In his 1927 essay “Why I Am Not a Christian”, Bertrand Russell makes a case against the existence of God in general, and opposes Christianity in particular.
Personally, I am all for God. However, in this essay, I am with Russell in voicing my opposition to Christianity.
“You shall know them by the fruits of their labor.“
- Who enslaved Africans? Christians.
- Who committed the genocide of Native Americans? Christians.
- Who colonized Hindustan ( India, Pakistan & Bangladesh ) killing millions, looting wealth, and reducing one of the most prosperous regions on Earth, to one of the poorest? Christians.
- Who colonized and forcibly converted South America, nearly killing off advanced ancient civilizations ( the Mayans, the Aztecs and the Inca )? Christians.
- Who committed the genocide of Australian aborigines and stole the continent? Christians.
- Who burned women as witches? Christians.
- Who persecuted Galileo? Christians.
- Who opposed Darwin? Christians.
- Who burned crosses on lawns? Christians.
- What was the official religion of the German Nazi party? Christianity.
- Who started World War I? Christians.
- Who started World War II? Christians.
- Who are the only people to drop nuclear bombs? Christians.
- Which mainstream religion preaches intolerance towards LGBTQ+ people? Christianity.
Taken together, the three Abrahamaic religions have the highest body count in all of human history.
Are there good Christians and bad Christians?
See the “No True Scotsman fallacy”.
I oppose Christianity, not people. After all, Jesus said, “Hate the sin, not the sinner.”
Whitewashing Genocide
Bengal was a region rich in natural and cultural resources, before
two to four million people were killed as a direct result of Churchill's policies, in the Bengal Famine of 1943.
36 year later, Mother Theresa was awarded the Nobel prize, for “helping the poor people of Bengal”.
The world remembers the kindness of the Christian nun, but not why the people of Bengal needed her in the first place, due to the white supremacist prime minister of UK.
Psychological Manipulation
Abraham was apparently commanded by God to kill his son Isaac, and readied to obey. Note that Abraham was not asked to kill some random person, or even himself, but to knife his own child. Killing one's own child is the most heinous and cold-blooded act a human being can commit. This act of mindless submission to authority is held by believers as good.
Today, Abraham would be diagnosed as a homicidal schizophrenic, for attempting murder at the command of a voice in his head. Christians are told to be grateful to this murderous voice of authority, and regard it as kind and merciful, because it actually stopped the murder, before Abraham could kill Isaac.
“Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.“
~ Voltaire.
Once a malicious hacker takes over a system, they test to see if they have full access. That seems to be the intent of the Bible here. Can the reader act on their own conscience and common sense, or can they be made to commit the most horrible act imaginable?
Christianity is a religion of Slave Morality, as Nietzsche put it. Basically, it asks you to switch off your brain and obey.
“Lean not on your own understanding...“
Christianity is the religion of crusaders, conquerors, colonizers, conquistadors and imperialists.
“When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.“
~ Desmond Tutu
Christianity teaches people to be like sheep, not like human beings. Christianity teaches that obedience to a voice of authority is supreme virtue.
Guilt Tripping
Christianity turns normal human behavior into a problem ( actually a “sin” ), to which Christianity conveniently has the only solution.
People have been having all kinds of sex for hundreds of thousands of years. Then, Christianity came along and told people that they would have to pull out an eye just for looking at someone lustfully. ( Sure, all lustful stares are not the same, but that's another story. ) Having convinced people to be sex negative and shamed them for their sexuality, Christianity proffers itself as the only solution.
Having implanted its bizarre system of morality, Christianity convinces people that they are “sinners” who need to be “saved”, and that Christianity is the only thing that will “save” them, in exchange for a mere 10% of their income, and a lifetime of obedience to an arbitrary set of rules that some religious authorities interpret and dictate as fact.
Christianity needs people to suffer, so it can swoop in to “save” them and enslave them to a lifetime of guilt-tripping by the church. Christianity tells people that they are “wretches”, and asks them to be grateful to the church for “saving” them. Christofascism is a system that works with the government to underhandedly push people to unnatural excesses, such as alcohol, harmful drugs, sex, violence, gambling, shopping, and other “addictive” behaviors.
