Criticism of Christianity

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Throughout the history of Christianity, a wide range of Christians and non-Christians alike have offered criticisms of Christianity, the Church, and Christians themselves. Christians have responded to many of these criticisms, partially through the field of Christian apologetics. Other criticism addresses the Christian teachings specifically and concerns interpretations and dogmas related to Christianity.

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Contents 1 Within Christianity 2 Compatibility with science 3 Ethics 3.1 Slavery 3.2 Eurocentrism 3.3 Christianity and women 3.4 Christianity and Politics 3.5 Christianity and Violence 4 Doctrine 4.1 Hell and damnation 4.2 Atonement 4.3 The Second Coming 4.4 The Afterlife 5 Scripture 5.1 Alleged selective interpretation 5.2 Mistranslation and textual corruption 6 Miracles 7 The Limbo Controversy 8 Sectarianism 9 Christians 9.1 Persecution by Christians 10 Origins 10.1 Dionysus 10.2 Mithras 10.3 Responses 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links

[edit] Within Christianity

The New Testament itself presents numerous criticisms of various churches and individual Christians (for example 1Corinthians 11:17, Galatians 2:11, Galatians 3:1, Revelation 3:14-15). Additional documentation of internal Christian criticisms of individuals and movements is available throughout church history. Two of the most notable examples are the Great Schism and the Protestant Reformation.

In 1054, after decades of mounting tensions, papal legates (representatives of the recently-deceased Bishop of Rome, Leo IX) excommunicated the Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius on 16 July, 1054. The Patriarch responded by calling a synod which anathematized the legates.^[1][2] Known as the Great Schism, this gave rise to Catholicism in the West and Orthodoxy in the East. The names themselves preclude compromise: catholic means "universal", and orthodox means "correct belief/praise".^[3][4][5]

The Protestant Reformation followed publication of The 95 Theses, critical of medieval Catholicism, by Martin Luther in 1517. Since that time, Protestant groups have split among themselves continuously, forming a complex family tree of descendant denominations.^[6][7] This consistent division is often noted by critics and reflected upon sadly by Protestants themselves.^[8] However, others see it as evidence of active debate and progress, and therefore health.^{[citation needed]}

Even prior to the Protestant Reformation and the Great Schism, the theological unity of Christianity was several times demonstrably more theoretical than actual, notably at the time of Arius, prompting the Roman Emperor Constantine I to call the first ecumenical council at Nicaea. Unlike the Reformation and Schism, official unity was preserved by the consensus at Nicaea — of more than 250 bishops only two remained with Arius. However, modern historians note several features of Nicaea, and other debates, that would not pass modern scrutiny for representative processes.

A legacy of Nicaea is English phrases that use the Greek name for the letter i, iota, to refer to matters of extreme detail. In deciding whether Arius was right or wrong in his reading of the New Testament, the bishops at Nicaea debated whether the New Testament says that God the Father and God the Son have one-and-the-same nature, or merely similar natures. The Greek they used for these ideas has single words for each, which differ only by a single letter i — homo-ousios (same nature) or homoi-ousios (like nature). Nicea decided the first was correct, so anathematized the i as a weasel.

Scholars associated with the Federal Vision theology have argued against the idea that a Christian is someone who subscribes to a particular belief system called "Christianity". For example, Peter Leithart states that the Bible speaks of "Christians" and of "the Church", but not of "Christianity".^[9] Some Christian writers, such as Dave Andrews, also reject the term Christianity on the basis that organised religion can detract from following Jesus.^[10]

[edit] Compatibility with science

Main article: Relationship between religion and science

David C. Lindberg states that the widespread popular belief that the Middle Ages was a time of ignorance and superstition due to the Christian church is a "caricature". According to Lindberg, while there are some portions of the classical tradition which suggests this view but these were exceptional cases. It was common to tolerate and encourage critical thinking about the nature of the world. The relation between Christianity and science is complex, according to Lindberg.^[11]Lindberg reports that "the late medieval scholar rarely experienced the coercive power of the church and would have regarded himself as free (particularly in the natural sciences) to follow reason and observation wherever they led. There was no warfare between science and the church."^[12]Ted Peters in Encyclopedia of Religion writes that although there is some truth in the "Galileo's condemnation" story but through exaggerations, it has now become "a modern myth perpetuated by those wishing to see warfare between science and religion who were allegedly persecuted by an atavistic and dogma-bound ecclesiastical authority."^[13]

During the nineteenth century developed what scholars today call the conflict thesis (or the warfare model, or the Draper-White thesis), a popular notion but one rejected by nearly all modern historians^{[citation needed]}. According to it, any interaction between religion and science almost inevitably would lead to open hostility, with religion usually taking the part of the aggressor against new scientific ideas. A popular example was the misconception that people from the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat, and that only science, freed from religious dogma, had shown that it was round.

