Social Change Agents – Christianity’s Greatest Critics

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8021266862340067394.post-13247244874629511312008-03-17T08:42:00.007-04:002008-05-14T14:07:19.641-04:00Social Change Agents – Christianity’s Greatest Critics – Part 5Monday, March 17, 2008 This will be the last post in my series, “Christianity’s Greatest Critics.” I saved the most damning for last. In a January 13th, 1997 Time Magazine interview, Bill Gates was asked about his religious beliefs and church participation. Gates responded, “Just in terms of allocation of time resources, religion is not very efficient. There’s a lot more I could be doing on Sunday morning.” While Gates has talked very little over the years about his belief in God and the afterlife, it’s widely held that he straddles the fence between being an agnostic and an atheist. The common perception held among the Christian community is that not only are atheists and agnostics intellectually wrong about God, they live morally inferior lives. “If we can’t convince people not to swing over to the “No God” side based on intellectual argument, at least we can show how atheists like Gates are self-centered moral jerks,” we tell ourselves. Strangely, in 2000, Gates and his wife Melinda founded the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org/default">Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation</a>. Just look at their morally corrupt mission statement: "Bill and Melinda Gates believe every life has equal value. In 2000, they created the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help reduce inequities in the United States and around the world. There are two simple values that lie at the core of the foundation’s work: 1. All lives—no matter where they are being lived—have equal value. 2. To whom much is given, much is expected." Crap, that wasn’t what we expected out of an agnostic. Here’s another thing we didn’t expect: on June 26, 2006, Gate’s friend Warren Buffett, another agnostic, announced a pledge to donate 10 million shares of <a href="http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/">Berkshire Hathaway Inc.</a> stock (BRK-B) worth approximately $31 billion at the time to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. No money was pledged to religious foundations. Not a penny. Why? Because Buffet and just about everyone else on the planet believes churches are irrelevant, and in most cases they’re dead on accurate. Jesus has called his followers to pick up their crosses and follow him – changing people’s live both now and for eternity. Christians have nailed the changing lives for eternity part. It’s just that most of us have been ignoring the now part. And Bill Gates, and Warren Buffet, and our schools, and neighbors, and communities, and just about everyone else on the planet have passed us right by. Social change agents have leveled what I consider the most damning critique of all, without ever opening their mouths. They have rendered Christianity useless in the minds of religious outsiders because they are doing what the church should be doing. While everybody else is out in their communities changing the world, we just contentedly sit back and “have church services” to get people to heaven. And so the world has ceased to expect anything out of the church, which is worse than any situation the most vocal critics of Christianity could have created. In October 2006 the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Muhammad Yunus, founder of the world renowned <a href="http://www.grameen-info.org/">Grameen Bank</a>. Yunus’ bank provides low interest loans to the poorest of the poor in an effort to help them start their own businesses and break the cycle of poverty. Yunus is a Muslim. Here’s what I’m wondering: why didn’t a Christian come up with this idea? <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4cxPD-vM7D0&hl=" width="425" height="355" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent"></embed> Read other posts in this series: <a href="http://www.brianjones.com/2008/03/christianitys-greatest-critics-part-1.html">Christianity’s Greatest Critics – Part 1</a> <a href="http://www.brianjones.com/2008/03/south-park-christianitys-greatest.html">South Park – Part 2</a> <a href="http://www.brianjones.com/2008/03/stand-up-comedians-christianitys.html">Stand-Up Comedians – Part 3</a> <a href="http://www.brianjones.com/2008/03/late-night-talk-show-hosts.html">Late Night Talk Show Hosts – Part 4</a> <a href="http://www.brianjones.com/2008/03/social-change-agents-christianitys.html">Social Change Agents – Part 5</a>Brian Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10339108255072541852noreply@blogger.com