Home Page
The Sinister Nature of Christianity
[and Islam]
I know many of my family members and friends belong, in varying degrees,
to Christian based belief systems. Many have questioned why I personally
do not hold such beliefs. This is my response. Aside from the
glaring contradictions in the Bible and the nature of God as per Christian
interpretation there is a certain psychological dimension to Christianity
that I find very sinister. My reasons are equally viable as an argument
against Islam.
The first story of the Bible, is that
of Genesis. The very first lesson “we” are taught is that of obedience.
Because Adam & Eve disobeyed, mankind has been cursed. Ironically,
this is also one of the first stories that are taught to children.
The moral of this story is to show the importance of submitting to authority,
and that disobedience is the gravest mistake a person can make. One
can see that God is the authority figure and Adam and Eve are the child like
persons. Their innocence (not knowing good or evil) brought about their
eventual downfall. This same relationship of domination has been perpetuated
throughout history. Kings ruled peasants by “divine right,” The Catholic
Church was the representative of God on earth and presided over the masses
and crowned kings. This can explain why so many people have gone along
with the crusades and inquisitions. We have been teaching and perpetuating
this idea of domination that extends to just about every aspect of our culture.
It sill survives today. Whether it is nature, economic policy, politics
or military might, nature submits to our culture, countries submit to super
powers, children submit to parents, prostitutes submit to pimps, laymen submit
to clergy etc. There is an under-current of domination in our culture
that is very subtle to see, but also has an exploitative element usually
unintended. This invariably diminishes the ability to “trust ourselves”
which is why we tend to consult authority figures in the first place and
inevitably leads to a split in the psyche at a very early age. In different
cultures people actually made their own way of life. There wasn’t an
organized church with a dogma or a totalitarian leader who had a “right”
to rule. Such cultures that had these qualities were seen as backward,
but as my next point will show, this is nothing but intolerance to difference
and a desire to dominate that is inherent in Christianity.
In order to become “saved,” one must
accept that one is a sinner and turn to Jesus for salvation.
The problem I have with this is we must accept an assumption that has no
basis outside of the Bible. As far as I understand the Christian argument
is that no one is perfect and therefore deserving of “death.” “For the wages
of sin is death.” This brings up two main ideas; sin and perfection.
Since Christianity assumes for the most part that we were “created perfectly”
and then chose to “sin” thanks to our free will, we have been cursed ever
since. What mankind has done to the earth and to each other is shown
as “proof’ of man’s sinful nature. Despite the fact that many cultures
that have existed, such as the Navajo, Hopi, and the myriad American Indian
nations as well as African tribes who lived a much simpler life and were
completely unaware of the supposed “flaw” in mankind’s nature, these cultures
are written off because they fall into a category known as “them.”
“Them” can be either heathen/pagan/savages etc… Many historical references
exist of people who conquered the America’s and enslaved African’s felt justified
in doing so because of Christian up bringing (remember the South).
Many southerners believed they were doing the Africans a favor by introducing
them to Jesus. It was seen as necessary since these
“savages” were seen as backward and in need of our [sic] religion despite
the fact that they were living in a sustainable way [which is our society’s
main problem today]. Many “savages” had myths that were quite the opposite
of Christianity’s. Mankind was seen as a blessing to the earth and
by default, holy. This contrasts completely with the Christian worldview.
In other words, man is holy and NOT in need of salvation. That concept
didn’t even exist until we [sic] introduced or rather forced it upon “them”.
One of the “mental disorders” that
has a religious dimension to it is known as Scruples. Scrupulosity
is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in which the sufferer sees sin
where there isn’t any. One of the famous people who likely had scruples
was Martin Luther. It was because of scruples that Martin Luther concluded
that grace and not good works is what gets one save. Current theory
suggests that scrupulosity develops because of an individual’s belief that
some thoughts or images are inherently dangerous and should not be thought
and that because one has these images or thoughts one is that type of person
or capable of that type of behavior. It isn’t difficult to see why
scruples develops. Consider Matthew 5:22, Matthew 5:28, Matthew 12:41
and others corresponding verses in the other gospels. There are thoughts
that are dangerous, at least to the Christian, which includes blasphemy,
sins which done in thought are as if they were done for real. The problem
with sufferers of scruples is that the more one tries to not think a thought
the more one will think it. Studies have shown that people will tend
to think more of a restricted thought then if it wasn’t restricted.
For example, try not to think of unicorns for a few minutes. Just the
fact that it was mentioned brings the thought into the mind, but because
of the restriction it is given more emphasis in the mind and therefore more
likely to think it again. This phenomenon goes double for scruples
sufferers who already have a predisposition to ruminate. I used to
suffer from this disorder and oddly enough atheism/agnosticism, was my cure.
Even now, I do not suffer any symptoms of anxiety associated with scruples.
In my opinion, Christianity was the cause of my scruples. Although
I have tried many times to get right with “God,” and people find it hard
to understand that I am incapable of having faith in the God of the Bible.
It is no mere coincidence that Christianity, Islam and Judaism have the highest
incidence of scrupulosity of all the world’s religions.
I have never been lied to more than
by "religious" people. In my seeking for knowledge, I have never been
more intentionally misguided than by Christians and Muslims with regard to
science. The lack of integrity of creationists was the "straw that
broke the camels back." In particular, Kent Hovind, whom I've actually seen
debate in person at Rutgers University not too long ago. I've never
seen anyone lie so much with a straight face. From what I have read,
it is absolutely true what has been said about him. "He spits out more lies
in 5 minutes than can be corrected in an hour." The rigidness of Christian
fundamentalist interpretation has created a condition in which failure is
inevitable by denying reality. They are right about one thing though,
in my opinion. Without a young earth creation, the idea of the fall
of man and hence Jesus saving us goes down the toilet. What they fail
to see is the obvious conclusion. The Bible is nothing more than a
myth our culture chose to adopt.
Christianity isn’t around because of
its profound truths; it is still here because it, along with Islam, is at
war with everything and propagates itself through fear of eternal damnation.
Christianity [and Islam] despises science, although many scientists are Christian/Muslim,
despises difference and is at war with nature itself. I was once asked
why did the Crusades happen since the teachings of Jesus were non-violent,
being that I was raised Catholic, I was expected to know this. My answer
is this: A jealous God, by its very nature, is intolerant of other gods.
Christianity’s adherents are only being led by example. Although Jesus
may not have sanctioned holy war, Jesus would not respect the claims of Mohammed
[and vice versa], or of any other adherent claiming knowledge of a deity
other than that of Jesus’. And that’s what it boils down to; respect.
People who respect each other will not try to convert each other, kill each
other, conquer each other, etc…
Al C.