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On page 142 of Gaia and God, Rosemary Ruether says something that we can learn from the Pauline-Augustinian tradition (original sin and the sinfulness of the flesh), after she's criticized it:
"From the Pauline-Augustinian tradition, we derive a profound existentialist recognition of the divided self, acting against its own interests and desires. In the concept of inherited sin, we also recognize that evil is not simply the sum of individual decisions. We do not start with a clean slate, but we inherit historical systems of culture and cultural organization that bias our minds and wills negatively. Our freedom to choose good is not only limited by the fluid boundaries of finitude, but also distorted by a heritage of deception and injustice masquerading as good...Only by eschewing paranoid projection of all evil onto malignant 'aliens' can we begin to reconstruct the tissues of relationship in a way that produces more biotic plenitude and less toxic violence."
I've known people who think that I should feel guilty because I am a white male, which means that, somehow, I play a role in oppression as well as benefit from it. I have the same problem with that as I do with original sin: I feel like I'm being blamed for something that is not my fault. But Rosemary Ruether is not like one friend of mine---who thought that 9/11 was God's punishment of America for racism against African-Americans, and who said that God would punish America as he punished Egypt. Granted, Ruether does believe that our current path is leading towards disaster, but she does not exult in that disaster, nor does she blame it on God. Rather, she blames it on our path. Therefore, I don't have to walk around feeling guilty on account of my being a white male, for God accepts me. But, once I acknowledge God's acceptance of me, I should take a look: to what extent do I promote injustice, and how can I make this world a better place?
Another point: it's not easy to go against the grain---not just for me, but for many others as well. I wish I could believe that God would take care of me if I took a bold stand for righteousness, but I'm not sure if that's always the case in the real world. But are there other options out there? Sure, I may not want to, say, take a job where I have to laugh at racist, sexist jokes in order to fit in and advance. (I'm not experiencing this sort of situation right now, but others very well may be.) But are there other jobs out there---maybe even jobs in which I can accomplish some good?
