In a recent op-ed, Auburn University historian Wayne Flynt intended to chastise Christians by saying that many Christians are no different from atheists. Most atheists would feel quite insulted at being told that their morals were as bad as most Christians'.
As an atheist, I do not "find meaning mainly in my possessions," as Flynt claimed. I cheerfully give up my possessions to benefit others, such as buying extra groceries to take to a food bank for the poor and selling the stocks in my 401(k) retirement plan to pay for my children's college educations.
Christians find "meaning" only in "doing God's will." Anything that God tells them to do has eternal "meaning." Anything that God does not tell them to do does not have "meaning."
According to this value system, an atheist firefighter who saves a Hindu child from a burning building has not done anything meaningful. But Moses, Joshua, Saul and David all did "meaningful" things by murdering large numbers of children because God told them to. (See Numbers 31, Joshua 10-11, 1 Samuel 15 and 1 Samuel 27.)
We see the effects of this dysfunctional value system in present-day Alabama, where we have some of the highest percentages of Christians who are unconcerned that Alabama also has one of the most regressive state tax systems, some of the worst educational opportunities for the poor and some of the worst rates of infant mortality.
Robert Collins
Birmingham
