Last week, I was working from home and not really paying attention to what was on TV in the background. Then something caught my ear. The Tyra Banks show was on. I know, I never sit to actually watch it, but comedian Steve Harvey was on and he has apparently written a book called "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man". He was on promoting it and he was saying a lot of things that you always knew men thought, but didn't really ever say. He was telling women why it is that they weren't getting or keeping men, from a man's perspective. Some of it was very funny, some we women already knew, but he was entertaining. I was actually even laughing at a couple of spots. My oldest daughter was too. But then we just shook our heads at what came next.
They came to a portion of the show where he was giving advice about things that it's okay for women to ask men very early on in their relationships (even after just a couple of dates). 1st was that it's ok to ask them about their short term goals. Ok, fair enough. 2nd to ask about long term goals... even better. But 3rd is what got me out of my chair and very over Steve's advice in general. 3rd was to ask about his faith. It wasn't the question at all that was bothersome as most people want to know that about their partner. But Steve's assertion, so matter of fact, is what frankly angered me. He said in no uncertain terms that if someone says they are Atheist, run as fast as you can because "it means that have no moral compass". That is the most absurd thing I've ever heard. Unfortunately, there are many people that not only believe a statement like that, but perpetuate it. They are happy to spread that nonsense around.
That type of blanket statement bothers me for many reasons. First of all, you cannot categorize any "group" of people so strictly. Are there atheists without a moral compass? Yes, absolutely. But to say that all of them are lacking morals is nonsense. There will always be an extreme end to any group that ruins it for others, but not all people in any group are the same. It's the same as saying that every professed Christian is a good person. We all know that's not the case. If it were, we wouldn't see so many self-professed Christians taking the lives of others, trashing other people because they think they are better than everyone else, or even simply judging others.
Personally, I know many Atheists that have far greater moral values and live them, then a lot of self-professed Christians that are just taking up seats in the pews every Sunday, but forget what it is they are supposed to be learning during the rest of the week.
So, I was quite over Steve Harvey when he made such a ridiculous comment about the topic. All he showed me is that he is an unfortunate soul that has no ability to not only accept people for who they are, but he doesn't seem to even want people to give others a chance to prove their worth. If we all took his advice, we would only ever be with people just like ourselves, or at least those that "claim" to be like us.
For me personally, if I took that advice, I'd have missed out on some pretty great years, and more to come in the future, with the man I love. Yes, Tim is an Athiest. Tim is also one of the best people I know. He is a loving, passionate, hard working, honest, decent person that is very very grounded in moral values and lives them every day. I would trust him with my life, and more importantly, the lives of my children. He doesn't pretend to be anything he is not and he doesn't judge those that don't believe what he does. And, yes, he even likes that I am Christian and that being so is meaningful to me. He never tries to push his Atheism on anyone, including me. In fact, I've had better discussions regarding religion with him than I have with any one.
Maybe Steve Harvey should have spoken to some non-extreme Atheist people before making such a judgmental statement... especially if he's claiming his own Christianity. I don't think that's what Jesus would have done.
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