Why Do You Hate Christianity? Here's My Answer

I was asked this question in a recent comment, and I do believe some discussion is warranted. Maybe I will even be able to use this post to answer the question the next time it is asked.

To begin, let's agree that "hate" and "disagree with" are not the same thing. I can disagree with you but still respect, like, or even love you. Disagreement with someone's beliefs and/or opposition to one's agenda should not automatically imply hatred of anything or anyone.

With that behind us, I do disagree with Christianity and all other forms of religious belief. Why? I'll pick one of many reasons for this short post. All the major religions claim that supernatural entities exist. However, we have no evidence whatsoever that these things exist. Not one shred. Thus, reason, intellect, science, and even common sense lead me to conclude that there are likely no gods, demons, angels, ghosts, or supernatural entities of any kind. If the existence of any of these beings is conclusively established in the future, I will gladly admit I am wrong. Until then, I will continue to base my worldview on the available evidence.

History Lessons the Christian Right Doesn't Want You to Know

In this brief post, I will present 3 important examples of the impact of Christianity in the United States that the contemporary Christian right does not want you to remember. I have selected these examples out of many possible choices because they represent important chapters in American history in which secular Americans played a role. In addition, they can be validated from newspaper articles, books, and sermons (yes, sermons) published at the time each event was happening. Thus, they each help to highlight that much of the revisionist history presented by the modern Christian right is ludicrous.

1. The majority of American Christians opposed the abolition of slavery, defended it as the will of their god, and justified it with their bible.

The more conservative they were in their Christian beliefs, the stronger was their opposition to abolition. What does that tell us? Do you think it might reveal something about Christianity, or at least conservative Christianity? I'd say so.

2. The majority of American Christians opposed suffrage.

Again, they used their bibles to argue that women should not have the right to vote. And again, the more conservative they were in their religious beliefs, the more vehement their opposition. A pattern is emerging here.

The History Channel on Hell and the Devil

Detail of work Heaven and Hell including Devil/Dragon (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I'm watching the History Channel again because they are showing a special called Hell: The Devil's Domain, which I couldn't resist. It turned out to be very interesting. So many thoughts...

According to the scholars (and I use the term somewhat loosely here), the Christian bible actually doesn't say much about hell. The clearest notion appears to be that hell is a state of separation from the invisible superman in the sky.

The show makes it quite clear that the modern images of the devil and hell with which we are all familiar were invented well after the time of the bible as a tool for the church to recruit followers. They talk about the early church finding symbolic references to the devil in the bible, even where he had not really been mentioned. Although hell and the devil were not mentioned all that frequently in the bible, their images came to dominate Christian art during the middle ages. The church even used these images as a way to demonize their opponents (e.g., Jews, Muslims, etc.). Thus, we see the intolerance for which Christians are so well known reflected in their art.

Introducing Atheist Revolution

Well, you did it. I don't know how you did it, but you did it. What did you do? You somehow managed to find the first post every written at Atheist Revolution, one of the few atheist blogs that has been active since early 2005. Yes, that seems like a long time to me too.

Atheists are one of the few groups left in the United States that is both socially acceptable and politically required to oppose. Bigotry against atheists is widespread, and it seems that our politicians must proclaim their Christian faith and disparage those of us who do not share it in order to have any hope of being elected. At least, it is difficult to imagine a candidate who was openly critical of religious belief attaining political office.

President George W. Bush continues to push his "faith-based initiatives" and to oppose both reproductive rights and same-sex marriage on sectarian religious grounds. He has made it about as clear as can be that he bases his policy decisions on his Christian beliefs. There can be no question that the Christian right has a political agenda and that it has accomplished much of what they want.

In a 1991 fundraising letter, noted Christian extremist Pat Robertson wrote:

We at the Christian Coalition are raising an army who cares. We are training people to be effective -- to be elected to school boards, to city councils, to state legislatures, and to key positions in political parties.... By the end of this decade, if we work and give and organize and train, THE CHRISTIAN COALITION WILL BE THE MOST POWERFUL POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN AMERICA.