Daniel Webster said "Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens." But is it true?

[titan]

"Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens." Daniel Webster 1782 - 1852

True?

Atheists (different from apathetic agnostics), arrive at their beliefs not by dictum and blind-folded fear, but through the homage of reason. That commitment to truth distinguishes atheists not merely as good citizens, but as better citizens.

If blind obedience is the criterion of good citizenship, then Christians may be citizens as good as members of any other faith. But were such goodness too abundant, the U.S. might never have been founded. This fact alone challenges the merit of Webster's assertion. In fact, atheism's fidelity to truth over dogma exemplifies the independence of spirit prerequisite to our nation's founding, and the innovation that sustains its prosperity. Citizens that are blindly obedient may be more convenient for the countrymen governing them. But the People's purpose is not to convenience government. Government is the People's servant, not master.

 

[Rampage]

titan, do you think Webster meant to confine his observation exclusively to Christianity? Or might it also include others with similar religious devotion, but perhaps also including Muslims, Jews, Buddhists ... ?

 

[sear]

t #1
Not trying to heckle you here, but I'm w/ R #2 on it.
It may help sharpen the focus to define the word "good" in the topic title term "good citizens".
"Christian" refers to the New Testament god incarnate. That's theology. Does pure piety qualify as "good"? Could producing nothing, not growing food for oneself, not contributing to society, merely studying scripture and praying devoutly be considered evil?

Can we embrace utilitarianism as the locus of good here?
And there are other religions. What of Islam, Judaism, Buddhism? Are good Buddhists also good citizens? If so, that might seem to undermine the theological underpinnings tied to a specific religion as the source of the "goodness". So what then? Might it be the discipline, tied more to the procedural discipline than the theological detail? And if the discipline is enough, would that rule also apply to experts in non-theological fields? Scientists, Satanists? Engineers? Managers?

u·til·i·tar·i·an·ism (y-tĭl′ĭ-târē-ə-nĭz′əm) n. 1. The belief that the value of a thing or an action is determined by its utility. 2. The ethical theory proposed by Jeremy Bentham and James Mill that all action should be directed toward achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. 3. The quality of being utilitarian: housing of bleak utilitarianism. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.

 

[titan]

sear, I didn't really have asceticism in mind when I opened this topic, though I understand the benefit of considering the extreme case when evaluating a proposition. One might think there would be divergence between one religion and another. But I suppose there may be more overlap than distinction.