What is authentic

A couple weeks ago I wrote about Bill Maher's comment in a Newsweek interview in which he said,

That's the problem with faith, Joe. What it does is kind of screw up your priorities. Your priorities shouldn't be about saving your own ass, which is the focus of Christianity. The focus should be, I'm a good person, and I do that just for the sake of being good.

In the letters column this week, Tom Brady of Middle Haddam Connecticut wrote,

Christianity's focus includes feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, welcoming the despised, and sometimes risking one's life to speak truth to power. When Bill Maher says the focus is, "saving your own ass," he demonstrates an appalling ignorance of authentic faith.

Gee, I wonder why Maher doesn't know about authentic faith? Might it be because those that trumpet their faith the loudest don't say anything about what Mr. Brady says is important to the faith?

This is not to condemn Tom Brady. His description of authentic faith is accurate. Alas, Christianity has been given a black eye by those loud voices who aren't describing authentic Christianity.


Some other things to mention from Newsweek:

Ellis Cose takes a look at the projection that sometime around 2050 there will be more people in minority groups than there will be people who are white. Cose, who is black, doubts that the projection will come to pass because we have a way of redefining white to include more people (Jews and Italians didn't used to be classified as white). Better yet, race will no longer imply destiny.


Jennie Yabroff discusses the latest trend among vegetarians -- bragging about how they are eating meat that has been grass-fed and sustainably raised. That allows them to maintain their ethics and still enjoy beef stew. But one wonders what is ethically different about a steak that was lovingly raised rather than one that wasn't.

I haven't been trying to reduce the amount of meat I eat because of the ethics of eating animals (sorry, dear niece). I've been doing because raising animals for food highly polluting and a major component of greenhouse gasses. And a lovingly raised cow gives off just as much as one that isn't.