This notion of a war between science and religion (especially Christianity) remained common in the historiography of science during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.^[14] Similar views have also been supported by many scientists. The astronomer Carl Sagan, for example, mentions the dispute between the astronomical systems of Ptolemy (who thought that the sun and planets revolved around the earth) and Copernicus (who thought the earth and planets revolved around the sun). He states in his A personal Voyage that Ptolemy's belief was "supported by the church through the Dark Ages...[It] effectively prevented the advance of astronomy for 1,500 years."^[15]Sagan rebukes claims that religion and science did not have an antagonizing relationship in the Medieval era by explaining the axioms of Copernicus' discovery:

This Copernican model worked at least as well as Ptolemy's crystal spheres, but it annoyed an awful lot of people. The Catholic Church later put Copernicus' work on its list of forbidden books, and Martin Luther described Copernicus in these words...

“

People give ear to an upstart astrologer [Copernicus] who strives to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun or the moon. Whoever wishes to appear clever must devise some new system, which of all systems is of course the very best. This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred Scripture tells us that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth.

”

Peters believes that Luther had only heard tales of Copernicus' new idea and didn't really have any serious engagements on this issue. Regarding Copernicus' thought, he is said to "have quipped that this would be comparable to somebody riding on a cart or in a ship and imagining that he was standing still while the earth and the trees were moving." Peters concludes that "spoken in jest, such items ought not to be interpreted as indicating any general opposition to science."^[16]

The framing of the relationship between Christianity and science as being predominantly one of conflict is still prevalent in popular culture, but the same is not true among today's academics on the topic.^[17]Most of today's historians of science consider that the conflict thesis has been superseded by subsequent historical research^[18]

Moreover, many scientists through out history held strong Christian beliefs and strove to reconcile science and religion. Isaac Newton, for example, believed that gravity caused the planets to revolve about the Sun, and credited God with the design, yet his religious views are generally considered heretical. In the concluding General Scholium to the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, he wrote: "This most beautiful System of the Sun, Planets and Comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful being." Other famous founders of science as we know it who adhered to Christian beliefs included Galileo, Johannes Kepler, and Blaise Pascal.^[19][20]

Historians of science such as J.L. Heilbron,^[22]Alistair Cameron Crombie, David Lindberg,^[23]Edward Grant, Thomas Goldstein,^[24]and Ted Davis also have been revising the common notion — the product of black legends say some — that medieval Christianity has had a negative influence in the development of civilization. These historians believe that not only did the monks save and cultivate the remnants of ancient civilization during the barbarian invasions, but the medieval church promoted learning and science through its sponsorship of many universities which, under its leadership, grew rapidly in Europe in the 11th and 12th centuries, St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church's "model theologian," not only argued that reason is in harmony with faith, he even recognized that reason can contribute to understanding revelation, and so encouraged intellectual development. He was not unlike other medieval theologians who sought out reason in the effort to defend his faith.^[25]Also, some today's scholars, such as Stanley Jaki, have suggested that Christianity with its particular worldview was actually a crucial factor for the emergence of modern science.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Ethics

See also: Criticism of the Bible and Ethics in the Bible

[edit] Slavery

Main article: Christianity and slavery

The practice of slavery in the West predates the emergence of Christianity by thousands of years. Early Christianity variously opposed, accepted, or ignored slavery.^[26]In early Medieval times, the Church discouraged slavery throughout Europe, largely eliminating it.^[27]That changed in 1452, when Pope Nicholas V instituted hereditary slavery of captured Muslims and pagans, which effectively meant Africans or Asians. As he read the Bible, God had instructed his faithful to make slaves of the neighboring heathens. Since then, various Christian groups taught that Africans were the descendants of Ham, cursed with "the mark of Ham" (dark skin) to be servants to the descendants of Japheth (Europeans) and Shem (Asians).^[26]

Rodney Stark makes the argument in For the Glory of God: How Monotheism Led to Reformations, Science, Witch-Hunts, and the End of Slavery, that Christianity helped to end slavery worldwide, as does Lamin Sanneh in Abolitionists Abroad. These authors point out that Christians who viewed slavery as wrong on the basis of their religious convictions spearheaded abolitionism, and many of the early campaigners for the abolition of slavery were driven by their Christian faith and a desire to realize their view that all people are equal under God.^[28]In the late 17th century, anabaptists began to criticize slavery. Criticisms from the Society of Friends, Mennonites, and the Amish followed suit. Prominent among these Christian abolitionists were William Wilberforce, and John Woolman. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote her famous book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, according to her Christian beliefs in 1852. In Britain and America, Quakers were active in abolitionism. A group of Quakers founded the first English abolitionist organization , and a Quaker petition brought the issue before government that same year. The Quakers continued to be influential throughout the lifetime of the movement, in many ways leading the way for the campaign. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was instrumental in starting abolitionism as a popular movement.^[29]

Today, only some periphery groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and other Christian hate groups on the racist fringes of the Christian Reconstructionist and Christian Identity movements advocate the reinstitution of slavery.^[26]With these exceptions, all Christian faith groups now condemn slavery, and see the practice as incompatible with basic Christian principles.^[26][27]

