You may be wondering, "Is this going to be a rant?" And, it may very well end up being just that. I'm getting a little fed up with some of the things I'm seeing coming from the Christian Right these days, and it's time someone called a spade a spade. Here are a couple examples of the impetus for this blog post:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/05/16367336-this-week-in-god?lite
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barton-hate-virtue-and-were-going-be-intolerant-liberalism
Then, I saw this Facebook meme, courtesy of Vickie Lesperance:
As the title of this blog post suggests, I believe strongly that Christianity is an actual plague upon the human race.
A plague is defined as "A widespread affliction or calamity. 2. A destructive influx or injurious outbreak." And this, my friends, is exactly what Christianity has done to the world.
In its 2,000+ year history, it is responsible for the deaths of millions of people, indigenous cultures, species and peace in nearly every region of the world.
Definition of evil: "Profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, esp. when regarded as a supernatural force."
Definition of immoral:"violating moral principles; not conforming to the patterns of conduct usually accepted or established as consistent with principles of personal and social ethics."
In our society as a whole, we consider slavery, misogyny, child abuse, murder, genocide, animal abuse, human trafficking, rape, torture, etc... immoral. Remember that as you read further.
The god of their bible is the most evil, immature, tantrum-throwing being to ever inflict itself upon humanity. This is not a god of love. This is a god (in both old and new testaments) that condones, advocates and even orders slavery, misogyny, genocide, herbicide, rape, torture, war, and destruction. This is not a god who is pro-life, either. He advocates or orders abortion (Hosea 9, 13; Numbers 5, 31; 2 Kings 15) and infanticide (1 Sam 15, Psalms 135, 137). He sets us up for failure, then punishes them for that failure. It's a no-win situation for a human.
The claim then is that Jesus was the answer to all humanity's problems with god. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Jesus ever existed, but if he did, he was certainly not the messiah that the Jewish people were looking for. He did not meet those qualifications, and yet Christians not only claim he lived and died, but that he was resurrected and that you have to believe in him to get to heaven to be with this evil being they call "God".
This same god is the one who claims "I am God. I do not change"(Malachi 3:6). He also is quoted as having said that his covenant with the Jewish people would never go away(Exodus 19). Christians ignore all that and just stick to their Jesus, whom they claim is so loving and kind and good. and we should just ignore the Old Testament.
Jesus was just as bad as "God".. the violent nature is evident in the New Testament as well. Jesus advocated beating slaves, turning families against each other, and blatantly stated that he did not come to bring peace to the world (Prince of Peace? um, nope), but a sword (symbol of war). He also liked playing with people's minds, in that he spoke in parables "lest..they..should understand.. and be converted." He was also tantrumic.. he cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season, threw a fit on the "money changers" at the temple, destroying their businesses, even though he'd grown up with them being there his whole life. He killed off 2000 pigs by sending demons into them, even though he could have simply told the demons to leave and they would have. Animal cruelty much? And in Luke 12:47, he completely advocates not only slavery, but beating slaves as well.
Now, there are Christians out there who will say you can't take the bible literally. Yet, the bible itself is pretty clear that you either have to or else. (Matt 5:18, 2 Timothy 3:16, John 7:19, John 1:17, John 10:35)
I could go on, but as I told Vickie, I'd have to write a book about this to get it all in. The above are just a few examples of the evils of the bible and that god. So, there's your foundation for the sickness. Let's look at the symptoms:
1. Total intolerance for other beliefs (and this is in their bible as well: Exodus 22:20, Deut. 13:6-10, Deut. 13: 12-16, 17, 18, Mark 6:11, Jude 5, 2 John 1-10, Romans 16:17, Colossians 2:8, 1John 2:22, 2John 1:7, Hebrews 3:12, Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, Philippians 2:10, Romans 8:33)
Modern day examples are the links above, WBC, Pat Robertson, Mel Gibson, (and the list goes on)
2. Sense of "I'm-better-than-you". This comes from the 1-2-3 pray after me and you'll have your free ticket to heaven; also known as fire insurance, or the belief that one is born a Christian (see Catholicism). If I'm a "believer", then I'm going to heaven and you're not so I'm totally better than you, although I'm going to use words like "I'll pray for you" when lording it over you or "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" even though my tone and body language tell you volumes about how much I really don't believe that I'm not more special than you. Condescension in tone and words when speaking to "non-believers".
