Uncle Tom's Compassion

6/22/09

Just finished reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. It is a tearjerker. Seriously. I shed a lot of tears reading this book. It is not at all what I expected. The characters are really deep. Not the caricatures I had been led to expect. I would recommend this book to everyone. It is morally thought provoking. The two main objectives of the book were to encourage people to abolish slavery and to encourage people to practice an extremely Humanistic form of Christianity. It is this view of Christianity and how strongly it resonated with me as an Atheist and Humanist that really gave me a lot to think about.

The form of Christianity that Harriet Beecher Stowe promotes is a loving one. According to her, God commands us to love one another and this is an absolute commandment and only those who love everyone unconditionally are saved. In order to be a good person, you must be a loving and compassionate one. Examples of this sort of ideal in the book are the Quakers who help Eliza and her family escape to Canada, a little innocent white girl named Eva and Uncle Tom himself.

They don't have to preach Christianity to convert others. They are just so loving and wonderful that their very presence encourages others to try to be good as well. And it is this goodness of character that is what is so inspiring to me. As a Humanist, I hold that as my ideal of goodness too. Being a good loving person who approaches everyone they meet with love is what I personally aspire to. So these sections of the novel were inspiring to me despite their overt evangelical character.

In fact, these sections are so inspiring that I almost want to believe that the god describe by Stowe actually exists. Almost. I don't believe such a god exists. But if such a god existed, I would have no problem voluntarily devoting myself to his will. And considering my lifelong Atheism, that is saying a lot. In fact, I can't ever remember feeling left out by religion before reading this book. So, if you are an evangelical and are interested in converting Atheists like me, I suggest you read this book. Because this form of Christianity is one I could believe in if I actually believed god's exist.

When I talked to my husband about this - he agreed. It is a shame more Christians don't practice this form of Christianity. If most Christians lived their lives in accordance with Ms. Stowe's vision of Christianity, he would probably still be involved in the church.

(A side note: watching the news and listening to a good Christian woman explain that we should not provide poor children with summer meals because hunger is a good motivator and I can't help feeling sad that she just doesn't get it and is a reason why non Christians consider most Christians to be hypocrites.)

Back to the issue of morality and religion in general, Harriet Beecher Stowe attributes being a good loving person to being a good Christian. I do not. I feel that being good and loving is worthwhile for the benefits that being so provides me here and now. I do not take issue with Stowe actively preaching Christianity. As far as I am concerned, I don't care how people come to be good loving people. I just care that they are. If this book helps people achieve that ideal, then I am all for it. The only area I disagree with her in is that I don't believe you need to believe in God to feel this much love for others. As an atheist, I can attest to the fact you don't have to believe in God to love others.

The biggest problem for me in her religious argument was Uncle Tom's final conversion. Uncle Tom is a very noble character. He does what he does and stays where he is to help others. When he is denied his freedom through a twist of fate, he is very much like Job, being put through increasingly horrible situations because that is what God wants (and what Ms. Stowe required to show the horrors of slavery). Sometimes though he rejects freedom by choice. Choosing to stay because people there need his help. Again, very noble. In fact, the biblical parallel for Tom and his ultimate death is the story of Jesus.

What bothered me is that in some ways, Uncle Tom is someone I would like to emulate. His unconditional love and willingness to help others despite his own circumstances is amazing. But I just can't see someone who doesn't have faith making the same ultimate choice as he did. After all, if you don't believe your suffering will accomplish anything but your death, then your suffering isn't a sacrifice, it is just unnecessary suffering. And I can't see going willingly to death without a good reason. Tom has a good reason because he is a Christian. An atheist would not have that reason even if they were as compassionate and loving as Tom.

And this is the real breaking point between the modern Humanist mindset and Beecher Stowe's Humanistic Christianity. Stowe's Christianity demands Tom's sacrifice and I just can't see a Humanist making that sacrifice. I can see us resisting evil in the same non-violent way. But I cannot see a Humanist sacrificing their lives the way Tom does. And this bother's me because in the novel, Tom's sacrifice accomplishes quite a bit. In addition to the souls saved (not an issue for me), he also manages to help free everyone from his original plantation, which is quite tangible.

So I am left in a quandary. Is a willingness to sacrifice without knowing whether your sacrifice will amount to anything nobler then the more secular approach, which would not make such a sacrifice? I don't have a good answer for it, but it is an interesting question. My gut tells me that no - the secular approach is better. Not only can you definitely accomplish more good being alive, but the scenario set up by Beecher that provides meaning to Tom's death is fiction. It isn't real. It is moving and emotional, but in the end, it is a work of fiction. It would be really nice if we could be sure that such a sacrifice would have meaning, but the world doesn't work that way. So in the end, I think we need to side with life and liberty for the individual as being superior specifically because the individual can for sure continue to do good works and continue to set a good example. Ultimately, the sacrifice of Uncle Tom is best done as a work of fiction.

I defer to the great Phil Ochs here.

And I won't be laughing at the lies when I'm gone
And I can't question how or when or why when I'm gone
Can't live proud enough to die when I'm gone
So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here