In addition to aiding abolitionism, many Christians made further efforts toward establishing racial equality, contributing to the Civil Rights Movement.^[30]The African American Review notes the important role Christian revivalism in the black church played in the Civil Rights Movement.^[31]Martin Luther King, Jr., an ordained Baptist minister, was a leader of the American Civil Rights Movement and president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a Christian Civil Rights organization.^[32]

[edit] Eurocentrism

Christians have answered the charge of Eurocentrism by pointing out Christianity's non-European origins. Christianity originated as a sect of Judaism in the Middle East,^[33]as Jesus, the founder and central figure of Christianity, lived and held his ministry in the Middle East.^[33]The race of Jesus is contested, and various theories have presented his ethnicity as White, Black, or Middle Eastern. Paul of Tarsus, an ethnic Jew^[34]who was born and lived in the Middle East, holds such importance to Christianity that some call him the religion's "Second Founder".^[33]The greatest influence on Christianity after Paul, Augustine of Hippo, a Church Father, a Doctor of the Church, and an eminent theologian, was North African.^[33]

Others point to the diversity of Christians worldwide to counter criticisms of Eurocentrism. Christianity is a religion open to all humanity^[33] that counts one out of every three people on earth among its members.^[33]Christendom encompasses a greater area of land than that of any other religious territory.^[33]In terms of both population and geography, Christianity is the world's largest religion.^[33]As such, Christianity contains a great diversity,^[33]and has followers from a wide range of ethnicities, nationalities, and cultures.^[35]Both Europeans and non-Hispanic Whites are shrinking minorities in the Church.^[36]

In his book Enlarging the Story: Perspectives on Writing World Christian History, Richard Fox Young views the connection between Christianity and Eurocentrism as tenuous, and points to the postcolonial and non-European nature of the emerging Church and its impact on the development of World Christianity. In the postcolonial world, Christianity has lost its association with the West.^[37][33]At the turn of the millennium, 60% of the world's two billion Christians lived in Africa, Latin America, or Asia, and by 2025, those demographics will shift to an estimated 67% of the world's three billion Christians.^[38]The rise of Christianity in the southern hemisphere, especially northern Africa and Latin America, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries is a "grassroots movement"^[33]that has generated new forms of Christian theology and worship,^[33]and shifted the cultural and geographic focal point of the Church away from the West.^[37]The prominence of the southern hemisphere's Christianity has brought with it a cultural and intellectual diversity^[39]to World Christianity, and contributed such ideas as Liberation Theology.^[33]

[edit] Christianity and women

See also: Christian views about women

Though many women disciples and servants are recorded in the Pauline epistles, there have been occasions in which women have been denigrated and forced into a second-class status.

Until the latter part of the twentieth century, only the names of very few women who contributed to the formation of Christianity in its earliest years were widely known: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene, disciple of Jesus and the first witness to the resurrection; and Mary and Martha, the sisters who offered him hospitality in Bethany.^[41]

Harvard scholar Karen King writes that more of the many women who contributed to the formation of Christianity in its earliest years are becoming known. Further, she concludes that for centuries in Western Christianity, Mary Magdalene has been wrongly identified the adulteress and repentant prostitute presented in John 8– a connection supposed by tradition but nowhere claimed in the New Testament.^{[citation needed]} According to King, newly found evidence shows that she was an influential figure, a prominent disciple and leader of one wing of the early Christian movement that promoted women's leadership.^{[citation needed]}

King claims that every sect within early Christianity which had advocated women's prominence in ancient Christianity was eventually declared heretical, and evidence of women's early leadership roles was erased or suppressed.^[41]

Professor Elizabeth Clark cites early Christian writings by authors such as Augustine, Tertullian and John Chrysostom as being exemplary of the negative perception of women that has been perpetuated in church tradition.^[42]

Although very unfavorable attitudes toward women prevailed in the world into which Jesus came,^{[citation needed]} there is no recorded instance where Jesus disgraces, belittles, reproaches, or stereotypes a woman.^[43] The treatment and attitude shown to these women is often considered to be evidence that Jesus treated women with great dignity and respect.^{[citation needed]} Various theologians have concluded that the canonical examples of the manner of Jesus are instructive for inferring his attitudes toward women. They are seen as showing repeatedly and consistently how he liberated and affirmed women.^[44]

In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to revise its statement of faith, opposing women as pastors. While this decision is not binding and would not prevent women from serving as pastors, the revision itself has been criticized by some from within the convention.^[45]

Feminists have consistently accused notions such as a male God, male prophets, and the man-centred stories in the Bible of contributing to a patriarchy. ^[46]

[edit] Christianity and Politics

See also: Christofascism and Dominionism

Some leftists and libertarians use the term Christian fascism or Christofascism to describe what some see as an emerging proto-fascism and possible theocracy in the United States. ^[47]

Reverend Rich Lang of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Seattle gave a sermon titled "George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism", in which he said, "I want to flesh out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr. Bush articulates. It is a form of Christianity that is the mirror opposite of what Jesus embodied.". [1]

