DR. CUMMINGS: The anti-Christian columnist

I have been called many things in the years I've been writing this column: A "Mental Midget," a "Belittler of Those Who Disagree With Me," a "Gnostic," a "Kirby Godsey Heretic," a "Peddler of Apostasy," a "Disingenuous ex-priest," and many more. But never "anti-Christian."

Last Wednesday a reader labeled me: The "Telegraph's Anti-Christian Columnist." But why? People who know me laughed. I am anything but that. I have been an active proponent of the Judeo-Christian ethic for over 80 years. Why would anyone think I have started a campaign against Christianity? Against religiosity, yes. Against radical fundamentalism, of course. Against clerical arrogance — always. But why Christianity?

I think I know why. Two basic reasons:

I ask questions.

I search for the historical Jesus.

If I ask questions about our government relations with Russia, Syria and Iran, and if I try to investigate our policies on illegal immigration, does that make me "anti-government?" I don't think so. If I ask our Macon black pastors why 85 percent of our jail prisoners come from their parishes, am I a racist? I don't think so.

But I'm not allowed to wonder out loud why Paul can preach: "Faith without works" in Romans 4:4 using a quote from Abraham, and James (2:23) can use the same quote to prove that "faith without works is dead." Our New Testament is full of contradictions and errors because these books were written by men who violently disagreed with each other. Why can't I ask these questions?

Salman Rushdie dared to question his Islamic faith and was condemned to die. Do we want to live our Christian lives this way? I don't think so.

I search for the historical Jesus. Many Christians accept the decision of the 325 AD Council of Nicaea that Christ was divine, and they believe that the people who lived and worked and traveled with Jesus saw him as God, too. I don't think so. I think they saw him as a man. A man with charm and charisma, but a man with impatience and fire in his belly. A man with a message.

I want to find this man. I'm not impressed by the "miracle stories" because I know Galilee was full of magicians (Simon Magus, etc.) who went around curing the sick and "raising the dead." And I don't read the mythology like it was history; I know why the early Christians inserted those stories. I want to hear what he said — without the later additions and redactions and editions. And that's a difficult search.

To engage in this search, I ask questions. I was raised in the Socratic methodology. Socrates taught that if we didn't ask questions we weren't thinking, and if we weren't thinking we weren't learning. For 17 years my undergraduate and graduate courses were all Socratic, and for 10 years after that, my professorial techniques were the same. Today, I write about Christianity the same way. I don't think this makes me "anti-Christian."

But then, who am I to judge?

Dr. Bill Cummings is the CEO of Cummings Consolidated Corporation and Cummings Management Consultants. His website is www.billcummings.org.

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 4:54 PM with the headline "DR. CUMMINGS: The anti-Christian columnist ."