The Good Jesus and the Scoundrel Church

I confess that I have not read any of the many books by the neo-atheists. I have about as much chance of reading them as Obama has of reading the collected works of Rush Limbaugh-and for the same reason.


Nevertheless, I was intrigued when I passed by a display of new- works at the local Borders Book store, and saw the newest book by Philip Pullman--The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ by Philip Pullman. Pullman's wrote a series of children's books, His Dark Materials, as a slam on Christianity and the church. I have not read them , but those who have tell me that they get more anti-religious with every volume.

But I can't get that title of his new book out of my head --The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ.

It astounded me that Pullman would even call Jesus a good man. He repudiates everything Jesus taught and attacks the church are vitriolic slander. Yet he still calls Jesus a good man.

• Carl Sandburg, an agnostic and a socialist, attacked evangelist Billy Sunday in his poem To a Contemporary Bunkshooter. The same poem, though, carries this line



"Don't tell me about Jesus. He looked clean and he smelled clean, and people wanted to be around Him."



Hardly a ringing endorsement. Yet like Pullman, Sandburg could not get around "the good man Jesus." Of course Jesus more than a good man to us, but the fact that even the worst critics of the faith seem to still respect Jesus makes me pause with wonder.

Why do they hate Christianity so, yet admire Jesus? The secular world distinguishes between the two. Yet the only thing they know of Jesus comes from the church. They ought to see Jesus and the church the same, but they don't. The callousness and corruption in the modern church has driven people away in droves.

Pullman's main gripe with Christianity not really with Christ, but with the authoritarianism of the Catholic and Anglican churches. He does not seem to be able to imagine a Christianity that is not incased in robes and cathedrals and where it leaders wash feet instead of ruling from thrones. He sees it as all pomp and power-driven. And to a large degree he's right.

Much of the modern disgust with the church comes from the publicity surrounding some child abuse cases. They blame the Pope personally for every rogue priest that ever disgraced his calling. Sandburg's disgust was over the excesses of sensational evangelism. He blamed all preachers for the abuses of he few.

This is what the world sees of Christianity--Catholic hypocrisy and Evangelical chicanery. There is a huge majority of Christian churches that have not disgraced themselves with their anger or their antics. But even we must confess that we our fellowship is a poor reflection of Jesus. The church should have the same odor as its master--a clean, refreshing smell of honesty, humility, and charity. But we often stink with the odor of treacly insincerity, institutional corruption, and pompous judgementalism.


The church one all important mission on earth--several of them. Glorifying God in worship, evangelism, missions, societal transformation, just to name a few. Whatever our views on the mission of the church is not the most important thing. Whatever our mission, we should all behave the same, because we have the example of Christ. We are one body and one church, with one Lord, one Spirit, and, one faith. We don't have to agree on everything. We just have to get along.