How Oxford and Peter Singer drove me from atheism to Jesus

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

82. OK, fair enough. I read it when I was much older, and because

I liked the author's other books. This one didn't influence me one way or the other, though I found it interesting, and maybe I'll read it again. The problem anyone has with trying to justify religion using logic is that religion (more specifically, belief) isn't logical or rational, almost by definition. You are being asked to believe something you can't prove so either you have faith, meaning you believe it anyhow, or you don't.

As far as faith or the lack of it is concerned, I care a whole lot more about how people behave than what they believe. People who call themselves Christians but don't do what Jesus explicitly told them to do - feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, heal the sick and all that - had better be ready to explain why they aren't doing those things. Does it mean they don't really believe in their religion, or do they figure God will give them a free pass anyhow because they hate abortion and gay people (neither of which seems ever to have crossed Jesus' mind)? My "religion" is this: As far as I'm concerned everybody can just go ahead and believe in whatever supreme being they want (or not), as long as they're not haters, assholes, or authoritarians who want their religion to be mine. However many angels are or are not dancing on the head of a particular pin is no concern of mine, so I try to stay out of arguments about whether religion per se is "good" or "bad." People's behavior is good or bad, which is what matters.