3. Refusing to accept facts and reason. Science is discarded, disparaged and scoffed at; common sense is thrown out the window in favor of whatever the bible's tenets, their pastor/minister/preacher/bishop, or God himself "tells" them. Faith requires suspension of reason and fact in order to believe what bronze age men who lived in tents wrote and revised over hundreds of years.
4. The belief that men are to dominate the planet and have no regard whatsoever for animals, trees, ecology, climate change, etc... Jesus will just come back and make it all better someday. (see also #3)
5. Perpetuation of lies and distortions about the beliefs of others in order to demonize them and justify the torture, murder, denial of rights to and legislation against the adherents.
6. Complete lack of self-esteem and esteem in humanity itself. All good is attributed to God, while we ourselves are born evil and can do nothing good without God.
7. Vying for position within the inner sanctum of the church. This is prevalent within Christianity, and is usually not seen by the non-Christian. There is always an inner circle within each church- those people who are closest to the pastor/preacher/minister/bishop/deacons etc.. and are considered the most reliable, pious, etc.. of course, this fosters gossip, back-biting, holier-than-thou attitudes within the congregations, etc... it serves to perpetuate #2 symptom and sets the example that is passed on to the younger generations within the congregation.
These symptoms lead (and have led) to the most wide-spread destruction of life, property, culture and dignity in the history of humankind.
Examples include but are not limited to: The Crusades, the Inquisition, Holocaust (yes, Hitler was a Christian on a mission from God), destruction of indigenous cultures through wars and "missions", and the suppression of the rights of others, etc...
This infection also leads to actions such as attempts to legislate religion into secular societies such as The United States (anti-abortion legislation, anti-LGBT legislation, prior legislation against blacks, new legislation against latinos and hispanics, anti-women's rights bills, etc...) and an entire campaign to discredit the first black President of the United States. Laws being enacted to change curricula in schools, so they no longer teach facts, correct history or science, but the Christian belief instead.
Many of us have suffered from this illness. It is easily spread, especially among young people and those with low self-esteem. Once cured, it is nearly impossible to be re-infected. The only way to inoculate against it is to teach children at a young age to think for themselves, question everything and love themselves and their fellow creatures (not just humans).
Christianity is evil, by all acceptable standards of society. We tend to focus on Islam and some even will point out that the Old Testament (Tanakh) is Jewish and therefore Judaism is evil. I believe that Judaism is probably the most innocuous of the three, however, they all lay claim to the same god, and that god IS evil.
Islam is not any more peaceful than Judaism or Christianity. All of them have those within them that are zealots (those who have become so infected that they are a danger to themselves and society), however, the symptoms and results are undeniable.
You may argue that it is simply fundamentalism that is our problem here. However, the tenets of these beliefs are not a smorgasbord. It isn't pick-and-choose what you want and then just go do that. The god of these belief-systems is evil- plain and simple. The Bible, Koran and Talmud all have very destructive principles in them. Kill the non-believer is in all of them. Treat those that don't believe as you do as sub-human or force them to convert. Also: See Symptoms. This god's adherents suffer from them and perpetuate them. Not just the fundies, folks.
Jesus is quoted as having said some really pretty things. You then have to throw out his other statements as well, and that means you either don't believe he was accurately portrayed (making the bible errant) or you choose to stick your head in the sand (see symptom #3) and only believe what you want to about this alleged god-man-savior. That means you're glossing it over so you can find some "good' in him.
Doing so modifies the virus and therefore becomes a different belief system all together. It's why I'm never too hard on Christo-Pagans/Wiccans, because they're just creating a belief that works for them, and changing things up to make them fit what they want it to be.. heck, that's what most Christians today do anyway (see symptoms). Just don't tell me how the bible says, or that I'm born a sinner or that Jesus died to save me, because if you're going to tell me all of that, then you have to take the rest of that stuff seriously too; and you're infected.
