The main criticism I’ve received for writing my upcoming book, “Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting on Religion in America,” is that I’m a modern-day Judas, profiting by bringing down God. I suspect this will continue and intensify if the book becomes a hit.
First, I always thought Judas got a bad rap, that Jesus had to be betrayed and He asked Judas to be That Guy. Recently, the Gospel of Judas — Gnostic gospel not included in the New Testament has given Judas some better press.
Second, I don’t have the power, as Judas did, to do much harm to Christ and Christianity.
Third (and this is the real point), I don’t see myself as a Judas, but it’s hard to argue with a True Believer. The fact is I’m profiting from my new-found, if reluctant, deism/atheism. I didn’t set out to make money from it — one day, I wrote about my spiritual journey for my paper as part of my regular job and soon afterward, I had a book contract.
I just don’t buy the argument that one can’t profit from their viewpoints. Pastors and priests make a living from theirs and, televangelists aside, no one criticizes them for not being pure. Same with Gospel singers, Christian authors and Christian radio stations.
If you read this post carefully, you’ll notice that I haven’t honed my I’m-not-a-Judas argument down to sound bite size. But I’ll need to soon. Interviews and others will be asking me: “Are you a modern-day Judas, selling out Christianity simply to make money?”
Any good answers out there?
12 responses so far ↓
1 Alan Lenzi // Jul 18, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Why not turn it around and say, “I actually feel a little betrayed myself by religion. I invested an enormous amount of my identity into something that I eventually came to realize is just another human social network. This realization was terribly difficult, even traumatic. My whole world changed. People of faith treated me differently. My family was angry and disappointed. So am I the Judas? I’m offended at the suggestion.”
I lost my faith doing academic study of the Bible. I’m glad to see you talking about your de-conversion. I’m hoping to get some biblical scholars together to do the same.
2 Cheryl // Jul 18, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Just tell them it was “God’s plan” for you..heh.
3 Paulie // Jul 19, 2008 at 4:59 am
I think you should say that people don’t write memoir’s to make money. I don’t know the particulars of your book deal, but let’s face it, most books don’t make any money, and of the ones that do, the author wasn’t expecting to make much. Instead people write memoirs because they think that others will benefit from learning about their experiences. There are ton of books on the market about whether you should be a beleiver (or not), and there are a ton of books about people who came came to believe, but the story of a believer who comes to question his faith and really struggles with these issues in an honest way is truly unique. It is a voice that is not being heard in our culture.
4 Thranil // Jul 19, 2008 at 5:09 am
I think my response to “Are you a modern-day Judas, selling out Christianity simply to make money?” would be something like:
“I am merely telling the story of my journey. If Christianity somehow suffers because of an honest telling of one person’s story, then it didn’t have much of a leg to stand on, did it?”
5 I was there // Jul 19, 2008 at 5:50 am
Then maybe you can explain this Mr. Lobdell…
http://i33.tinypic.com/2rd87z7.jpg
6 Drew // Jul 21, 2008 at 8:42 pm
If God is so fragile a random journalist from California can take him down, perhaps he is not worthy of the title?
That you (or anyone else) are not satisfied with what other men say about God does not make you anything. That you may profit from your work makes you just like everyone else.
7 pat // Jul 22, 2008 at 3:52 am
My first inclination was to support your writing and advise ignoring those calling you a Judas. Then I read your next paragraph about Judas and realized the fallacy of discussing the Biblical Judas and the Gnostic version. First of all, Judas did not have the power to bring down Christ. Jesus lay down His life. Second, Gnosticism is not a form of Christianity, so any Gnostic writing ought not to be consulted when discussing Christ, and the ‘gospel of Judas’ is not included in the Canon because it is not Holy Scripture based on true witness of Jesus’ life. It’s a different form of literature. Peter also denied Christ, but He repented and was forgiven. Judas did not. The Biblical comparison is there to show contrast between those who accept Jesus, and those who do not. Personally, I cannot see why you should be criticized for writing about your spiritual journey. So far you have only written about Biblical Principles you’ve seen violated by certain denominations, and those are valid criticisms many of us agree with. We’re not to have faith in people, though, so I would hope that you would go back to your ‘first love’ of Christ.
