More Sunday atheism: The Faith of a Heretic, by Walter Kaufmann. There's also an article from Harper's in 1959 (the book came out in 1961).
To an even moderately sophisticated and well-read person it should come as no surprise that any religion at all has its hidden as well as its obvious beauties and is capable of profound and impressive interpretations. What is deeply objectionable about most of these interpretations is that they allow the believer to say Yes while evading any No. The Hebrew prophets represent a notable exception. When interpreting their own religious heritage, they were emphatically not conformists who discovered subtle ways in which they could agree with the religion of their day. Nor was it their point that the cult was justifiable with just a little ingenuity. On the contrary.Let those who like inspiring interpretations be no less forthright in telling us precisely where they stand on ritual and immortality, on the sacraments and Hell, on the Virgin Birth and Resurrection. on the Incarnation and the miracles, and on: "Resist not evil." And: "Let him who would sue you in court for your coat have your cloak, too." And: "No one comes to the Father but through Me."
If you must pour new wine into old skins, you should at least follow one of Jesus' other counsels and let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No.
Yes, before there was a Richard Dawkins, a Christopher Hitchens, or a Daniel Dennett, there was Walter Kaufmann.
The complete, book-length text of The Faith of a Heretic is available online here.
Posted by Craig Ceely at May 25, 2008 05:26 PM