[edit] Christianity and Violence

Many critics of Christianity (and other monotheistic religions) have cited the violent acts of Christianized nations as another reason to denounce the religion. For example, science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke said that he could not forgive religions for the atrocities and wars over time.^[48] Richard Dawkins makes a similar case in his book, The God Delusion. This criticism is not limited to atheists and agnostics, however, as Christian pacifists would argue that Christianity had been co-opted by militant states to simply provide justification for political agendas; that is, violence is antithetical to the teachings of Jesus, and as such war and genocide are regarded as un-Christian acts. The fact that many secular and explicitly atheistic governments have committed genocide and other violent atrocities serves to bolster the assertion that religion is not the primary cause of violence in the world, though religious violence has certainly occured. Dinesh D'Souza writes that while the Spanish Inquisition killed around 110,000 (and, unmentioned by D'Souza, the Crusades saw the deaths of around 9 million, including Christians),^[49] atheistic despotisms in the 20th century alone (e.g. Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong) have killed at least 100 million people.^[50]

[edit] Doctrine

[edit] Hell and damnation

See also: Problem of Hell

Christianity has been criticized for seeking to persuade people into accepting its authority through simple fear of punishment or, conversely, through hope of reward after death, rather than through rational argumentation or empirical evidence.^[51]Traditional Christian doctrine assumes that, without faith in God, one is subject to eternal hellfire.

Since we all inherit Adam's sin, we all deserve eternal damnation. All who die unbaptized, even infants, will go to hell and suffer unending torment. We have no reason to complain of this, since we are all wicked. (In the Confessions, the Saint enumerates the crimes of which he was guilty in the cradle.) But by God's free grace certain people, among those who have been baptized, are chosen to go to heaven; these are the elect. They do not go to heaven because they are good; we are all totally depraved, except insofar as God's grace, which is only bestowed on the elect, enables us to be otherwise. No reason can be given why some are saved and the rest damned; this is due to God's unmotivated choice. Damnation proves God's justice; salvation His mercy. Both equally display His goodness.^[52]

Critics regard the eternal punishment of those who fail to adopt Christian faith as morally objectionable, and consider it an abhorrent picture of the nature of the world. On a similar theme objections are made against the perceived injustice of punishing a person for all eternity for a temporal crime. Some Christians agree (see Annihilationism and Trinitarian Universalism). These beliefs have been considered especially repugnant^[53]when the claimed omnipotent God makes, or allows a person to come into existence, with a nature that desires that which God finds objectionable.^[54]

[edit] Atonement

The idea of atonement for original sin is criticized by Richard Dawkins on the grounds that the image of God as requiring the suffering and death of Jesus to effect reconciliation with humankind is immoral. The view is summarized by Dawkins: "if God wanted to forgive our sins, why not just forgive them? Who is God trying to impress?"^[55] Christians often respond to this objection by claiming that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross was the greatest expression of divine mercy God could give while still maintaining perfect justice.^{[citation needed]}

Robert Green Ingersoll suggests that the concept of the atonement is simply an extension of the Mosaic tradition of blood sacrifice and "is the enemy of morality".^[56] The death of Jesus Christ represents the blood sacrifice to end all blood sacrifices; the resulting mechanism of atonement by proxy through that final sacrifice has appeal as a more convenient and much less costly approach to redemption than repeated animal sacrifice – a common sense solution to the problem of reinterpreting ancient religious approaches based on sacrifice.

Prominent Christian apologist, Josh McDowell, in More Than A Carpenter, addresses the issue through an analogy of a real-life judge in California who was forced to fine his daughter $100 for speeding, but then came down, took off his robe, and paid the fine for her from his billfold.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] The Second Coming

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Main article: Second Coming

A fundamental belief of Christianity is that Christ will return to the earth to conquer evil and rule over the faithful - a simplified definition of the Second Coming. Since the first century until modern times, some Christian leaders and their followers have prophesied that this would happen, usually during the lifetime of the person making the prophecy, and frequently within the next 20 years after the prophecy. This practice seems to contradict a fundamental Christian principle that says that no one knows when Christ will come (Mark 13:32). The failure of even one of these many prophecies to come true often has the effect of trivializing Christian teachings and making the church seem unreliable.

Several verses in the New Testament appear to contain Jesus' predictions that the Second Coming would take place within a century following his death. Most notably, Matthew 10:22-23, 16:27-28, 23:36, 24:29-34, 26:62-64; Mark 9:1, Mark 14:24-30, 14:60-62; and Luke 9:27. However, according to some Christian theologians, many of these statements of Jesus are Jesus quoting from the Old Testament books such as the Book of Isaiah and Book of Daniel which many Christians assume renders them metaphorical, not literal, prophecies. An example is Jesus' predictions of the Olivet discourse, where much is taken from Isaiah's predictions of the fall of Babylon and God's judgments on the world. Such statements have contributed to the Preterism movement, a belief that the Second Coming had already taken place by the end of the first century CE.

