When I studied at Harvard Divinity School, Master of Divinity ’93, it became evident that our old religions — all part of our very early efforts to understand and cope with the withering and unrelenting demands of life — are products of the infancy of our intelligence. The historical context and the ancient mindsets that produced these belief systems are abundantly evident.
The stories are false, nonsensical, and absurd. The problem is that the people in the pews have been and continue to be lied to.
As a consequence, antiquated, divisive, and dysfunctional supernatural religious beliefs have billions of people today living in a world of fiction and fantasy and are, unequivocally, a glaring impediment to human progress.
Religion is a form of coercion. Followers who are seduced with intoxicating stories — fiction, claimed to be factual — are convinced to follow rules and theatrical rituals embellished with music and costumes, and contribute monetarily to organizations whose leaders grow in power and influence.
Using fear of an invisible, supernatural being, Christianity —like other religions — has conned millions into paying into their organization in exchange for the myth of a better state of being in a non-existent afterlife. For millennia, the Church has gotten away with these crimes. It’s an extraordinary scam.
While widespread Christian clergy sexual abuse has been exposed and is firmly in the public conscience, a much larger problem with Christianity remains unaddressed. For nearly 2000 years, Christian fiction and dogma have been leveraged to falsely claim an illegitimate authority that has exploited and damaged untold lives. This “authority” is what enabled predator priests to occupy trust positions that gave them easy access to sexually abuse their victims.
It is Time
It is time that the fiction that has enabled Christianity — and continues to enable it — to claim authority and exploit people be exposed as gross malfeasance that has caused and continues to cause damage, division, and untold suffering.
“If the resurrection of Jesus cannot be believed except by assenting to the fantastic descriptions included in the Gospels, then Christianity is doomed. For that view of resurrection is not believable, and if that is all there is, then Christianity, which depends upon the truth and authenticity of Jesus’ resurrection, also is not believable.” Bishop John Selby Spong, Resurrection: Myth or Reality
- Christianity is not about the promulgation of “faith”; it’s about the perpetuation of deception for power and gain.
- It is not a belief system that explains life. After all, where in the Bible is there an explanation of evolution or the origin and structure of the universe?
- A product of its time, Christianity is a human-created, self-serving business similar to other toxic dinosaurs like tobacco and the fossil fuel industry that insidiously terminate human health, sustainability, and advancement.
Stock Stories
”Many of the stories about Jesus contained in these ancient documents (Gospels, canonical and not) were tales commonly applied to mythical figures and heroes of the time. They were stock stories told to convert people to Jesus.” The Reverend Charles Kannengiesser, former Chair in Theology at the University of Notre Dame
Christians and other religionists love nothing more than to implant — indoctrinate/brainwash — absurd dogma into the minds of young children. And what is “dogma?” It’s an arrogant assertion that one’s ideas and opinions are factual without evidence. It’s derived typically from supernatural sources and divine revelation. And what is “divine revelation?” It’s communicating with “gods” and other “supernatural entities.” Who communicates with gods!? Priests and priestesses who invented themselves and continue to do so today.
Despite that it is common knowledge among many religious scholars that Christianity is based on a phony story, the religion continues to perpetuate nonsense, mislead people and take their money, promise false hope, and influence politics to promote its own agenda.
Historical Horrors
Christianity’s fallaciously derived “authority” has enabled it historically to destroy many indigenous populations (genocides) in the most atrocious manners (rape, torture, enslavement, murder); force assimilation of Native peoples; destroy cultures; sever families; engage in Inquisition-related executions (Spanish, Portuguese, Mexican, Roman); carry on religious wars; imprison, torture, hang, burn, and behead “witches;” force conversion to Christianity; support slavery; and surreptitiously embed itself into political institutions.
- It is time that all Christian lies be exposed. Let the people in the pews know the truth of how they have been deceived for more than two millennia.
- Those who continue to perpetuate this injustice and associated behavior must be stopped.
- Let Christianity be measured and judged by its own bible, Proverbs 19.5: “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”
Perpetrators of Christianity should be forced to make reparations for — but not limited to — soliciting and collecting money and demanding servitude based on a false story; for discrimination against women and LGBTQ+ communities; for the perpetuation of ignorance and cycles of hatred; for psychological damage; for hindering humanity’s mental progress and, thus the quality of human lives, health, and environment; and for religious and political violence driven by false religious stories.
Every day, an avalanche of Christian nonsense is broadcast via television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and the internet. Further, the profitable Christian film industry regularly produces and distributes movies based on the false Christian story to people who believe it to be truthful. It’s ludicrous.
If this antiquated and divisive religious drivel is not challenged and dismissed, an endangered humanity beset with complex and unprecedented problems — a humanity that begs to evolve and urgently get grounded in reality — will continue to be restrained, misguided and, eventually, destroyed by the ignorance associated with this primitive supernatural nonsense.