The Problems With Christianity/Religion
by Ryan Hofmeister
Before I get this started, you might want to know the background of this essay. I am an atheist, and have been since I was 13. I believe in free thought, meaning I think, do and say what I want without the confines of religion and beliefs (aka atheism). If you don’t know what atheism is, an atheist is a person who does not believe in any type of gods and/or higher power. To atheists, the notion of deities seems irrational, improbable, and completely unimportant.
Now you might think that I am stupid or as one Christian religion calls me an “educated fool,” but really I’m far from that. I have taken many different IQ tests, and they all average at about 136 (4 points under genius). People have told me that I will go to hell. Well what I always say is “I don’t care, there is no hell.” And for those who call me educated fools, I did not come to this conclusion by other people telling me about it like people in religions did. I didn’t need some superstitious stupid-enough-to-believe book to tell me what to do and think. Unlike a lot of people, I think in a philosophical and rational way, and those books are none of those.
Well enough ranting. Hope that cleared up any questions you might have had. Now on the with the essay.
Christianity’s Major Problems
This is one of the most predominant religions in the world, and also the most corrupt and dangerous one. I say this because no other religion has caused so much bloodshed, hatred, intolerance, greed, and bigotry. For example, the Crusades were caused by Christians. The Holocaust was caused by Christians. The problem in Ireland is because two religions aren’t getting along. Quoting Voltaire; “Christianity is the most ridiculous, the most absurd and bloody religion that has ever infected the world.” Now people say “well our religion isn’t the cause of this.” Well that doesn’t matter, you belong to it and you all believe in the same god no matter how you use it. You all believe in the thing that is the cause of it all, the Bible.
Quoting Thomas Jefferson: “Christianity is the most perverted system ever shone to man.” This is so true. Christianity uses the Bible as their foundation. This document in itself has no substantial proof, and a lot of what happens in there can be explained, much like UFO cases. Of course, this religion has something I like to call “subliminal mind control” that prevents it’s members from believing any of the evidence that is shown that proves them wrong. They disclose anything that goes against the Bible as untrue and lies without even considering the evidence. This is pure close-mindedness. Christians have always had a problem with admitting that they’re wrong. They rarely ever do.
Another problem is their lack of evidence. They think that the Bible is proof enough, but first you have to prove that the “proof” is right, in this case it is not. For example, how could the flood have happened? Well here’s something that Christians never even gave thought to. Noah was not a perfect man, so his children would not have been perfect. Now, what I’m saying is that if Noah and his family were the only ones left on the earth, they could only reproduce by inbreeding. This would have doomed humanity. Also, not all the animals in the world could fit in that arc, so all the worlds animals would have become extinct. Maybe it is possible for a flood like this to happen, but as we can see by these reasons listed above (and there are many more), it did not happen.
So since there is no evidence of the existence of a god, why do they follow one? Well I can tell you a few reasons. People fear death. They just use wishful thinking that there will be a life after death and if they serve their god than they will get everlasting life in eternal happiness. They don’t see reality. Enjoy life while you have it, because once you’re dead, you’re gone and you aren’t coming back.
Another reason is that they can’t explain how everything got here, so like they did back when they had mythology and created a series of stories that explain how life got here. They believe this so strongly that they disclose any evidence against creationism as false. Right now, there are only three choices you can take about how life came here (three of the most popular anyway), and that would be evolution, creationism, or no opinion. I choose no opinion, because both evolution and creationism are seriously flawed, especially creation.
These are just a few reasons why they believe what they believe. But it doesn’t end there. Religious leaders use places called Hell, Purgatory and Limbo (Catholics), and Heaven. Religious leaders threaten people who don’t agree with the Bible that they will go to hell, hence scaring people into believing. This is just absurd. If this is true, though, than the Christian god is not the all loving god everyone makes him out to be. I will talk about this in a later section. Charles Darwin once said; “I can hardly see how anyone ought to wish Christianity to be true: for so plain the language of the text seems to show that men who do not believe... will be everlastingly punished. And this is a damnable doctrine.” How true that is.
Also another major problem is the way that Christians handle themselves. For example, the Religious Right is the worst threat to American freedom this country has ever faced. They want to make Christianity the nations policy, and you know soon enough it would be as bad as Nazi Germany. Also, I get tired (and so do A LOT of people) of people coming to my door or seeing my name on the Internet and trying to tell me what is right. Well they’re not even following the Bible. Christianity has manipulated it to benefit themselves, and purposely misread what it really says. In the Bible it says that a country ruled by man will never work. Well, by saying this only a nation run under god can do this. Well the Religious Right is taking this too far, as do other religions. They claim that they are “the messengers of God” but in actuality they’re just bigots who want to end the lives of non-believers just for personal gain. But then again, I guess Robert Ingerstroll said it best when he said; “If a man would follow today, the teachings of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If he would follow strictly the teachings of the new, he would be insane.” This is very true.