C.S. Lewis said this will be called "the most embarrassing verse in the Bible."^[57]

[edit] The Afterlife

What often poses problems for Christians is the nature of the afterlife portrayed by the history of the land of Ancient Israel, or the Old Testament. George E. Mendenhall believes there is no concept of immortality or life after death in the Old Testament.^[58] The presumption is that the deceased are inert, lifeless, and engaging in no activity.^[59]

The idea of Sheol or a state of nothingness was shared among Babylonian and Israelite beliefs. "Sheol, as it was called by the ancient Israelites, is the land of no return, lying below the cosmic ocean, to which all, the mighty and the weak, travel in the ghostly form they assume after death, known as Raphraim. There the dead have no experience of either joy or pain, perceiving no light, feeling no movement."^[60]Professor Obayshi alludes that the Israelites were satisfied with such a shadowy realm of afterlife because they were more deeply concerned with survival.^[60]This theme of prosperity via unity is very much portrayed in the book of Joshua. The descendants of Moses, led from Egypt, follow Joshua into Canaan where they capture much of the land, the book ascribes this to their religious piety. The famed walls of Jericho even fall when Priests encircle the walls and blow ram horns. This theme of unity resonates in the next stanza where Joshua suffers a setback at the easily conquerable town of Ai. God lets the Israelites lose in battle because a man stole booty from the victory prior, this exemplifies the Old Testament's logic of salvation via collective survival.

Recent Archaeology has revealed that the town of Ai was destroyed 1,000 years before the story took place, 500 years before the fall of Jericho,^[61]however the cult-like theme of unity and sheol which largely shaped the ancient tradition of Judaism and thus Christianity is later dispersed when only the most pious of Jews were being massacred during the Maccabean revolt.

The suffering during the Maccabean period became the most serious challenge to the old Israelite thinking. This time it was not the shared suffering of all the Jews, but only those who remained loyal to the Torah who suffered and died. Thus the ancient belief of Sheol, the underworld, which summarized the common fate of all the Jews, proved no longer satisfactory. The logic of salvation that focused only on corporate or collective survival was no longer sufficient. The fate of the individual who perished for the faith had to be addressed. It was through this situation that the idea of resurrection, which Robert Goldenberg calls "the most individualistic of all religious conceptions," was introduced into Judaism... Resurrection and apocalypticism were the Judaic answer to changing times.^[62]

[edit] Scripture

See also: Criticism of the Bible, The Bible and History, and Internal consistency and the Bible

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Skeptics reject Christianity because of its reliance on the Bible, the most recent parts of which were written during the Roman period, almost 2000 years ago, with older parts dating back many centuries before that.

The Hebrew Bible, referred to by Christians as the Old Testament, is a history of the land of Israel. God gave Abraham unconditional promises entailing multitudinous progeny, nationhood, royal leaders, and land possession. The Hebrew Bible's prophetic literature ends waiting for Judah to be restored via a new monarch, one who will restore the Davidic kingdom and possibly create universal peace. The New Testament traces Jesus' line to that of David; however according to Professor Stephen L. Harris:

Jesus did not accomplish what Israel's prophets said the Messiah was commissioned to do: He did not deliver the covenant people from their Gentile enemies, reassemble those scattered in the Diaspora, restore the Davidic kingdom, or establish universal peace (cf Isa. 9:6-7; 11:7-12:16, etc.). Instead of freeing Jews from oppressors and thereby fulfilling God's ancient promises - for land, nationhood, kingship, and blessing - Jesus died a "shameful" death (Deut. 21:24), defeated by the very political powers the Messiah was prophesied to overcome. Indeed, the Hebrew prophets did not foresee that Israel's savior would be executed as a common criminal by Gentiles (John 7:12,27,31,40-44), making Jesus' crucifixion a "stumbling block" to scripturally literate Jews (1 Cor. 1:23).^[63]

Skeptics have composed lists of alleged conflicts involving the Bible, perhaps none so renowned as Robert G. Ingersoll's 61 reasons in his article Inspiration Of Bible. (see also The Skeptic's Annotated Bible)

Many Christians believe some prophecies are left to be fulfilled in the future upon Jesus' return, labeling them as "Future Unfulfilled." Most Jews (a notable exception being Messianic Jews) reject Jesus as their Messiah because of specific yet unfulfilled prophecies.(see Jewish Messianism)

[edit] Alleged selective interpretation

Sometimes particular attention is directed to Jewish rules contained in the Old Testament which are not observed by Christians [2]. Many of the rules in question are specifically abrogated by the New Testament, such as circumcision (see the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15); and the entire Law is described by Galatians 3:24-25 as a tutor which is no longer necessary, according to Antinomianism. The alleged hypocrisy is in the continued invocation of portions of the Old Testament that are considered obsolete under Christianity, particularly when those portions endorse hostility towards women and homosexuals. The counter argument is that these viewpoints are (allegedly) also endorsed in the New Testament.^[64]

