Xmas eve roundup--religion edition

Two books on the origins of European and Christian anti-semitism.

Our schools ought to be able to educate about religion and rituals without teaching religion.

I can see how thanking god can come off as self-centered at best and insensitive at worst, but it doesn't have to. It can also come off as a statement of humility (in victories and successes--acknowledging that outside forces contributed to them, rather than just one person). I use the words "blessing" and "blessed" to mean exactly as much. "I'm blessed to be healthy and to have a roof over my head" does not imply that god is less concerned with cancer patients or the homeless; it is merely an acknowledgement that I am grateful for these things--and these things cannot be attributed to any particular person to whom I can express that gratitude. Similarly, "there but for the grace of god go I" doesn't mean he or she there isn't worthy of god's grace; it merely means that I could have been there, and it wasn't (at least not entirely) my own doing that kept me out of there. And maybe it wasn't a single person or set of people; maybe there were circumstances, for which I'm grateful, and for which "god" is shorthand. It means, precisely, that I'm no more deserving of these blessings than someone who doesn't share in them.

Now, it's another thing to count your blessings out loud in front of those who don't share them, which is definitely a $hitty thing to do, even when the intention is to relate or connect. You can stop at, "I'm sorry you're going through this $hitty thing" without tacking on, "I'm lucky I've never had to deal with that" (or, worse: "let me tell you about when I had to deal with something similar").

I find this column even more objectionable, which isn't surprising, since it's objectivist, but I agree with some of it. For example, I don't see why giving need be seasonal, so I can support the idea that this shouldn't be the season of giving. I'd also agree that, generally speaking, nobody owes anyone anything. Just because someone needs or wants something, and you may have it, it doesn't mean you're under any obligation to hand it over. This goes for aisle seats on planes, or conversations with strangers, or even spare change. But I draw the line (see above, re: "there but for the grace of god go I") at deeming anybody else worthy. This is where I'll use "god" as shorthand: we're all god's children. Every human being is worthy of a roof over his or her head. 

But how you go about contributing to that--which the writer argues is not something you have to do--is debatable. I don't think giving money to homeless people on the street is generally a good idea or the best use of that money, but I do donate money to shelters and if I were better at keeping myself in cash, I'd be better about buying Spare Change.

So I do see charitable giving--as much as I hate the word "charity, for reasons apparent once I'm done here--not as generosity but as outsourcing. Just as I pay someone to replace my flue pipe, because I can't do it myself, we can help pay aid workers for humanitarian work, because they're doing it on our behalf. I don't have the skills to do anything about ebola, but I can help support those who do. I guess I don't have to, but--here I go again--they're doing god's work. I guess you don't have to support organizations just because there's a need (in fact, none of us can support all of them); you certainly don't have to support anything because "it's the season." But if you lament the imperfect world we live in as well as your own limitations in manually making it better, giving is a way to help other people make it better. It's not charity; it's payment for services rendered.