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No, I don't hate all religions. Others religions have not harmed me the way Christianity has. Is that an admission I hate Christianity? I suppose on some level there is a degree of hate in the way you'd hate someone who has done harm to a family member. On some level I think of humanity as a "family" member. I mean we're all part of this gigantic family called the human race. Christianity has done some good for humanity in the arts. I mean it has inspired some incredibly monumental religious works and art.
Christianity has done more for humanity than just its involvement in the arts.
The Red Cross has Christian roots. Christianity has been a leader in the areas of education, hospitals, orphanages, and our legal system. Statistically, Christians far outweigh their support of charities and the homeless than any other religious AND non-religious groups.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
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But I feel the harm it has done humanity vastly outweighs the good. It has deceived, misled and manipulated tens of billions of people to believe exactly what it wanted them to believe over the course of its 2000 year history.
Wow. So all those Christians who were involved with helping people with regard to education, legal issues, setting up and running hospitals, taking in unwanted babies, feeding the homeless and helping the poor were doing so because they were "deceived, misled and manipulated" into doing so?
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And those who refused to fall for the ruse--who had enough presence of mind to recognize that what Christianity was selling was a ruse--the Church ruthlessly tortured, murdered and wholesale exterminated, not to save people's souls from damnation. The real reason they murdered these people was to keep them in power and privilege and eliminate any threats it perceived to that power and privilege. When a whole race has the temerity to stand against the dominant religious hierarchy there's only one thing to be done--exterminate the entire bunch as an example of what happens when someone defies the power structure, namely the Roman Catholic Church.
Unfortunately, you have a very narrow view of Christianity.
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I would never try to dissuade someone as deeply into Jesus and Christianity as Arleigh above for example. The harm that could be done to his psyche if he were to ever learn the truth about Christianity might destroy him and others so deeply entrenched in a religious belief that is as much a part of them as any vital organ they have.
Interesting. I read Arleigh's post and then yours. And if I was on the fence about Christianity, I'd be more in favor of it than against it.
What initially caused me to become a 'lapsed Christian', wasn't because of Christianity or Catholicism. It was because of the hypocritical so-called Christians who were in my sphere of influence. I figured that if I had to become like them in order to be a Christian, I wanted no part of it.
And then, I grew up. I realized that my experience(s) with a handful of Christians had nothing to do with Christianity.
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My concern is for the people contemplating joining this toxic religion and the harm it almost certainly will bring upon them.
Christianity has over 2.3 billion members, under thousands of different denominations. Your experience with belonging to a handful of those "toxic" religions doesn't mean that ALL denominations are "toxic." Plus, I'm sure there are others who belong to the same "toxic" denomination you did, and I'm sure not all of them see their beliefs as "toxic."
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You only have to google "ex-Christians tell their stories" to hear some truly heart-wrenching testimony of how Christianity can and has wrecked people's lives.
You can also find stories about atheists or people from other religions and their decision to convert to Christianity...and how their lives are better for it.
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To gal's question "Do you hate all religions or just Christianity" I will say that that I don't know of any other religion that has been as brutal and has inflicted the kind of damage on civilization that Christianity has. Buddhism and B'hai and Hinduism and Confucianism havn't murdered and exterminated whole races the way Christianity has and some of them have been around much longer than Christianity.
Christianity is a perfect example of the axiom, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Are you forgetting that Christians have been persecuted and murdered since the days of Christ?
^The Red Cross has Swiss roots. The organization was begun by a Swiss businessman who came across the wounded after a battle and started an organization to help those injured in battle. It was not related to any church. He simply reversed the colors of the Swiss flag to form the emblem of his organization and give it a name.
Christianity just mirrors humanity. It has been used for good and used for harm. It's the people in the religion and how they interpret it through the prism of their own perspectives, not the religion itself, that helps or harms.
^The Red Cross has Swiss roots. The organization was begun by a Swiss businessman who came across the wounded after a battle and started an organization to help those injured in battle. It was not related to any church. He simply reversed the colors of the Swiss flag to form the emblem of his organization and give it a name.
Sorry. I should have been more specific and wrote "The American Red Cross."
Christianity just mirrors humanity. It has been used for good and used for harm. It's the people in the religion and how they interpret it through the prism of their own perspectives, not the religion itself, that helps or harms.
Can't rep you enough for this, MQ.
Anything can cause harm if misused, and religion is no different.
Christianity just mirrors humanity. It has been used for good and used for harm. It's the people in the religion and how they interpret it through the prism of their own perspectives, not the religion itself, that helps or harms.
That has been my observation thus far.
I very rarely, if ever, see true anti-christs.
The usual complaints are addressed to Christ's followers, and their organizations. Many of which I share.
The problem is not with Jesus.
It's all those pesky human beings and their groups that bug us, and have done some despicable things over the millenia.
Christianity just mirrors humanity. It has been used for good and used for harm. It's the people in the religion and how they interpret it through the prism of their own perspectives, not the religion itself, that helps or harms.
Yes. As I was reading Mink's as-usual all-pro-christianity post, it occurred to me that to give credit to christianity for all those accomplishments is a little short-sighted. Those same people, with or without christianity, may very well have done the same things for 'the good of the people'.
As a principal, when some parent would contribute money to the school, or do volunteer work at the school, etc., not one ever said, "I'm doing this for christianity". They did it because they were good citizens.
It's all those pesky human beings and their groups that bug us, and have done some despicable things over the millenia.
True - All humans have faults regardless of religious beliefs. There are bad Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Quakers, Hindus, Buddhist, Amish, etc. No one religion has perfect followers.
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