Matthew 5:17-19 (see also Adherence to the Law) can be taken to imply that the Old Testament laws remain in place in the New Testament, while Matthew 5:38-39 (see also Antithesis of the Law and Christian view of the Law) can be viewed as contradicting those earlier passages. Skeptics believe investigation yields many apparent contradictions in the Bible, which Christians use to argue against belief in the Bible as the absolute, inerrant Word of God. (See Internal consistency of the Bible)

While consideration of the context is necessary when studying the Bible, some find the accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus within the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, difficult to reconcile. E.P. Sanders concludes that the inconsistencies make the possibility of a deliberate fraud unlikely: "A plot to foster belief in the Resurrection would probably have resulted in a more consistent story. Instead, there seems to have been a competition: 'I saw him,' 'So did I,' 'The women saw him first,' 'No, I did; they didn't see him at all,' and so on."^[65]

[edit] Mistranslation and textual corruption

For more details on this topic, see Textual criticism.

Criticisms are also sometimes raised because of contradictions arising between different English translations of the Hebrew or Greek text. Some Christian interpretations are criticized by non-Christians (and sometimes particularly by Jews)^{[citation needed]} as being based on mistranslations, or on readings found in only some manuscripts of the Bible, or in particular English translations of the Bible.

Newly discovered ancient manuscripts of the Bible, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Codex Sinaiticus, suggest that passages such as the Pericope Adulteræ, and Mark 16 and Comma Johanneum originally took other forms than are present in older translations such as the King James Version, or were even absent. There is also the question of whether the masoretic text, which forms the basis of most modern English translations of the Old Testament, is the more accurate or whether one of the translations which pre-dates the masoretic text, such as the Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, and Samaritan Pentateuch is more accurate.

Notable among those who concluded that the Bible contained deliberately falsehoods was Thomas Jefferson. He considered much of the new testament of the Bible to be lies. He edited his own version of the bible and omitted what he considered to be these falsehoods. He described these as "so much untruth, charlatanism and imposture". He described the "roguery of others of His disciples", and called them a "band of dupes and impostors", and described Paul as the "first corruptor of the doctrines of Jesus", and wrote of "palpable interpolations and falsifications". He also described the Book of Revelations to be "merely the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy nor capable of explanation than the incoherences of our own nightly dreams". ^[66]

Bart D. Ehrman makes similar claims in his book Misquoting Jesus. In Chapter 7 of the book, he discusses theologically motivated alterations of the text. He argues, for example, that scribes added Luke 22:43-44 in an attempt to counter the arguments that Jesus was not fully human and did not have a body. In Chapter 8, he argues that texts were changed in order to minimize the role of women and counter the Jews and pagans.

Jewish scholars accuse Christians of translating the Bible in a dishonest way to make the text reflect Christian doctrine.^[67][68]

Virgin: Matthew 1:22-1:23 reads: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" — which means, "God with us." This verse is, according to Jews (and other critics of the doctrine of the Virgin Birth), a misquoting of Isaiah 7:14. Jewish translations of the verse reads: "Behold, the young woman is with child and will bear a son and she will call his name Immanuel." Moreover, it is claimed that Christians have taken this verse out of context (see Immanuel for further information).^[67]

Another example is Matthew 2:23: "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'" A Jewish website[3][4] claims that "Since a Nazarene is a resident of the city of Nazareth and this city did not exist during the time period of the Jewish Bible, it is impossible to find this quotation in the Hebrew Scriptures. It was fabricated."^[67]However, one common suggestion is that the New Testament verse is based on a passage relating to Nazirites, either because this was a misunderstanding common at the time, or through deliberate re-reading of the term by the early Christians.

[edit] Miracles

Further information: Miracle, Faith healing, and Exorcism

For most Christians, the miracles represent actual historical events. Without the resurrection, Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians, "our preaching is useless and so is your faith." The Roman Catholic Church requires a certain number of miracles to occur before granting sainthood to a putative saint, with particularly stringent requirements in validating the miracle's authenticity. Philosopher David Hume argued against the plausability of miracles:

1) A miracle is a violation of the known laws of nature; 2) We know these laws through repeated and constant experience; 3) The testimony of those who report miracles contradicts the operation of known scientific laws; 4) Consequently no one can rationally believe in miracles.

Miraculous healing through prayers, often involving the "laying on of hands", has been reported but has never been scientifically verified. Reliance on faith healing can indirectly contribute to serious harm and even death^[69].

[edit] The Limbo Controversy

The Catholic Church teaches that baptism is a necessity. Therefore, theologians have asserted for more than seven centuries that unbaptized babies could not enjoy eternal life in God's presence. In the fifth century, St. Augustine concluded that infants who die without baptism were consigned to hell. By the 13th century, theologians referred to the "limbo of infants" as a place where unbaptized babies were deprived of the vision of God, but did not suffer because they did not know what they were deprived of. A Catholic burial can be denied to babies who are stillborn. In 2007, the 30-member International Theological Commission revisited the concept of limbo ^[70][71]. However, the commission also stated that

“

The commission said hopefulness was not the same as certainty about the destiny of such infants.