Christianity hypocritically teaches people to “not judge”, although the invading forces of Christianity ( converting missionaries, colonizing armies, conniving politicians ) commit murders and rapes with impunity. When the colonized people try to rebel against Christian invaders, they are told to “turn the other cheek”.
Everyone has done something that they're not proud of. Everyone makes mistakes. But Christianity cleverly exploits our universal, small-scale personal guilt and equates it with its large-scale atrocities. Essentially, planting the fear of judgement in people gets them to trade jaywalking for genocide.
No other religion in history has attempted to convert people as aggressively and forcefully as Christianity.
Hypocrisy
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Christianity, as it is practiced, teaches one to be selective with one's neighbors. In America, many Christians live in gated colonies, with neighbors handpicked for their race and socioeconomic status to be easier to “love”. Poor people sleeping on the sidewalk are not seen as neighbors, and can be safely ignored as you drive to church in your best clothes, to put on a good show of worship, and sing in the choir of Pharisees.
Eternal Life: the Ultimate Scam
While I personally don't believe in an afterlife, many others do, motivated ( in my humble opinion ) by the fear of death. It is easier to believe something that we'd like to believe, than what is actually true. People die. Dead people don't come back.
If you are on the after-life trip, you have already bought a ticket to the great scam of “Eternal Life”. Jesus is merely the Travel Agent who claims to be able to upgrade your accommodation for the duration of eternity, in exchange for 10% of your income and a lifetime of obedience. In case there's no afterlife and/or you don't get into heaven after you die, please see Jesus for a full refund.
“You have only two lives, and the second one begins when you realize you have only one.“
~ Confucius.
Several other scriptures, predating the Christian bible by thousands of years, advise against the deadly trap of believing something to be true, merely because you want it to be true.
Yaksha: “What is the greatest wonder in the world?”
Yudhisthira: “The greatest wonder in the world is that people see other people die every day, but they still want Eternal Life.”
[ excerpt from “The Bhagvadgita” ]
Diversity of Thought
In my opinion, God does not need defending, or door-to-door advertising. God is far too vast and powerful. When people defend their religion, it is their ego's reduced image of God that they are defending.
The library is full of books on all subjects. However, fans of one book go around forcing this book on others at sword-point or gun-point.
When a Christian zealot pesters me on the street, and asks, “May I pray for you?”, I am deeply offended. They seem to make so many prejudiced and insidious assumptions, that it takes work to untangle them. Here are some:
- Assumption: I am not an atheist who would like to be left alone.
- Assumption: If I do believe in God, then I don't pray / meditate.
- Assumption: If I do pray / meditate, then my prayer / meditation practice is not enough.
- Assumption: The Christian in question, has a better connection with God than I do.
This offer of prayer is disingenuous at best. Nothing, absolutely nothing is preventing them from praying for me, themselves, or anyone. Who doesn't want good wishes and blessings? They don't really need my permission to pray. After all, I don't approach passing people and ask them, “May I masturbate to an image of you in my head?” If I feel like it, I just do it!
The whole offer of prayer is a sad, transparent ruse to obligate me in some way, and to show off how holy and superior they are. It's a sales tactic used by slimy salespeople who know their product is shoddy.
Often, Christians ask people if they need a prayer for something specific, like a miracle ( healing physical ailments, improving financial circumstances, etc. ) This pushes people into superstitious thinking. The same Christians will tell you that “God has a plan.”, which is really, really funny!
“God has a plan for everything, but we Christians can get him to amend it, just for you. Without prayer, God's plan will go on, as God planned. However, if you join us in our superstitious religion, that has already killed more people than any other religion, God will modify his Grand Plan. Our Bible is an infallible book of prophecies, but we can alter those prophecies.”
To me, helping hands are better than praying lips. Approach me with a cheesy, wordy ploy, and I am repelled. On the other hand, if I see people quietly picking up garbage from the street, or planting trees, I am drawn to them.
