I am not trying to argue that Christianity does not support impartiality—there are certainly plausible readings of Jesus’s teachings (like that of the Good Samaritan) as plausibly supporting impartiality.
I’m more trying to argue that Jesus’s teaching does not necessarily push you to that conclusion.
Jesus is very explicit about the importance of things like:
helping those in need—the widow, the orphan
being faithful to the Father
being humble and meek
not seeking salvation in this world
And the church has emphasized those teachings in the 2000 years since.
I everyone who studies Christianity comes away saying those traits are core to Christianity—even if not all Christians practice them.
But very few Christians arrive at the conclusion that we should try to help people on the other side of the world or who are not alive yet with just as much effort as we try to help the people in our immediate community. So I think it’s fair to say that the idea of impartiality is not core to the Christian worldview and belief the way charity, faith, humility, are. It’s not intuitive for most Christians the way those other traits are (again—even if they don’t achieve).
If Jesus had told such a parable, maybe impartiality would be more intuitive to more Christians.
I’m curious—do you think that impartiality directly follows from Christian teaching? Maybe it follows directly than I am thinking, or I have a weird notion about what it means for something to be “consistent” with a religion vs. “following” from it.
I’m more trying to argue that Jesus’s teaching does not necessarily push you to that conclusion.
I don’t really think this is a fair standard, or at least it feels like a motte-and-bailey when compared to the post title (“Impartiality is not baked into to Christianity”). I don’t think that Jesus’ teaching “necessarily” pushes self-identifying Christians to believe almost anything.
You write that
Jesus is very explicit about the importance of things like: [...] being humble and meek
But in fact there are plenty of megachurches and preachers that seemingly extract and teach contrary lessons (e.g., Pastor Dollar). There are also many pagan/spiritualist versions of Christianity that embrace very different teachings.
You ask
do you think that impartiality directly follows from Christian teaching?
My short answer is “broadly yes, even if not strongly in all dimensions of impartiality,” as I previewed in my original comment: I think people are inherently (including through socialization) prone to care more about their geographic and ethnic neighbors, but I do not think Christianity strongly reinforces this. In fact, I think the Bible clearly promotes the opposite principle: impartiality, as most broadly summarized in the Golden Rule. Whether Christians are inclined to interpret this to apply to future generations and very distant neighbors is a separate question.
Thanks for the pushback!
I am not trying to argue that Christianity does not support impartiality—there are certainly plausible readings of Jesus’s teachings (like that of the Good Samaritan) as plausibly supporting impartiality.
I’m more trying to argue that Jesus’s teaching does not necessarily push you to that conclusion.
Jesus is very explicit about the importance of things like:
helping those in need—the widow, the orphan
being faithful to the Father
being humble and meek
not seeking salvation in this world
And the church has emphasized those teachings in the 2000 years since.
I everyone who studies Christianity comes away saying those traits are core to Christianity—even if not all Christians practice them.
But very few Christians arrive at the conclusion that we should try to help people on the other side of the world or who are not alive yet with just as much effort as we try to help the people in our immediate community. So I think it’s fair to say that the idea of impartiality is not core to the Christian worldview and belief the way charity, faith, humility, are. It’s not intuitive for most Christians the way those other traits are (again—even if they don’t achieve).
If Jesus had told such a parable, maybe impartiality would be more intuitive to more Christians.
I’m curious—do you think that impartiality directly follows from Christian teaching? Maybe it follows directly than I am thinking, or I have a weird notion about what it means for something to be “consistent” with a religion vs. “following” from it.
I don’t really think this is a fair standard, or at least it feels like a motte-and-bailey when compared to the post title (“Impartiality is not baked into to Christianity”). I don’t think that Jesus’ teaching “necessarily” pushes self-identifying Christians to believe almost anything.
You write that
But in fact there are plenty of megachurches and preachers that seemingly extract and teach contrary lessons (e.g., Pastor Dollar). There are also many pagan/spiritualist versions of Christianity that embrace very different teachings.
You ask
My short answer is “broadly yes, even if not strongly in all dimensions of impartiality,” as I previewed in my original comment: I think people are inherently (including through socialization) prone to care more about their geographic and ethnic neighbors, but I do not think Christianity strongly reinforces this. In fact, I think the Bible clearly promotes the opposite principle: impartiality, as most broadly summarized in the Golden Rule. Whether Christians are inclined to interpret this to apply to future generations and very distant neighbors is a separate question.