Magical Thinking Is Christianity’s Biggest Mistake

There are plenty of other mistakes as well

If I were asked to debate a flat-earther, Holocaust denier, or someone who is convinced the moon landings were faked, I would decline the invitation. Nor would I debate an astrologer, the local store-front medium who tells futures using a crystal ball, or anyone who believes in chem-trails. All of these folks have been groomed in one way or another, by various kooks and quacks. 

 

They haven’t done/ refuse to do /don’t know how to do the study/research to find out how wrong they are.

   

 

Then there are those who have been groomed to believe in ancient superstitions about a god who keeps a close watch on every person, and whose anger about human sin was modified by a human sacrifice—who, in fact, was this god’s only son, “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” (John 1:29) 

 

How can we get people to just say NO? This is pathetic magical thinking, that derives from the belief that killing an animal was a method for making a god less angry that you’ve done something wrong. This practice is on full view in the Old Testament. Check out the first chapter of Leviticus, vv. 4-5: 

 

“You shall lay your hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be acceptable on your behalf as atonement for you. The bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall offer the blood, dashing the blood against all sides of the altar…”

 

Before the Jerusalem temple was destroyed in 70 CE, this was still common practice, as we find in Jesus-script in Mark 1:44. After Jesus had healed a man with a skin disease, he ordered him: 

 “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.” 

 

This ancient superstition thrives today because there’s a huge bureaucracy dedicated to keeping it going, with one big change. The early Jesus cult was convinced that a single human sacrifice had replaced animal sacrifices. Among other things, this bureaucracy has been obsessed with building, and many of these structures are filled with splendid works of art, e.g., paintings, sculpture, stained glass—truly, wonders to behold. But the rituals practiced in these places of worship often represent the worst of ancient superstitions: drinking the blood and eating the flesh of the human sacrifice. Religion thriving on magic potions as well as magical thinking. (John 6:53-57) When I was growing up, this was communion—across town at the Catholic church it was the miracle of the Mass. It was naïvely accepted. We had been trained to be gullible.

 

Another example of Christian magical thinking: if the thoughts bouncing around in your head are the right thoughts—well, guess what: you win eternal life! Belief in Jesus happens to be one of those right thoughts, but woe to you if you’ve not been convinced: 

 

John 3:18: “Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

 

John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God’s wrath.”

 

Mark 16:16: “The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned.”

 

Romans 10:9: “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

 

In Meredith Wilson’s classic show, The Music Man, the con man professor Harold Hill was finally held accountable on his promise to teach the kids how to play the instruments he sold. Under duress, he takes the conductor’s podium, and pleads with those seated in front of him, holding their instruments: “Now, think men, think.” He has bragged about his Think System: if you think hard about the tune, it’ll just happen when you blow into the instrument. But the result is noise. 

 

Christian theology is a variation on the Think System: If you’ve got it in your head that Jesus is lord and savior, you’ll produce the perfect result—the most pleasing tune imaginable—salvation. Harold Hill’s version of magical thinking didn’t work. There is no reason whatever to suppose theology’s version actually does the trick.

 

The ecclesiastical bureaucracy employs professional apologists ( = excuse makers) who work hard to position these ancient superstition in a positive light, to make them appear intellectually respectable. Their task is especially difficult because (1) In our modern world—if you’re trying to make the case with people who think—magical thinking is hard to defend; (2) the theology of the New Testament is incoherent, i.e., there is so much disagreement in these documents about how to get right with god; (3) the supposed teachings of Jesus include so many quotes that are bad, mediocre, and alarming (here’s a list of 292 of them). Yes, there are Christians who seek to downplay human sacrifice, and ask people to focus on the wonderful life of Jesus, their great moral teacher. But when people actually read the gospels, the wonderful great moral teacher turns out to be pretty elusive.

 

Why do the apologists even try? For one thing, it’s how they make a living. But more critically, belief in Jesus is their way to secure eternal life: they want their think system to work. Hence the supreme effort to convince others as well as themselves. But to the extent that magical thinking survives and thrives, human well-being is in jeopardy. 

 

In my article here last week, I mentioned John’s Loftus’ high praise for Daniel Bastian’s 2013 essay, What Would Convince You? in which Bastian lists twenty reasons for not taking Christianity seriously. “Read 'em and weep Christians,” Loftus said, “Ya got nothing. You'll have to whine about something else from now on.”  Christianity is perfect storm of magical thinking, a giant mess of bad theology. Bastian’s essay is indeed essential homework. Study it carefully, ponder all of the issues he describes in detail.

 

Consider especially his issue Number 11: Infant Mortality Rates. This alone is a fatal blow to theism. How can it possibly be argued that god is paying attention to what’s going on? So much heartache for parents throughout millennia. God couldn’t be bothered? Bastian points out:

 

“Two hundred years ago, there was a 50 percent chance of your child not surviving past its first year. By 1850, IMR for babies born in America was 217 per 1,000 for whites and 340 for African Americans. By 1950, global IMR was down to 152 per 1,000 babies born (15.2 percent). 

“It is thanks to advancements in medicine and biomedical science that these numbers have been reduced to 4.3 percent today and continue to fall…New life is still shuttered at staggering rates across the third world from malnutrition, infectious diseases, and a miscellany of genetic factors. One can only imagine how high these numbers have climbed historically, prior to when these types of records were kept. Salvation of these newborns has clearly been delivered by the hands of science, not by any god or goddess.”

Tim Sledge, in his book, Four Disturbing Questions, with One Simple Answer: Breaking the Spell of Christian Belief, has a chapter titled, “The Germ Warfare Question.” How can believers not be stumped that, in a thousand-age book of revealed truths, the god who supposedly inspired it decided it was okay not to mention germs? Instead of the tedious book of Leviticus, why not a long lesson on how to detect and fight germs? Sledge notes the irony: “Not only did Jesus fail to mention germs, but he steered his listeners in the wrong direction when he told him not to worry about washing their hands” (p. 41). And Jesus healed a blind man by smearing mud on the guy’s eyes. Yet another example of magical folklore—and shame on god for presenting this as a way to cure blindness.     

In his issue Number 17, Bastian notes a major flaw in the argument that the Bible qualifies as the word of God:

 

“Most Christians assume their nicely printed and bound book, conveniently translated into modern English idiom, contains the pure, unvarnished words passed down from their time of origin. This could not be further from the truth…What survives are copies of the originals several centuries removed from their point of provenance…these texts have been edited, revised, and redacted down through the centuries, often by way of mistake but also for theological and political motives…If God deemed it prudent to deliver us a textbook of instruction, then why was the same care not taken in preserving it for us?”

Save the link to Bastian’s essay, keep it handy to pass on to devout folks who show a willingness to study and learn. He ends with an appropriate summary of the twenty issues he describes:

“A god that has made itself impossible to detect—that, indeed, has ostensibly crafted a universe using processes indistinguishable from nature itself—and neglected to act on our behalf when and where such intercession was most desperately needed, undercuts our expectations of a cosmos governed by a benevolent watchman.” 

 

 

David Madison was a pastor in the Methodist Church for nine years, and has a PhD in Biblical Studies from Boston University. He is the author of two books, Guessing About God, Volume 1 of Ten Tough Problems in Christian Belief  (2023) and Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also now available. 

 

His YouTube channel is here. He has written for the Debunking Christianity Blog since 2016.

 

The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.