”

[edit] Sectarianism

Main article: Sectarianism

Some have argued that Christianity is undermined by the inability of Christians to agree on matters of faith and church governance, and the tendency for the content of their faith to be determined by regional or political factors. Schopenhauer sarcastically suggests that Christian beliefs are affected by climate:

The Catholic clergy, for example, are fully convinced of the truth of all the tenets of their Church, and so are the Protestant clergy of theirs, and both defend the principles of their creeds with like zeal. And yet the conviction is governed merely by the country native to each; to the South German ecclesiastic the truth of the Catholic dogma is quite obvious, to the North German, the Protestant. If then, these convictions are based on objective reasons, the reasons must be climatic, and thrive, like plants, some only here, some only there. The convictions of those who are thus locally convinced are taken on trust and believed by the masses everywhere.^[72]

[edit] Christians

See also: Christian evangelist scandals

To Mahatma Gandhi, the materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that it is not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.^[73]

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ. The materialism of affluent Christian countries appears to contradict the claims of Jesus Christ that says it's not possible to worship both Mammon and God at the same time.

– Mahatma Gandhi

Gaudium et Spes claims that the example of Christians may be a contributory factor to atheism, writing, "...believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion".^[74]

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Institute, and Gabe Lyons of the Fermi Project published a study of attitudes of 16-29 year old Americans towards Christianity. They found that about 38% of all those who were not regular churchgoers had negative impressions of Christianity, and especially evangelical Christianity, associating it with conservative political activism, hypocrisy, anti-homosexuality, and judgmentalism.^[75] About 17% had "very bad" perceptions of Christianity.^[76][77]

Secular and religious critics have accused many Christians of being hypocritical^[78]. For instance, although marital fidelity and family values are arguably central to Christian morality, a study by the Barna Research Group has shown that divorce rates among certain Christian groups were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than the rate of divorce amongst atheists and agnostics.^[79] Tom Whiteman, a Philadelphia psychologist found that the primary reasons for Christian divorce include adultery, abuse(including substance, physical and verbal abuse), and abandonment whereas the number one reason cited for divorce in the general population was incompatibility.^[80]

[edit] Persecution by Christians

This section may contain original research or unverified claims. Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the talk page for details.(January 2008)

Main articles: Persecution by Christians, Christian terrorism, and Spanish Inquisition

Individuals and groups throughout history have been persecuted by certain Christians (and Christian groups) based upon sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion (even within the bounds Christianity itself). Many of the persecutors attempt to justify their actions with particular scriptural interpretations. Some Christians have likewise been persecuted by certain other groups, whether from other denominations or non-Christians.

[edit] Origins

See also: Historicity of Jesus and Jesus as myth

Author Brian Branston has argued that Christianity adopted many mythological tales and traditions into its views of Jesus. These traditions, largely from Greco-Roman religions, have parallels to the story of Jesus, according to Brian Branston.^[81]

[edit] Dionysus

See also: Osiris-Dionysus and Dionysus

The story of Dionysus, son of the Greek Olympian God Zeus, has been seen by several writers as containing parallels to the story of Jesus. Professor Harris writes in his book Understanding the Bible that "the myth of Dionysus foreshadows some later Christian theological interpretations of Jesus' cosmic role. Although Jesus is a historical figure and Dionysus purely mythological, Dionysus's story contains events and themes, such as his divine parentage, violent death, descent into the Underworld, and subsequent resurrection to immortal life in heaven, where he sits near his father's throne, that Christians ultimately made part of Jesus' story. Like Asclepius, Heracles, Perseus, and other heroes of the Greco Roman era, Dionysus has a divine father and human mother. The only Olympian born to a mortal woman, he is also the only major deity to endure rejection, suffering, and death before ascending to heaven to join his immortal parent. The son of Zeus and Semele, a princess of Thebes, Dionysus was known as the "twice born."^[82]

Dionysus also parallels the life of Jesus as he and Demeter gave humanity two gifts to come into communion with the divine: grain (or bread) to sustain life and wine to make life bearable. The Athenian playwright Euripides (485-406 BCE) writes in his The Bacchae:

Next came the son of the virgin. Dionysus.

bringing the counterpart to bread. wine

and the blessings of life's flowing juices.

