While Many Things You See And Read Are Lies….Not Everything You See And Read Is A Lie

While you should not believe everything you see and read….

Nor should you assume that everything you see and read is a lie.

Regretfully, figuring out what is true, and what is not true is not always this easy.

( Photos copyright 2011 Neil Aquino.)

Christianity By Diarmaid MacCulloch

Hamburger Wearing An Astros’ Hat–A member of the Texas Liberal Panel of Experts–and I have been both reading Christianity–The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch.

Here is a link to the New York Times review of this book.

We are both going to read up on the history of Christianity. When we are done, we’ll know for a fact all the things we’ve long suspected people who claim to be very religious get wrong when they talk about religion.

While I’m not sure where Hamburger is in the book, I read today about the ancient history of the Christian Church in Syria and about the third century origins on Christian monastic life.

Though Christianity is a long book, it is accessible. It is written for anybody willing to make some effort to learn about an important topic in world history.

So much of what you learn in this book reads as a lesson in world history as well as the history of Christianity.

Some folks have a nearly reflexive frustration about religion. They are tired of some American conservatives using religion to claim moral superiority over the non-religious, while at the same time often supporting social and fiscal policies that are deeply immoral.

My own view is that each person needs to be taken as an individual, and that we have to realize not just the importance of the Christian faith in the world and in America, but that also many millions of Christians share a deep concern for social and economic justice.

Learn what you can learn and use what you learn to express your views. The odds are good that if you make an effort to learn about a specific subject, you’ll end up knowing more than many people who run around claiming they know a lot about that subject.