If you're just hedging your bet in case the bible is right and you're worried about going to hell, then you're using Pascal's Wager and I can refute that one easily (but that's for another blog post, another time).
While I am not a fan of the tenets of the big 3, Christianity is by far the worst culprit of them all to date. Its history is nothing short of a holocaust and is still the most dangerous in the Western world. Islam is on the rise in this area, but has nowhere near the bloody history of Christianity.
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?" ~ John Adams
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." ~Thomas Jefferson
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."~ Thomas Paine
"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."~ Abraham Lincoln
I am fed up with seeing, hearing and experiencing the "morality" of Christianity. It's time we stand up and call it for the evil that it is. It has ruined too many lives and cultures for us to remain silent any longer. It is an evil plague that needs to be eradicated. Inoculate yourselves and your children and stand up against those who are infected. Do this with reason, morality and compassion, and we may yet find ourselves rid of this cancer someday.
If this seems harsh to you and not "bridge-building", so be it. Especially in America, we find ourselves becoming more and more aware of the dangers of closed-minded thinking, dirty politics played out by Christians in particular, attempted suppression in the name of God/Jesus; if we don't speak out, we'll find ourselves suppressed and destroyed by this evil plague.
For too long, Pagans, Heathens, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Atheists have been portrayed as amoral or immoral people; all the while, Christianity and its destructive, sinister tenets have laid waste to our humanity and our planet under the auspices of 'morality'.
If I can be more compassionate, moral and mature than your God, he does not deserve my worship nor do I have respect for your belief in such an evil being. If you want to worship him, do so in the privacy of your own home, and do not attempt to push him or your evil ways on me, my family or my fellow world citizens. Your idea of moral is beyond comprehension, and is no longer acceptable to the rest of us. And, we're not going to accept your labeling us as evil, immoral and not worthy of your god any longer. It's time to recognize this sickness for what it is, and cure the world of this disease. Maybe then we can work on the things that are truly important and constructive to ourselves and generations to come.
"The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals." ~Christopher Hitchens
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/01/05/16367336-this-week-in-god?lite
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/barton-hate-virtue-and-were-going-be-intolerant-liberalism
Then, I saw this Facebook meme, courtesy of Vickie Lesperance:
As the title of this blog post suggests, I believe strongly that Christianity is an actual plague upon the human race.
A plague is defined as "A widespread affliction or calamity. 2. A destructive influx or injurious outbreak." And this, my friends, is exactly what Christianity has done to the world.
In its 2,000+ year history, it is responsible for the deaths of millions of people, indigenous cultures, species and peace in nearly every region of the world.
Definition of evil: "Profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, esp. when regarded as a supernatural force."
Definition of immoral:"violating moral principles; not conforming to the patterns of conduct usually accepted or established as consistent with principles of personal and social ethics."
In our society as a whole, we consider slavery, misogyny, child abuse, murder, genocide, animal abuse, human trafficking, rape, torture, etc... immoral. Remember that as you read further.
The god of their bible is the most evil, immature, tantrum-throwing being to ever inflict itself upon humanity. This is not a god of love. This is a god (in both old and new testaments) that condones, advocates and even orders slavery, misogyny, genocide, herbicide, rape, torture, war, and destruction. This is not a god who is pro-life, either. He advocates or orders abortion (Hosea 9, 13; Numbers 5, 31; 2 Kings 15) and infanticide (1 Sam 15, Psalms 135, 137). He sets us up for failure, then punishes them for that failure. It's a no-win situation for a human.
The claim then is that Jesus was the answer to all humanity's problems with god. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Jesus ever existed, but if he did, he was certainly not the messiah that the Jewish people were looking for. He did not meet those qualifications, and yet Christians not only claim he lived and died, but that he was resurrected and that you have to believe in him to get to heaven to be with this evil being they call "God".
This same god is the one who claims "I am God. I do not change"(Malachi 3:6). He also is quoted as having said that his covenant with the Jewish people would never go away(Exodus 19). Christians ignore all that and just stick to their Jesus, whom they claim is so loving and kind and good. and we should just ignore the Old Testament.
