An interesting post on Andrew Sullivan’s blog recently from one of his readers who says:

I am an atheist (who was once a Christian) and wanted to comment on your latest missive to Sam Harris. I would describe my own embrace of science and secular humanism as being motivated by a form of faith that is deeper than Christian faith. I believe that if Jesus lived today, he would be a secular humanist and would reject Christianity, just as he “rejected” Judaism and inspired Christianity. Christianity was once the vehicle for the boldest and most honest thinking about reality, the brotherhood of man, and the human condition. I think in light of the advances in science and our exposure to other religious traditions, it is time again to humanize further our understanding of “God” (or the source of all truth, goodness, and beauty) and come to a more universal understanding of religion.

I’m not sure I agree with the author’s claim that Christianity was ever “the vehicle for the boldest and most honest thinking about reality” – bolder than vedanta? However, he makes a good point that, from what we know about the man called Jesus (which as we saw from my podcast with John Dickson, is very little), he doesn’t seem to have been overly concerned about tradition or authority.

Would he have been like Father Bob Maguire, who I had another of my regular skirmishes with last week?