The Chruch: A Conspiracy of Morals?

University of London Professor A.C. Graylings has recently published a paper on Morals and the Chuch. You can read it here

From the article:
"But religious morality is not merely irrelevant, it is anti-moral. The great moral questions of the present age are those about human rights, war, poverty, the vast disparities between rich and poor, the fact that somewhere in the third world a child dies every two and a half seconds because of starvation or remediable disease. The churches' obsessions over pre-marital sex and whether divorced couples can remarry in church appears contemptible in the light of this mountain of human suffering and need. By distracting attention from what really counts, and focusing it on the minor and anyway futile attempt to get people to have sex only when the church permits, harm is done to the cause of good in the world."

I'm inclined to agree with him. How is it these "great moral questions of the present age" are never posed in a religious setting to modern, rich, suburban, Americans? Wouldn't a Christian take on this oppose war, feed the hungry, and work to try to end third world childrens' preventable death?

If the church won't take on these new moral issues, who will?

....And what kind of reactions will a wide variety of people have to them?
(That's your cue to click reply and type a reaction, hehe )

Edit: typo

[edit on 18-12-2004 by PeaceBeWithYou]

The US media claims that 55 million Americans voted for Bush because for "moral reasons." Here is an article saying that the church is amoral, even "anti-moral." No one has any comments? I'm sure the religious right has some response to this? I'm just trying to understand the other side of the coin on this issue....

No thoughts at all?

...Oh yeah, and Happy Holidays to all

IMHO, I don't really think there is another side of the coin.
The problems that you mentioned are not localized, they are a world problem and every nation on this planet deals with them.
The direction that you have taken by namely and specifically asserting American's is a bit beyond me, unless you seeking to politicize this from the point of view that it is strictly because how American's voted, etc. Please remember that the U.S. is still the number one when it comes to "giving".

The terrible occurances that have and still do take place, such as Rwanda, Sudan, etc. is beyond me on why the world doesn't help more than it does. I'm sure that many factors come into play here and not strictly from a religious aspect either. Again, IMHO, despite morality, the issues have been with man since its dawning. We have progressed in trying to remedy these disparities, but to what degree is still debatable.




seekerof

I can only speak for the church that I belong to. A month or so ago, we brought back missionaries from their stay in Vietnam. They were there to help build clinics, schools, churches and provide immunizations for the people there.

Unfortunately, many churches don't have the money to pay a pastor, much less send money or people to our missionaries to help with the problems plaguing mankind everywhere.

I feel for the people that live in these situations and I know that my tithes are going to help them and also to help those at home who were homeless or hungry or both, especially at a time of the year like this.

I don't agree with the statements you quoted from Professor Graylings. The church needs to focus on the grey areas that people find it easy to rationize away. I believe that the vast majority of people will agree that murder is wrong. Even stealing is wrong. Most people will tell me that it is good to help the homeless and to give to those less fortunate, especially around Christmas. Where is the majority on pre-marital sex?

The church is not just concerned with personal morals so that people will 'behave properly.' We are concerned with how a person will spend eternity. How many sins does it take for me to earn a trip somewhere very hot?

One.

Does it matter if it is a lie to 'protect' my children or the mass murder of millions?

No.

The church needs to focus on the morals that are being thrown to the side rather than the ones we can all agree on. I like to think we are doing a good job, but I only need to turn on the evening news ONCE a week to see that we are not.

The moral issues you are discussing are not new. They are as old as the world. We can only keep chipping away at it. Never stop.