I am a Unitarian. Like most Southern Irish Unitarians I come from a Catholic background. On a small number of occasions people have commented to me on the central role religion seems to play in my life. Perhaps I am a Catholic priest in a parallel universe. The celibacy of catholic priests the problem? I think not.
A memory from my early childhood, while preparing for my first communion, involves a teacher, a "brother", mentioning the monk of Alexandria, Arius. The possibility of a Christianity in which Jesus was, first and foremost, an ordinary chap intrigued me greatly. My interest in religion was always an interest in comparative religion even from an early age.
Other major world religions are "all out of step except for my Johnny" in comparison with mainstream Christianity, whether Catholic, Protestant or other.
Jesus of Nazareth taught that one should "love one's neighbour as oneself". In the original state for which humans were designed by the forces of evolution, the hunter-gatherer tribe, that one should behave in this way was a self-evident truth. Ones own self interest and that of the other members of the tribal unit coincided more or less perfectly. Jesus sought to restore that which had been lost. It is difficult to love ones neighbour as oneself in our present state. It is certainly not self-evident that we should.
Catholic priests and, indeed, saints usually either exhibit or seek to exhibit extreme levels of altruism. They are encouraged to behave in this way and encourage others to do the same. I hold that such people are not good role models for ordinary people. If one were to love ones neighbour as oneself one should put oneself before others approximately half of the time; the term "time" here being understood metaphorically. One is designed by nature to behave in this way. Ones true potential is developed when one at least strives to behave in this way. One is most fulfilled when one strives to behave in this way. The catch is, of course, that to behave in this way does not tend to maximize ones bank balance. But to love ones neighbour as oneself is, to those who are wise, a policy of enlightened self interest. It is in ones self interest not to love others selflessly but to love others as one loves oneself.
Brendan Burke MA(Phil).
Cork. Jan. 16, 2006.