His blood, the blood of grape,

lightens the burden of our mortal misery...

it is his blood we pour out

to offer Thanks to the Gods. And through him.

we are blessed.^[83]

Professor Harris alludes that "long before Jesus linked wine and bread as part of the Christian liturgy (Mark 14:22-25; Luke 22:17-20) the two tokens of divine favor were associated in the Dionysian tradition. In the Bacchae (worshippers of Bacchus, another name for Dionysus), Euripides also has the prophet Tiresias observe that Demeter and Dionysus, respectively, gave humanity two indispensable gifts: grain or bread to sustain life and wine to make life bearable. Tiresias urges his hearers to see in Dionysus's gift of wine a beverage that brings into communion with the divine.^[84]

One particular wine ritual of the Dyonisian myth followers involved priests and guests. The priests would leave three empty pots in a building for all citizens to see. Pausanias states in his Description of Greece, "The doors of the building are sealed by the priests themselves and by any others who may so be inclined. On the morrow they are allowed to examine the seals, and on going into the building they find the pots filled with wine."^[85]

According to Professor Luther H. Martin in his Hellenistic Religions, this wine tradition and that of the emblem liknon, or the process of purifying wheat from chaff via agency of the spirit, was adopted by the earliest Christians.

"This Dionysian wine ritual was incorporated into Christian imagery by the Gospel of John. According to this gospel, the first public act of Jesus was to transform jars of water into wine- the typical Dionysian epiphany miracle. By employing this well-known Dionysian convention, the Gospel at its outset establishes the presence of Jesus as a divine epiphany...the Dionysian liknon represented the possibility of an ecstatic purification by the breath of the spirit as initiates transcended the conditions of everydayness. This image of separating wheat from the chaff through the agency of spirit was also employed by the early Christians (Matt 3:11-12; Luke 3:16-17)."^[86]

Christian apologists claim the Messianic prophecies which allegedly predicted Jesus' life were around before Dionysus legends. They state that the Messianic prophecies were recorded before the legends of Dionysus and are contained in the Old Testament.^{[citation needed]} Apologists also argue that the Old Testament prophecies are more precise than a comparison of the life of Jesus to Dionysus.^{[citation needed]} Some would point out the differences between Jesus and Dionysus as well.^[87]

[edit] Mithras

Main article: Mithraism#Christianity and Mithraism

Comparisons are also made with the tale of Mithras, whose cult existed during the period of the origin of Christianity.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Responses

A classic response to this criticism is that of J. R. R. Tolkien and subsequently C. S. Lewis, who considered that just because a story was a myth does not preclude it from also having taken place as a historical event. Pagan myths can be seen as prefiguring the life and death of Christ, but without detracting from their historical and religious significance. Lewis even went so far as to suggest that the existence of these Pagan myths lend Christianity credibility, as their existence might reflect God's hidden watch over all human history and his influence on the collective subconscious in the form of "good dreams" and premonitions. Lewis states that he would be far more doubtful of the reality of a supposed historical event of the magnitude of the Atonement if humanity had neglected to anticipate it in any way.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• Anti-Catholicism
• Anti-clericalism
• Anti-Protestantism
• Science and the Bible
• Biblical cosmology
• Biblical literalism
• Internal consistency of the Bible
• Anti-Christian discrimination

[edit] References

• Joseph McCabe, "A Rationalist Encyclopaedia: A book of reference on religion, philosophy, ethics and science," Gryphon Books (1971). [5]

[edit] Further reading

Skeptical of Christianity

• The Antichrist, by Friedrich Nietzsche
• Letter to a Christian Nation, by Sam Harris
• The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, by Carl Sagan
• From Jesus to Christianity, by Michael L White
• Where God and Science Meet [Three Volumes]: How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion, by Patrick McNamara
• Russell on Religion, by Louis Greenspan (Includes most all of Russell's essays on religion)
• Breaking the Spell, by Daniel Dennett
• Einstein and Religion, by Max Jammer
• Out of my later years and the World as I see it, by Albert Einstein
• Understanding the Bible, by Stephen L Harris
• Future of an illusion, by Sigmund Freud
• Civilization and its discontents, by Sigmund Freud
• Why I am not a Christian and other essays, by Bertrand Russell
• Death and Afterlife, Perspectives of World Religions, by Hiroshi Obayashi
• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by Bart Ehrman
• The Birth of Christianity : Discovering What Happened in the Years Immediately After the Execution of Jesus, by John Dominic Crossan
• Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains, by John W. Loftus

Defending Christianity

• The Dawkins Letters, by David Robertson
• Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
• Jesus Among Other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias
• Orthodoxy, by G.K. Chesterton
• The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel

[edit] External links

• From Jesus to Christ, an objective study on Jesus of Nazareth from professors at Harvard, Yale, Brown, Stanford, Princeton, and Duke.
• Professor James Tabor's educational site on the Jewish Roman world of Jesus
• PBS Special: Apocalypse! Contains Jesus' apocalyptic promises along with those of Saint Paul's.
• Roman Sources on the Jews and Judaism, 1 BCE-110 CE
• Jewish Encyclopedia: New Testament: Unhistorical Character of the Gospels
• Christian Anti-Semitism
• Answering Christianity from an Islamic perspective

Skeptical

• The Warfare of Science With Theology by Andrew White
• Contradictions in the Bible from the Skeptic's Annotated Bible
• New Testament contradictions by Paul Carlson

Apologetic

• Virtual Office of William Lane Craig from Leadership University (web portal)
• Probe Ministries
• Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry
• Answers to common objections from Muslims about Christianity

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