Big Business
Imagine this scenario – A pastor receives a ticket because his dog pooped in a public area, and he did not clean it up. He contests this ticket in court, saying that Constitution of United States forbids the government to abridge religious freedoms.
Sounds ridiculous, right? This is just what goes on every day. You can start a business without any qualifications, collect 10% of your customers income, and pay no taxes, if you claim that it's a church.
Religious organizations should not get a blanket tax-exempt status. Churches should be required to produce receipts and file taxes for any charitable work they do, just like any other organization. Religious leaders should be held accountable under the law. This does not abridge their religious freedom in any way. They are free to worship in any way that is permissible under the law. However, if your religion requires human sacrifices, that's not protected under the law.
In Ka'u, Hawai'i, there are 14 churches, including ironically, a Baha'i temple. In Na'alehu, there are many houses of worship right next door to each other. Each with its own building, its own spin on theology, and its own tax free organization. Some churches are better funded than others. They do charitable things, like feeding the poor.
1/3 households in Hawai'i experienced food insecurity in 2023
With so many churches feeding the poor, it is surprising that so many people are still food insecure. All churches get blanket tax-exempt status. And yet, there is too much duplication of effort, too much waste, and the poor are still not fed consistently. Homeless people have to keep track of the various times & places on Big Island where charities are feeding people. The schedule is very complicated. On the first Wednesday of each month, this church hands out free slices of pizza. On the second Tuesday, that church in another town gives out hot dogs. Many churches feed people at HOPE Services Hawai'i, except on weekends.
Life is certainly difficult for poor people, already stressed about other aspects of life, such as finding work, taking care of kids, getting training and education, arranging healthcare, and being able to afford other necessities.
If so many churches all believe in Christ, why can't they coordinate their efforts, to make sure they're actually getting the poor fed consistently, and getting the best outcome for their time, money and efforts? Feed everyone, and the motivations for crime drop. Well fed people are more civilized in behavior, agreeable, law abiding, generous etc. People take pride in the land, and start taking care of it.
So why are the levels of food insecurity so high? The answer, in my humble opinion, is systemic injustice.
Picture this – you're a young person, 18-25 years old. You drank some beer and/or smoked a joint. You engaged in rowdy behavior, as is normal for young people. Soon, you are arrested by the police and brought before a judge. The judge asks you a series of questions, such as:
- Are you clear-headed right now?
- Are you under the influence of any substances?
Being young, scared, and a little buzzed, you give the safe answers, on autopilot. Having given the answers that you thought would keep you out of trouble, you relax a little. Shortly thereafter, the judge makes the simplifying assumption that you are competent to stand trial. You are tried, in your inebriated state, and end up in prison.
In America's for-profit prison-industrial-complex, you are exploited as a worker who can be paid less than the minimum wage. In prison, you are exposed to harder drugs, gangs, and the darker side of life. By the time you come out, you already have a black mark on your permanent record and face an uphill battle when applying for work or educational opportunities. To survive, you break bad, and are on the margins of society for life, engaged in low-level crime at worst, doing menial jobs and living hand to mouth at best.
The church comes along, and makes you beholden to them by helping you just enough to trip you for life. The church needs you in a cycle of self-flagellation, to which it claims to have the only solution. Alcoholics Anonymous. Narcotics Anonymous.
Once you are in this downward spiral, it is very hard to recover. Even if you do, you have become a broken person, superstitious in your belief system, scientifically illiterate, low in self-esteem and in your expectations of life. You are forever told to feel grateful to your “savior”, the very organization that is gaslighting you and preying on your life-force. You join the ranks of the homeless, and are moved off the land to some tent city ghetto if you're lucky. Another native moved off the land, unable to claim ownership through a thorny thicket of laws, unable to fight for your rights, because you're struggling for survival. Mainlanders move in and buy more land in Hawai'i, which has become cheaper.
You just went from being a normal, stupid youngster, to a marginalized person without rights, living like a refugee on your own land.
This is what modern day slavery looks like. This is what imperialism looks like, should you care to look.
Sinead O'Connor rips the church a new one!
