This meme, showing the World Trade Centre before it was destroyed by radical Islamic terrorists, answers the question plainly and succinctly, doesn’t it?
You might be surprised to know that lots of people like me, who follow Jesus of Nazareth (who many folks believe is the Son of God) agree with the meme. The world would be a better place without the tribalism, intolerance and judgmentalism of “religion”.
Then I watched a short video from Solas (a Scottish non-profit promoting faith in Jesus) that popped up in my Facebook feed. And it paints a startling view of a world supposedly rid of “religion”.
Host Andy Bannister notes there are officially secular countries that have aggressively tried to wipe out religion — or as I much, MUCH prefer to call it, “faith”. Those countries include the Soviet Union (when it existed) and North Korea.
Just consider the horrifying track record of government oppression and persecution in these undemocratic countries and one other Andy missed – China. Suddenly, secularism doesn’t look so attractive.
Ah, but what about the mostly secular Scandinavian nations admired by so many critics of faith? Those countries rank high on the happiness, tolerance and quality-of-life scales.
Andy points out “the things they hold most dear are very religious – the idea that human beings have rights and value and dignity and significance is actually a deeply Christian idea.”
Furthermore, the Man who I follow is all about two things:
- The rights, value and dignity of all human beings. During His physical time on Earth, Jesus didn’t hesitate to break many social taboos in His culture to show women and social outcasts that they are NOT second-class citizens in God’s kingdom.
- The uselessness of “religion”. Jesus often criticized people who used religion to gain power, oppress others and look good in public.
Jesus even went so far as to say this to anyone willing to listen: “Are you tired? Burned out on religion? Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Wow. Bet you didn’t know that about Jesus, did you? For many years, I certainly didn’t. It wasn’t until I looked hard into Jesus’s life, teachings, death and resurrection that I realized this guy is the real deal.
In fact, by committing my life to following Him, God no longer sees all the wrong things I’ve done and the right things I’ve failed to do. He only sees the perfection of His Son. And when this life ends, that perfection will get me into Heaven to hang out with Jesus for eternity. Sweet! 🙂
Does this sound interesting? Yes or no, post your thoughts below and let’s have a conversation.
Frank's Cottage 
Why do you call him Jesus when, as Jew, his name was Yeshua?
Thanks for your question. I’m struggling to understand what it has to do with the topic of the blog, but I’ll answer it anyway. I call Him Jesus because that’s what most English-speaking people recognize. Lots would not associate Yeshua with the man many people believe is God’s Son. And, in the end, the name is secondary to what Jesus has done and is doing in this world. So glad He’s up to good stuff! 🙂
As we’ve shared here so frequently, Frank, being a Christian is all about relationship; religion only gets in the way of truly following Jesus.
Blessings!
Love your clarity of vision, Martha. 🙂
The claim that the world would be better off without faith is not equivalent to the claim that the world would be perfect without faith.
Secularism (or atheism), on it’s own, is only slightly less attractive than theism.
The more pernicious problem is dogmatism, which is when holds beliefs that one does not open to questions or challenges, and this is the source of most of the attrocities in the world. Whether it be religious persecution or communist persecution, both are motivated by dogma. One can certainly be a secularist or atheist and be dogmatic. But religions practically demand dogmatism and so are inherently at risk for violence. Christianity absolutely falls into this category.
Secular Humanism, however, is a more complete worldview which eschews dogmatism. Good luck pinning historical atrocities on Secular Humanism. Secular Humanism is a far superior worldview to Christianity.
Also, Jesus did not affirm the rights, value, and dignity of all human beings. He referred to gentiles as “dogs” and said that his message of salvation was not meant for them. The best you could say about rights and equality under Christianity is that all will be equal in heaven, but little is said about equality in our earthly lives.
Here are some facts, for folks that are wondering about the opinions expressed here:
1. Except for small, radical fringe elements, Jesus followers left violence behind many, many decades ago. I’m so thankful that a vast majority of Jesus followers realize that reflecting God’s love is the only way to invite others to join them in this life-changing faith journey. 🙂
2. Secular humanist people have dogma just like any other worldview. Part of that dogma, as the comment above shows, is to consider themselves superior to people of faith.
Furthermore, most secular humanists are atheists and atheistic regimes like the Soviet Union and the Cambodian Pol Pot regime are responsible for horrific historical atrocities.
3. Jesus absolutely DID and DOES affirm the rights, values and dignity of all human beings. In the primary-source biography that this comment refers to, Jesus was testing the faith of a non-Jewish woman who was asking for His help. She proved her faith was real by persisting in asking for His help. And Jesus did help her.
Furthermore, Jesus often helped non-Jewish people. The primary source documents of His physical life on earth indicate He helped a Roman centurion (a truly radical act, since the Roman empire forcibly occupied ancient Israel). Jesus also used a non-Jew in one of His most famous stories (the Good Samaritan) to illustrate how His followers should help everyone, regardless of race/gender/status/faith.
Thankfully, many Jesus followers followed – and continue to follow – His direction in this. Charitable organizations like Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision, Compassion Canada, Christian Blind Mission and International Justice Mission are just a few examples.