Friday, March 19, 2004

The gospel of wealth and health

Substitute "religion" for "Christianity" and "health" for "morality" in the following quote by T.S. Eliot, and you get one of the central problems in America's religious culture.

“what is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might be beneficial…To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, instead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion.”

Christians went crazy for a while over the health benefits of prayer. Now you have the health benefits of being a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.