Jesus was just as bad as "God".. the violent nature is evident in the New Testament as well. Jesus advocated beating slaves, turning families against each other, and blatantly stated that he did not come to bring peace to the world (Prince of Peace? um, nope), but a sword (symbol of war). He also liked playing with people's minds, in that he spoke in parables "lest..they..should understand.. and be converted." He was also tantrumic.. he cursed a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season, threw a fit on the "money changers" at the temple, destroying their businesses, even though he'd grown up with them being there his whole life. He killed off 2000 pigs by sending demons into them, even though he could have simply told the demons to leave and they would have. Animal cruelty much? And in Luke 12:47, he completely advocates not only slavery, but beating slaves as well.
Now, there are Christians out there who will say you can't take the bible literally. Yet, the bible itself is pretty clear that you either have to or else. (Matt 5:18, 2 Timothy 3:16, John 7:19, John 1:17, John 10:35)
I could go on, but as I told Vickie, I'd have to write a book about this to get it all in. The above are just a few examples of the evils of the bible and that god. So, there's your foundation for the sickness. Let's look at the symptoms:
1. Total intolerance for other beliefs (and this is in their bible as well: Exodus 22:20, Deut. 13:6-10, Deut. 13: 12-16, 17, 18, Mark 6:11, Jude 5, 2 John 1-10, Romans 16:17, Colossians 2:8, 1John 2:22, 2John 1:7, Hebrews 3:12, Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, Philippians 2:10, Romans 8:33)
Modern day examples are the links above, WBC, Pat Robertson, Mel Gibson, (and the list goes on)
2. Sense of "I'm-better-than-you". This comes from the 1-2-3 pray after me and you'll have your free ticket to heaven; also known as fire insurance, or the belief that one is born a Christian (see Catholicism). If I'm a "believer", then I'm going to heaven and you're not so I'm totally better than you, although I'm going to use words like "I'll pray for you" when lording it over you or "I'm just a sinner saved by grace" even though my tone and body language tell you volumes about how much I really don't believe that I'm not more special than you. Condescension in tone and words when speaking to "non-believers".
3. Refusing to accept facts and reason. Science is discarded, disparaged and scoffed at; common sense is thrown out the window in favor of whatever the bible's tenets, their pastor/minister/preacher/bishop, or God himself "tells" them. Faith requires suspension of reason and fact in order to believe what bronze age men who lived in tents wrote and revised over hundreds of years.
4. The belief that men are to dominate the planet and have no regard whatsoever for animals, trees, ecology, climate change, etc... Jesus will just come back and make it all better someday. (see also #3)
5. Perpetuation of lies and distortions about the beliefs of others in order to demonize them and justify the torture, murder, denial of rights to and legislation against the adherents.
6. Complete lack of self-esteem and esteem in humanity itself. All good is attributed to God, while we ourselves are born evil and can do nothing good without God.
7. Vying for position within the inner sanctum of the church. This is prevalent within Christianity, and is usually not seen by the non-Christian. There is always an inner circle within each church- those people who are closest to the pastor/preacher/minister/bishop/deacons etc.. and are considered the most reliable, pious, etc.. of course, this fosters gossip, back-biting, holier-than-thou attitudes within the congregations, etc... it serves to perpetuate #2 symptom and sets the example that is passed on to the younger generations within the congregation.
These symptoms lead (and have led) to the most wide-spread destruction of life, property, culture and dignity in the history of humankind.
Examples include but are not limited to: The Crusades, the Inquisition, Holocaust (yes, Hitler was a Christian on a mission from God), destruction of indigenous cultures through wars and "missions", and the suppression of the rights of others, etc...
This infection also leads to actions such as attempts to legislate religion into secular societies such as The United States (anti-abortion legislation, anti-LGBT legislation, prior legislation against blacks, new legislation against latinos and hispanics, anti-women's rights bills, etc...) and an entire campaign to discredit the first black President of the United States. Laws being enacted to change curricula in schools, so they no longer teach facts, correct history or science, but the Christian belief instead.