8 Edward T. Babinski // Jul 25, 2008 at 5:09 am
When was the last time you saw an atheist as rich because of his atheist preaching as the richest televangelist or mega church pastor?
(One day we might see such a phenomenon, but I don’t think it’s been seen yet. )
Religion also employs paid workers and owns more real estate in the U.S. than the largest corporations. But religionists in the U.S. want to play the “30 pieces of silver/Judas card” against Lobdell?
If a Christian deconvert who makes money talking about why he left the fold is a “Judas,” then what do you call ex-religious skeptics who make money entering the fold, lots of money in some cases? You think Lee Strobel is hurting after his “Case For…” books began taking off, all based on him being an ex-religious skeptic? (Lee was suffering a mid-life crisis as a legal journalist and there is no evidence he had read and written very much about religion before he converted, so I’m less impressed by Strobel’s story than by Lobdell’s.)
As for religion and money and selfishness in general, just what “unselfish” reason is there for a person to convert?
And why are Christian hymns filled with self congratulation?
The faith in which I was brought up assured me that I was better than other people; I was saved, they were damned–we were in a state of grace and the rest were heathens. Our hymns were loaded with arrogance–self-congratulation on how cozy we were with the Almighty, and what hell everybody else would catch come Judgment Day.
Robert A. Heinlein, (Jubal Harshaw in Stranger in a Strange Land)
____________________________
Look at the songs of Fundamentalism: “That will be glory for me… I shall see Him face to face… My sins are gone… I’m so happy… I’m saved, saved, saved… Love lifted me… He holds my hand… Now I belong to Jesus… Safe am I… My Lord is real, yea, real to me…”
I was even taught as a child to sing that shameless chorus, “For me, for me, for me, for me.”
It’s like someone decided to set “original sin” to music.
Daniel Stevick, Beyond Fundamentalism
9 pat // Jul 25, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Interesting response to your ‘30 pieces of silver’ piece from Babinski. He’s using your column to advertise his book. Ironic
10 Mark // Aug 4, 2008 at 11:43 pm
Peter betrayed Jesus also, so did all the other disciples. What was harder for Peter to repent and take a three-fold questioning in front of everyone, or for Judas to kill himself? It is a fundamental problem for any Christian to think of themselves as better than Judas. We are all sinners. It is not what you do, but what Jesus did (and does) that covers us that makes us saints. The daily drowning of the old Adam and the rising of the new man.
I’m sorry for your loss. I hope the book is a means of grace and not of death.
11 Tom (Iron Pol) // Aug 5, 2008 at 1:00 am
Pat, not that Thranil hasn’t done a good enough job trying to “pile on you” for what he sees as issues with your logic, but allow me to pose a question.
If we accept the basic tenets of Christianity, Jesus had to die. In fact, he had to die as the result of an unjust persecution. He had to be innocent of all things for which he was being killed.
This means he was going to have to be “set up,” charged for things he didn’t do.
Let’s set a few other things up, as well. Jesus was well known. People always knew where to find him. He didn’t move about in secret, he always attracted a crowd. In fact, when he entered Jerusalem during his last days he trashed the marketplace in the temple.
There was no real need for Judas to betray Jesus. In fact, if we think about it, he really didn’t need the money. It is fairly widely believed, in fact, that as the “treasurer” of the group, he was fairly free with their money. Of course, I guess it’s possible he had some bad gambling debts, or just had to have the latest and greatest abacus.
What WAS needed, was someone to set the wheels in motion. Judas was that chosen person. Many hold that not only isn’t Judas damned, but he in fact holds a special place in heaven for being willing to fill that role. It’s a very debatable subject, but that view is not entirely crazy.
Judas suffered enough guilt over his betrayal to follow Jesus into death. Orrrrr, he was damned for his actions and God struck him dead. ??????
Simply casting Judas aside as “evil” dismisses that he was one of the 12 selected by Jesus. Jesus picked each to fill a special role. That means he KNEW what Judas would do, and knew it was a vital role.
12 Thranil // Aug 5, 2008 at 1:11 am
Tom,
I actually agree with you on this. Even when I was a christian, I thought Judas got a bum rap…
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