I spoke with an acquaintance not long ago who told me they weren’t a Christian because “it’s just an emotional crutch” they didn’t need.
This is a very myopic view of religion (what can I get out of it?). It’s the same type of myopia that Joel Osteen preaches though too, just in the other direction.
This argument has other problems too, as Fr. Ernesto is quick to point out:
When I was young, one of the favorite arguments against Christians was to argue that Christianity was simply a psychological crutch to help one deal with life. Of course, there was an obvious counter-answer. One simply responds to the critic that he/she rejects Jesus because they have psychological hang-ups that prevent them from being able to trust an authority figure. Can you see the circular nature of the argument? When one begins ascribing psychological (or cultural) motives to someone else, there is no guarantee that you yourself are not the one who is having either psychological (or cultural) motives for using that charge on someone else.
This is where the post-modern social deconstruction jabber is a two-edged sword. It can just as easily be used to trash your own non-faith. Better start somewhere else instead.
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February 27th, 2010 at 10:40 AM
There’s plenty of ways to respond …
In a way, the myopic critics understate their case. Christians don’t use God as an emotional or psychological crutch – we believe He is emotional and psychological life itself.
In addition to psychological issues with authority, I remember an exchange Scott Hahn wrote about between a theology professor and an atheist student. When the student asked, “Doesn’t it seem likely that if there were no God, we would invent the concept of God to comfort ourselves?” the professor responded, “Yes – it’s just as likely that if there were a God, we would invent the concept of no God to comfort ourselves.”
February 27th, 2010 at 2:00 PM
I agree. Faith is an emotional crutch of a sort, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg!
How exactly is being propped up by our own petty selves supposed to be an improvement?
The Hahn quote is an even better comeback.