, but I want you to know that the God I worship isn't like that."

After all, people aren't going to want to listen to someone who cannot acknowledge the terrible things that people do to each other regularly, even inside their precious churches. Why are there Christians who so isolate themselves so much from the world that they haven't the slightest bit of credibility or influence with people who don't know Christ? Beware of becoming so "holy" and set-apart that your religious faith becomes more about how "good" and "sanctified" you have managed to make your lifestyle and not about your gratitude for God's grace. What you call "holiness" might really have become idolatry, ignorance, and intolerance.

If we're unable to address how we have historically ruined the gospel message for others, how we have made a mockery of God through the ages through willful stupidity, how we have alienated the seeking because of our over-zealous piety; those weeds others have carelessly cast as seeds and that have germinated in the minds of seekers, will always prevent the true Gospel from taking root and flourishing. Our theological sowing will never produce fruit if we are not diligent in pulling the weeds.

It'll Cure What Ails Ya'!

Now, I know that my audience includes people who both are and aren't Christian. If what I just said doesn't make much sense, allow me to explain. A LOT OF WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD ABOUT JESUS IS MADE UP! Some of the most influential "Christian" figures today are completely corrupt NUTJOBS, pulling doctrine out of their asses and claiming that it's a revelation straight from God! I want you to know a Jesus who is so much better than what those idiots on TV are talking about. All you have to do is put their logic to the test and it will crumble like cigarette ashes in the wind.

Besides the teachers who are tragically uninteresting to listen to, you'll find two different kinds of preachers: Those that help you feel good about Jesus and those who help you make sense of Jesus. Making sense is the direction you wanna go.

To wrap this all up, I don't mind religious humor made toward "Christiankind." I really think that Christians who are offended at such jokes are doing a wonderful combination of taking themselves too seriously and their God not seriously enough. Satirizing doctrine, practices, and traditions is not the same as mocking God, I'm afraid to say. We who cling to ideas that are mock-worthy might need to find out if we're being intellectually honest with ourselves. The God of the universe can defend himself just fine without our help. We're only accountable to ensure that our own judgement is sound and that we act accordingly.