Belief

Many years ago, a woman I'd met sensed from something I'd said that I might be a Catholic. She asked, "Are you a Catholic?" When I said yes, she repied, "I used to be a Catholic but then I became a Christian."

It didn't bother me that she said it. I'd already been exposed to that brand of protestant and Anglican/Episcopalian Christianity that doesn't regard Catholics as Christians before (and to Catholics who return the disfavour). What hit me, however, was the ridiculous ease that the judgment was made with.

I don't run around excluding others. But I agree with the Catholic church position that people exclude themselves whether or not the church or community publicly acknowledges the fact. The odd thing, and the thing that must puzzle non-Christians and not a few Christians, is that you can do quite awful things, be a villainous racist or even murder people, without excluding yourself. On the other hand, you can say something that seems innocuous and even admirably tolerant and exclude yourself.

As an example of the latter, consider the following. Deirdre McCloskey tells us that she is a Christian:

Nor am I, though a Christian—a progressive Episcopalian, if you care ...

Then she goes on to write things such as:

Love, charity, caritas, agape is the greatest virtue of the three theological virtues in Christianity because it is the essence of the Christian God, so unlike his predecessors, at any rate in his opinion.

or

Yahweh demanded sacrifice of others' sons, Abraham's for example, but revealed no loving plans for sacrificing his own, except in tendentious readings by Christians of what they call the Old Testament.

Looking at the second quote, Can someone really be a Christian and then treat the Christian God's description of his character as merely his opinion?

Looking at the third, when someone says "except in tendentious readings by Christians of what they call the old testament," aren't they saying they aren't on the team in a way that is impossible to deny. And, if you're a Christian, isn't it a bit odd to refer to other Christians as "they"?

Some might find these sentiments admirable in the sense that McCloskey is not ramming her beliefs down anybody's throat. But that isn't right. She could do this by saying, "As a Christian I see things this way but I don't close the door on the possibility that you can reach very similar conclusions otherwise." No, what McCloskey is telling us is that either she doesn't believe the things you have to believe to be a Christian or that she pretends she doesn't when writing books.

I find this odd and pointless. Look, by all rights I should be at home with liberal Christians. If you have any doubts about that, look up "libertine" in the dictionary. But there are certain requirements if you want to be part of the community. Actually believing and witnessing to that belief are pretty inescapable.

I'm not kicking McCloskey out of the club. I couldn't even if I wanted to. But hasn't she already kicked herself out?