Why wait for heaven when we can create a better world now? Let’s focus on building hope and justice that doesn’t require divine intervention!
This week, we’re looking at the origins of Christianity and asking a pretty straightforward but often overlooked question: What was it that actually drew people to it in the first place?
Spoiler alert: It wasn’t all of the convoluted mythology.
In all likelihood, it was simply the promise of a better life after death. That promise would’ve been extremely appealing to folks living under brutal Roman rule. When your life is filled with suffering and oppression, the idea of heavenly reward can feel like a lifeline. But what if we stopped dangling that far-off reward and started asking ourselves a different question?
What would it look like if we stopped promising people that things will get better in some magical, mystical afterlife and started building a better life for everyone today—on earth? What if we took the best values that people were allegedly drawn to in the early days of Christianity—compassion, justice, shared resources—and used those values to reimagine society?
So that’s our big question for today: What would a values-based, humanistic society look like if we designed it to uplift everyone, not just the privileged few? And what would it take to make that vision a reality?
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