via The Friendly Atheist comes this link: Rochelle Weiss’s “What is a Good Righteous Person?” She asks 12 questions and says, basically, that Jesus lets down the side. Some of it is stuff I’ve said — the cruelty to animals thing, ala the pigs he so casually kills, has always bugged me. I liiike pigs. They’re amazing, intelligent, sensitive creatures.
Anyway. Some parts of the article bug me. An example:
6. Does a good righteous person honor his or her parents?
Jesus didn’t. Even though many times Jesus told his followers to honor their parents, his actions were otherwise. This is illustrated in Matthew 12:46–50. “He was still speaking to the crowd when his mother and brothers appeared: they stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone said, ‘Your mother and your brothers are here outside; they want to speak to you.’ Jesus turned to the man who brought the message, and said, ‘Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?’ and pointing to the disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, my sister, my mother.’ ” Obviously, he didn’t speak to them or acknowledge them as his family.
Again in Matthew 8:22, Jesus shows disrespect for a parent, but this time it is for the dead father of one his followers. It is reported that Jesus says, “Another man, one of his disciples, said to him, ‘Lord, let me go and bury my father first.’ Jesus replied, ‘ Follow me and leave the dead to bury their dead.’ ”
I think the question is wrong. It’s an outdated morality that insists that parents be honored. Parents should be honored if, and only if, they deserve it. Should you honor a father or mother who beats you or molests you? No. You should get the fucks out of your life and be done with them. Respect is something that has to be earned, no matter what. So I think this question is disqualified as a means of ascertaining goodness and righteousness, unless we know for sure that his family was good to him and had earned respect and honor.
In point of fact, I think the commandment to “honor your parents” is immoral, unless qualified. I’ve known abused people who suffered from guilt for hating the people who hurt them, just because their religion told them to honor their parents.
Another complaint one can have is that some of this stuff is allegorical. The Matthew 12:46-50 bit strikes me that way. But I’m also partial to the idea of “family of choice,” and Jesus seems almost to be talking of something like that. If nothing else, he is clearly saying something about kinship ties being applied to a greater arena than mere physical relation. I can dig that.
I can quibble with other parts, too. But I’ll leave that as an exercise for you guys. Share your thoughts in the comments if you like. What do you see in her article to quibble with? (I can think of at least one other section right off the top of my head, personally). Did she leave anything out?