Many of us have suffered from this illness. It is easily spread, especially among young people and those with low self-esteem. Once cured, it is nearly impossible to be re-infected. The only way to inoculate against it is to teach children at a young age to think for themselves, question everything and love themselves and their fellow creatures (not just humans).
Christianity is evil, by all acceptable standards of society. We tend to focus on Islam and some even will point out that the Old Testament (Tanakh) is Jewish and therefore Judaism is evil. I believe that Judaism is probably the most innocuous of the three, however, they all lay claim to the same god, and that god IS evil.
Islam is not any more peaceful than Judaism or Christianity. All of them have those within them that are zealots (those who have become so infected that they are a danger to themselves and society), however, the symptoms and results are undeniable.
You may argue that it is simply fundamentalism that is our problem here. However, the tenets of these beliefs are not a smorgasbord. It isn't pick-and-choose what you want and then just go do that. The god of these belief-systems is evil- plain and simple. The Bible, Koran and Talmud all have very destructive principles in them. Kill the non-believer is in all of them. Treat those that don't believe as you do as sub-human or force them to convert. Also: See Symptoms. This god's adherents suffer from them and perpetuate them. Not just the fundies, folks.
Jesus is quoted as having said some really pretty things. You then have to throw out his other statements as well, and that means you either don't believe he was accurately portrayed (making the bible errant) or you choose to stick your head in the sand (see symptom #3) and only believe what you want to about this alleged god-man-savior. That means you're glossing it over so you can find some "good' in him.
Doing so modifies the virus and therefore becomes a different belief system all together. It's why I'm never too hard on Christo-Pagans/Wiccans, because they're just creating a belief that works for them, and changing things up to make them fit what they want it to be.. heck, that's what most Christians today do anyway (see symptoms). Just don't tell me how the bible says, or that I'm born a sinner or that Jesus died to save me, because if you're going to tell me all of that, then you have to take the rest of that stuff seriously too; and you're infected.
If you're just hedging your bet in case the bible is right and you're worried about going to hell, then you're using Pascal's Wager and I can refute that one easily (but that's for another blog post, another time).
While I am not a fan of the tenets of the big 3, Christianity is by far the worst culprit of them all to date. Its history is nothing short of a holocaust and is still the most dangerous in the Western world. Islam is on the rise in this area, but has nowhere near the bloody history of Christianity.
"As I understand the Christian religion, it was, and is, a revelation. But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed?" ~ John Adams
"Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." ~Thomas Jefferson
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."~ Thomas Paine
"The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession."~ Abraham Lincoln
I am fed up with seeing, hearing and experiencing the "morality" of Christianity. It's time we stand up and call it for the evil that it is. It has ruined too many lives and cultures for us to remain silent any longer. It is an evil plague that needs to be eradicated. Inoculate yourselves and your children and stand up against those who are infected. Do this with reason, morality and compassion, and we may yet find ourselves rid of this cancer someday.
If this seems harsh to you and not "bridge-building", so be it. Especially in America, we find ourselves becoming more and more aware of the dangers of closed-minded thinking, dirty politics played out by Christians in particular, attempted suppression in the name of God/Jesus; if we don't speak out, we'll find ourselves suppressed and destroyed by this evil plague.
For too long, Pagans, Heathens, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus and Atheists have been portrayed as amoral or immoral people; all the while, Christianity and its destructive, sinister tenets have laid waste to our humanity and our planet under the auspices of 'morality'.
If I can be more compassionate, moral and mature than your God, he does not deserve my worship nor do I have respect for your belief in such an evil being. If you want to worship him, do so in the privacy of your own home, and do not attempt to push him or your evil ways on me, my family or my fellow world citizens. Your idea of moral is beyond comprehension, and is no longer acceptable to the rest of us. And, we're not going to accept your labeling us as evil, immoral and not worthy of your god any longer. It's time to recognize this sickness for what it is, and cure the world of this disease. Maybe then we can work on the things that are truly important and constructive to ourselves and generations to come.
"The Bible may, indeed does, contain a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre, but we are not bound by any of it because it was put together by crude, uncultured human mammals." ~Christopher Hitchens