Also in the Bible it says not to pray on a street corner, but pray by yourself in a secluded room (I don’t know exactly where it says this, but it’s somewhere in Luke). Again, most every Christian religion goes against this. Proselytizing to people from door to door (Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons do this the most). See how they can’t even live by the rules that they should really follow to be Christians?
Another problem with Christianity is it’s oppressive ways. Bombing abortion clinics, killing gays, racial hatred, etc. The ones who do this the most are Baptists, especially the Southern Baptists (which was a religion created intended to keep slavery in the South). This is really bad, and goes with that quote by Thomas Jefferson two paragraphs ago. If this is what God wants, than he is as bad, if not worse, than Satan himself. This is the oppressive ways people want to live by? Only by throwing away these principles of hatred will humanity be able to progress. Bertrand Russel once said; “The Christian religion has been, and still is, the principle enemy of moral progress in the world.” This is sadly true. Christianity spreads intolerance, which is certainly not good and results in terrible consequences. I know this because I live in a house that practices this, and I get really tired of it.
In conclusion, Christianity is the festering boil that infects the world today. Only by overcoming it and showing the truth shall humanity progress into a future that will be better than today. The Bible was written by primitive people who could not have even anticipated what would happen in the future. And by what some religions think, God can’t tell the future and therefor couldn’t have anticipated this either. Well I hope you got something out of this, and maybe you learned something you didn’t know or your church doesn’t want you to know. Now onto my next section.
Why The Christian God Deserves No Worship
This is probably the most controversial part of this essay. Here, I will explain why the Christian god is a horrible, loveless, heartless god. Christians say that if you love him that he will reward you, but if you don’t you are damned for eternity. Well this is just terrible. Now I will explain why.
Thomas Jefferson said; “The Christian god can be easily pictures as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three-headed monster; cruel, evil and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three-headed, beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of people who say they serve him. They are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites.” Every part of this is an accurate description of God and his followers. Allow me to explain.
Supposedly, god created everything in the universe. He created humans so he could be worshipped by something. He created the Tree of Knowledge, knowing full well that Adam and Eve would eat from that tree. Therefore, God damned humanity from the beginning. This is pure selfishness. God can be considered through this worse than Satan himself.
In another instance, God commanded that the “floodgates of the Heavens” open and cover the world in a deluge of water of which no man could escape. Now because people weren’t serving this sick-minded god, he destroyed nearly all of mankind, animals, and plant life. It’s truly sick to think that he destroyed animals, as they didn’t do anything wrong. So what he did was he left one human family alive to carry on humanity. This is just one instance of money that God has slaughtered or ordered the slaughter of millions of people.
Another time, God let out a series of 10 plagues on Egypt. He tortured the people who tortured his people. Here, God proves he is no better than the Egyptians who tortured his people. I’ve often been compelled to think about how people could actually worship something this evil.
Robert Wilson said once; “The Bible tells us to be like God and then on page after page it describes God as a mass murderer. This may be the single most important key to the political behavior of western civilization.” This is so true, and you just need to look at the people who serve him to prove how right this quote really is.
Mark Twain said once; “Blasphemy? No it’s not blasphemy. If God is as vast as that, he is above blasphemy; if he is as little as that, he is beneath it.” Here, it says that God is selfish and just doesn’t like it when people who are supposedly lower than him are right. Also, his people are the same. They always think they’re right and anything that goes against them is worthy of some type of punishment or is untrue.
In conclusion, I say that the Christian God is unworthy of worship even though he is claimed as the creator. A good, all-loving God would not destroy his creations no matter how they act. He tells parents that they should love their children unconditionally. I say, you first, God. Hopefully, you understand my reasons about how the Christian God is not worthy of worship. If you have any questions, e-mail me or ask me (for those who do not see this on the Internet).
Some Ending Quotes
“By the year 2000, we will, I hope, raise our children to believe in human potential, not God.”--Gloria Steinem
“Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration- courage, clear-thinking, honesty, fairness and, above all, love of truth.”--H. L. Mencken
“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.”--George Bernard Shaw
“Fear believes--courage doubts. Fear falls up the earth and prays--courage stands erect and thinks. Fear is barbarism--courage is civilization. Fear believes in witchcraft, devils and ghosts. Fear is religion. Courage is science.”--Robert Ingersoll