Czernobog
Gold Member
I have been challenged several times to demonstrate how Christianity harms society, presumably be cause the person challenging me thinks that it doesn't. So, this will be the first of numerous discussions demonstrating exactly how Christianity harms society. Now, I am certain that any of a number of theists, and apologists will be tempted to respond with, "Well, but atheism..." fill in the blank. Don't. Resist that temptation. I'm sure that whatever you are about to say about atheism is earth-shattering, profound, and brilliantly insightful. So, by all means, go open a discussion thread with that thought. In the meantime this discussion is about Christians, and their affect on society. Let's do stay on topic. Now, on with the show...
The Bible's archaic, arbitrary code of ethics is ineffective in the real world. Now, this is not to say that the bible does not have any good ideas - Do not murder, Do not steal, for example. However, when you consider all of the rules, and regulations in the Bible as a whole, you discover vagueness, contradictions, absurdities, immorality idolized and morality demonized. Now, I'm sure that there are going to be Christians who swear this isn't true. Allow me to illustrate. According to the rules, as written in Deuteronomy, if you go to war and take women captive, you can marry them after shaving their head and living with them for a month. But, once you have, can't sell them as slaves to anyone else. Who the fuck needs to even be told not to sell their wife a s a fucking slave?!?! The people who wrote the Bible, apparently. Also, according to Deuteronomy, if you have a disobedient son, you can take him to the middle of town, and everyone can have a rock throwing party. Now, Christians will say, "Oh! But we don't do that any more," No, but it makes the abuse that you do deliver seem mild by comparison. "Hey, all I do is beat my kid with a belt, at least I'm not stoning him like we used to do..."
According to 1st Corinthians, a woman should sit down, shut up, and submit to their husbands. Now, again, Christians will insist, "Why yes, a wife should be obedient to her husband," Uh...I won't touch that one. I'll let your own wives deal with you on that score. However, I will point out that the Bible didn't just say "be obedient," Nooo. I, specifically says submit The word "submit" actually means to give over or yield to the power or authority of another. You know who else is expected to "submit"? Servants and slaves. That's right. The Bible specifically relegates wives to the position of servants, and slaves. Oh! And speaking of slaves, the Bible specifically endorses slavery in both the Old, and the New Testament. And this from a people who wrote an entire book about their shitty time as a race of slaves!!! Wrap your head around that one. So, how about we dispense, Christians, with any protestations about the morality advocated in the Bible.
But it gets better! Compounding the problem, the determining factor of whether or not you're forgiven or punished for violating these vague, contradictory, absurd rules is whether or not you believe in a story. Again, Christians are going to say, "That's not how it works! You have to accept him as Lord and Saviour!" And how do we know that he is "Lord and Saviour"? Oh. That's right. That story. So, you have to believe in a story. Okay...okay. You have to believe in a story, and say the magic words demonstrating that you believe the story.
Here's why that's bad. Imagine if you were trying to control a class of 6 year old children and you gave them an arbitrary set of conflicting, vague rules and told them that the only way to escape punishment for breaking the rules is to believe in a story. What would happen? Chaos would break out.
Children raised their entire lives on vague, arbitrary rules reinforced by fantasy stories of magic, and mythology grow up into adults with a warped sense of reality. They often feel guilty for doing innocent, natural things, believe they deserve to go to Hell, believe in magical spirits and powers, distrust science, fear pleasure and celebrate subjugation of self. These are not the habits of an enlightened society. They're irrational, and they contradict reality. If you live your life according to beliefs that contradict reality you're going to have a bad time.
Also, some of those kids believing in archaic, haphazard rules are going to grow up to be politicians, and they are going to try to laws based on those beliefs, which will in turn be draconian, archaic, and haphazard.
The Bible's archaic, arbitrary code of ethics is ineffective in the real world. Now, this is not to say that the bible does not have any good ideas - Do not murder, Do not steal, for example. However, when you consider all of the rules, and regulations in the Bible as a whole, you discover vagueness, contradictions, absurdities, immorality idolized and morality demonized. Now, I'm sure that there are going to be Christians who swear this isn't true. Allow me to illustrate. According to the rules, as written in Deuteronomy, if you go to war and take women captive, you can marry them after shaving their head and living with them for a month. But, once you have, can't sell them as slaves to anyone else. Who the fuck needs to even be told not to sell their wife a s a fucking slave?!?! The people who wrote the Bible, apparently. Also, according to Deuteronomy, if you have a disobedient son, you can take him to the middle of town, and everyone can have a rock throwing party. Now, Christians will say, "Oh! But we don't do that any more," No, but it makes the abuse that you do deliver seem mild by comparison. "Hey, all I do is beat my kid with a belt, at least I'm not stoning him like we used to do..."
According to 1st Corinthians, a woman should sit down, shut up, and submit to their husbands. Now, again, Christians will insist, "Why yes, a wife should be obedient to her husband," Uh...I won't touch that one. I'll let your own wives deal with you on that score. However, I will point out that the Bible didn't just say "be obedient," Nooo. I, specifically says submit The word "submit" actually means to give over or yield to the power or authority of another. You know who else is expected to "submit"? Servants and slaves. That's right. The Bible specifically relegates wives to the position of servants, and slaves. Oh! And speaking of slaves, the Bible specifically endorses slavery in both the Old, and the New Testament. And this from a people who wrote an entire book about their shitty time as a race of slaves!!! Wrap your head around that one. So, how about we dispense, Christians, with any protestations about the morality advocated in the Bible.
But it gets better! Compounding the problem, the determining factor of whether or not you're forgiven or punished for violating these vague, contradictory, absurd rules is whether or not you believe in a story. Again, Christians are going to say, "That's not how it works! You have to accept him as Lord and Saviour!" And how do we know that he is "Lord and Saviour"? Oh. That's right. That story. So, you have to believe in a story. Okay...okay. You have to believe in a story, and say the magic words demonstrating that you believe the story.
Here's why that's bad. Imagine if you were trying to control a class of 6 year old children and you gave them an arbitrary set of conflicting, vague rules and told them that the only way to escape punishment for breaking the rules is to believe in a story. What would happen? Chaos would break out.
Children raised their entire lives on vague, arbitrary rules reinforced by fantasy stories of magic, and mythology grow up into adults with a warped sense of reality. They often feel guilty for doing innocent, natural things, believe they deserve to go to Hell, believe in magical spirits and powers, distrust science, fear pleasure and celebrate subjugation of self. These are not the habits of an enlightened society. They're irrational, and they contradict reality. If you live your life according to beliefs that contradict reality you're going to have a bad time.
Also, some of those kids believing in archaic, haphazard rules are going to grow up to be politicians, and they are going to try to laws based on those beliefs, which will in turn be draconian, archaic, and haphazard.
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