The Stupid Stuff

Last updated on: April 12, 2010 at 10:55 am by James F. McGrath

The Stupid Stuff 2010-04-12T10:55:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

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The title of this blog entry is a phrase that came up in Sunday school yesterday. We were continuing our discussion of Leviticus 19 and the question of why we do some things the Bible says but not others. The suggestion was made that we should preserve the valuable stuff but discard or ignore “the stupid stuff.”

I think most people would agree with this statement. What we would find disagreement about is what “the stupid stuff” is and how to identify it.

For some, anything that is in the Bible is by definition not stupid. But I suspect that many such people are unfamiliar with the details of the Bible (in particular the Old Testament), and if you showed them a law about not planting two kinds of seed in a field (from Leviticus 19) or a law about selling a daughter into slavery (from Exodus 21) and told them it was from the Qur’an, they would identify it as “stupid stuff.” And maybe it is an example of “the stupid stuff” when we treat as divine writ things that we would classify as “stupid stuff” if it were in anyone else’s tradition than our own.

The Israelites made fun of other nations’ religions for making graven images – at least once they themselves stopped making them. Paul said that for Christians neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters – at least once he himself stopped persecuting Christians. Women being property is stupid stuff – but is it also stupid to cling to any remnant of a morality or legislation that emerged from that same cultural context and the same assumptions? Many Christians would regard the Westboro Baptist Church’s stuff as “stupid stuff,” some of them in turn being condemned by more progressive Christians for sharing the same view of homosexuality as Fred Phelps and differing only on what they say and do about it. Meanwhile, those progressive Christians will be viewed with disdain by atheists for clinging to that “stupid stuff” about God, and those same atheists might be ridiculed by other atheists for still clinging to old fashioned notions of love, or morality, or free will, or other such “stupid stuff.” And then others would regard debates about whether God exists or what morality is as “the stupid stuff.” There are people who are starving, people who are living under tyrrany, and from this perspective the only thing that isn’t “stupid stuff” is doing something about it.

We all think there is stupid stuff that we can dismiss. But the question we do not ask often enough is how we determine what “the stupid stuff” is. Reason is certainly part of the picture at least some of the time. But I think many would acknowledge that there is a lot more to it than that, and in some cases it isn’t clear that rationality can decide that prticular issue. But maybe my thinking that is “stupid stuff” that I’ll eventually change my mind about. Or maybe it’s the other way around. But certainly there have been life-changing experiences which have turned unbelievers into believers, and life-changing experiences which have changed believers into unbelievers.

Changing our mind about what is stupid and what isn’t is part of human experience. As we grow and mature, we change, and this is not only common but normal and healthy. One thing seems clear to me at this stage. Few if any of us can simply sit on our own thinking in a corner somewhere and grow in maturity. In my view, the one thing that is clearly “stupid stuff” is when we either isolate ourselves, or surround ourselves with only like-minded people who will always reinforce our beliefs and practices, and never challenge them. Most of us are aware that we are shaped by society, and yet most of us think society could change for the better. No matter who we are, we need interaction with others to help us to grow, mature, and leave “stupid stuff” behind. We need the perspective of others to draw our attention to “stupid stuff” in our blind spots. Perhaps the most important thing is to keep talking. So let’s talk about “the stupid stuff”!

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