A nifty quote from Terry Eagleton in his newish book After Theory:
People did not have to wait upon the arrival of an obscure first-century Jewish prophet, who was probably less of a crowd-puller than his mentor John the Baptist, in order to start being nice to each other.
This speaks volumes to me. Not about “niceness,” because I’m guessing that kindness is what is meant here. It seems that for many, compassion, kindness, thoughtfulness, hope, joy and many other things are associated with religion. I don’t think you need to have a religion to be compassionate or kind, to be thoughtful or joyful or hopeful. What do you think?
Definitely not. Although if it helps, more power to you.
I think the most Christians (or whoever) can say to me is that without Christ they could not be kind. Great that Christ helps them do that, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs that too. Or that they always will.