Horrible harms done by belief in Jesus
In my article of the same title, published here 22 November 2024, I described several ways in which the devout churchgoers manage to ignore basic realities that put their faith in huge jeopardy. Now I want to focus on one of the most damaging aspects of Christian history: the horrible outcomes of being devoted to, obsessed with, Jesus. Especially after the church achieved political power. Let’s look at a few of the consequences, a few of the things that the devout should work hard to bring within their horizons of awareness.
Please study Anti-Semitism
Love your neighbor has commonly not applied to Jews, and blame for this prejudice can be found in the New Testament. We find the story of Barabbas in Mark 15, Matthew 27, and Luke 23. That is, the crowd—egged on by the priests—begs Pilate for the release of the criminal Barabbas instead of Jesus—and Pilate yields, handing Jesus over to be beaten and crucified. Matthew added text not found in Mark (and Luke did the same):
“So when Pilate saw that he could do nothing but rather that a riot was beginning, he took some water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, ‘I am innocent of this man’s blood, see to it yourselves.’ Then the people as a whole answered, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’ So he released Barabbas for them, and after flogging Jesus he handed him over to be crucified.” (vv. 24-26)
Historians who specialize in this era have noted that Pilate would have done no such thing, that is, release a dangerous criminal—or washed his hands to absolve himself of guilt. But here’s the sentence that has caused so much harm and suffering: “His blood be on us and on our children!”
An even more destructive text is found in John’s gospel, presented as Jesus-script. In chapter 8 Jesus is arguing with Jews, and declares, “Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot accept my word. You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father’s desires.” (vv. 43-44) Hector Avalos has pointed out that this verse ended up on Nazi street signs. (p. 378, Kindle, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails, edited by John Loftus) There can be little doubt that these verses also fueled the virulent anti-Semitism of Martin Luther, who recommended that Jewish homes and synagogues be burned, and Jews themselves be persecuted.
The oblivious devout seem not to notice, by the way, that these harmful texts cannot be verified. The gospels writers do not cite their sources—no surprise there, since they were not historians. They wrote to promote their Jesus cult, which was a breakaway Jewish sect. Hence it’s also no surprise that they vilified the parent religion, condemning it for not worshipping Jesus as they did. I say that the gospel writers were not historians because their focus was promoting their own theological agendas. Devout and secular scholars have been analyzing the gospels for a long time, and aside from fundamentalist and evangelical scholars whose minds are paralyzed in the faith mode, they know the major problems in trying to identify any precious bits of history that the gospels may preserve.
Please study the Crusades
A good place to start is the Wikipedia article, which cites an abundance of sources. Powerful Christians in Europe wanted to end Muslim control of Jerusalem, so what better way than campaigns of terrorism? The Wikipedia article describes many other crusades as well. Anti-Semitism was thriving, as this excerpt illustrates:
“…the French priest Peter the Hermit gathered thousands of mostly poor in the People's Crusade. Traveling through Germany, German bands massacred Jewish communities in the Rhineland massacres during wide-ranging anti-Jewish activities. Jews were perceived to be as much an enemy as Muslims. They were held responsible for the Crucifixion, and were more immediately visible. People wondered why they should travel thousands of miles to fight non-believers when there were many closer to home.”
In Luke 12:49-52 we find this Jesus-script:
“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three…”
The crusaders seem to have been inspired far more by this text than by love your neighbor.
Please study the Thirty Years War
Again, start with the Wikipedia article, which opens with this statement:
“The Thirty Years' War, from 1618 to 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease, while parts of Germany reported population declines of over 50%... The war can be seen as a continuation of the religious conflict initiated by the 16th-century Reformation within the Holy Roman Empire.”
Belief in Jesus was setting the world on fire. John Loftus has stated the case bluntly:
“The Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) was one of the most destructive wars in European history that pitted Christians against each other. This war was fought primarily in Germany, but other countries got involved as well. Roman Catholicism and Protestant Calvinism figured prominently in the opposing sides of this conflict. So great was the loss of life from this war that estimates show one-third of the entire population of the Germany was killed…We're talking about a Christian bloodbath.” (Kindle, pp. 193-194, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails)
Please study the Taiping Rebellion
We can thank zealous Christian missionaries for this one. In the Wikipedia article, we learn than 20 to 30 million people died. “The uprising was led by Hong Xiuquan, an ethnic Hakka who had proclaimed himself to be the brother of Jesus Christ. Hong sought the religious conversion of the Han people to his syncretic version of Christianity.” The Christian god failed to set up a Supreme Court to decide which version of the faith is the right one, hence there are well more than 30,000 conflicting Christian brands today.
Please study the American Civil War
There are many deficiencies in the Ten Commandments, among the most glaring omissions: Thou shalt not fight wars, and Thou shalt not own slaves. Thus Americans fought each other in the Civil War; many detested slavery, others were committed to preserving it. The war lasted four years, with over a million deaths due to fighting and disease. Most combatants and civilians would have said they had Jesus on their side.
Please study the origins of Fundamentalism
The Wikipedia article provides this information:
“In 1910, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church identified what became known as the five fundamentals:
· Biblical inspiration and the infallibility of scripture as a result of this
· Virgin birth of Jesus
· Belief that Christ's death was the atonement for sin
· Bodily resurrection of Jesus
· Historical reality of the miracles of Jesus
In 1920, the word 'fundamentalist' was first used in print by Curtis Lee Laws, editor of The Watchman Examiner, a Baptist newspaper. Laws proposed that those Christians who were fighting for the fundamentals of the faith should be called 'fundamentalists'".
So just over a century ago, the line was drawn in the sand. Fundamentalists were committed to resisting the advances in science that allow us to understand how our world and cosmos work. Not one of the five points listed above has reliable, verifiable, objective evidence to back it up. Aggressive and arrogant ignorance were given the stamp of approval.
Humanity is not better off because reality is denied.
John Loftus has summed up pretty well the point I’m stressing here. He wrote this in an article posted 16 December 2020: “The history of the church and of the people claiming to have God the Holy Spirit inside them reveals a continuous spectacle of atrocities, such that its history is a damning indictment upon the god they profess to believe. Why can't God do any better than that?”
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, Ten Tough Problems in Christian Thought and Belief: a Minister-Turned-Atheist Shows Why You Should Ditch the Faith, now being reissued in several volumes, the first of which is Guessing About God (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. At the invitation of John Loftus, 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.
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