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It’s 5:31pm right now. This site has been up for approx 24 hours. In 24 short hours, something has become blatantly obvious to me: Christians, myself included, have a tremendous power. We have the power to turn people away from Christianity forever.
It’s breaking my heart…I can barely concentrate on anything and my stomach has been turning all day. No, I am not exaggerating. The emails and comments I’ve received in JUST ONE DAY are painful to read.
I want to do something here. My hope is to put the reality of the unseen into words for us all to see. Here’s the deal.
I want everyone to leave a comment giving a reason why you are turned off by Christianity.
If it’s a short story, leave a short story. If it’s two words, leave two words. If you’re a Christian, don’t lie - you know plenty of things turn you off about your faith. If you’re an Atheist, this should be easy for you. If you’re of another faith or still kickin’ the tires of Christianity, you’ve got an answer too. Let’s go for it.
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I can get really annoyed by people who call themselves Christians but in my point of view have nothing to do with Christianity.
I am talking about the fanatics who believe they are better than everyone else just because they believe in God and follow Christ (according to their perspective).
People who express their hate against others that don’t follow their believes (e.g. atheist, muslims, or even more tolerant christians) or don’t share their way of living (e.g. homosexuals, …).
I really cannot see how a true Christian can support hatred, violence or war against others.
Isn’t a Christian supposed to be open to others and tolerant for the mistakes in others.
Also I am horrified when I see Christians randomly quoting from the old testament to support their cause. (Is it a coincidence that hardly anyone quotes from the new testament? Didn’t Jezus stand up to people misusing the old testament for their own benefit?)
Luckily there are some Christians that do try to show compassion and help other people regardless of their beliefs.
(And I don’t claim to be one of them)
You don’t need to be a Christian to be a good person, and (apparantly) you don’t need to be a good person to be a Christian.
At least I am lucky enough to live in a country where these fanatics aren’t influencing politics as they do in the US.
PS: Islam is having the exact same problem.
[...] has a simple request: I want everyone to leave a comment giving a reason why you are turned off by [...]
Live and let live, try it sometime. And if you still have to tell us what to believe in, bring some evidence, please.
I don’t think you need to spend so much time browbeating yourself for “not representing Christ better” or some such excuse. The fact is that most Christians are pleasant, friendly people who, if they do so at all, discriminate against nonbelievers purely unintentionally.
Since you’re tackling the flipside of Hemant’s blog, I’ll point out that the same myth about atheists (that we’re mean, bitter people) common among Christians is also used by atheists to stereotype Christians. Neither myth is true. We’re all, for the most part, friendly people.
For me, apostasy wasn’t so much of a reaction to what I didn’t like about Christianity, nor even so much of a conscious choice. As a Christian, the more I studied the Bible, it became more and more apparent that it was not a divine work. Further discoveries whittled my orthodoxy down to virtually nothing, and then to literally nothing. None of these were particularly mind-blowing; each proceeded rationally from what came before it. And so, my apostasy is really much more a reflection of what I’ve learned as I’ve gone through life, just like gardening, or writing, or anything else.
Voting. The Creeds were voted on. The divinity of Jesus was voted on. You just can’t vote the truth. Something is either true, or it isn’t. It I decided to declare that Brad Pitt is Jesus returned, and I got enough people to vote on it, it would be as true as what was voted on in Nicea.
Crumbs, where to start?
I’ll have a think about it and get back to you if you don’t mind.
(Sent here by the Friendly Atheist.)
There’s a lot of reasons why I’m turned off by Christianity, and a lot of them are purely intellectual, logical, etc. But the thing that originally kindled my dislike were the Christians that I went to high school with. I didn’t like being preached at, or asked if I was saved. I found it offensive that they thought they had the corner on some universal truth when they lacked the ability to convince me logically that what they said was right. I was offended by the admission of one of my friends that the Dali Lama is going to burn eternally, because he’s not Christian. I could not (and still cannot) bring myself to believe in a system that doesn’t seem to care how GOOD a person is; if you don’t have your little Jesus club membership card, it doesn’t matter if you spent your life in selfless service and charity, you get to burn with the murderers. And as a bisexual woman, I was deeply offended that a God that my friends claimed in one breath was all about love would see me burn if I had the audacity to love someone of the same gender.
I think that there is too little love in the world; while I don’t think that any of my friends really hated anyone, the subtle hatred passed on through their words did more to damage their cause than any inconsistencies in their arguments ever could.
The base misogyny, authoritarianism, disturbing obsession with other peoples’ private lives, and constant proselytizing are just icing on the cake as far as I’m concerned. At the base of it is still the ancient out-group hatred that turned me off in the first place.
It isn’t true. 2,000 years of deception is enough.
My major beef with Chrsitianity is the need to “witness” or prosteletyze. In the extreme, this turns into the absurd and dangerous attempt to legislate so-called Christian morality, but I am as turned off by little, old ladies going door to door with Bibles trying to save my soul as I am by political/religious idealogues trying to turn America in to ther version of a Christian nation or trying to institute Sharia law in a European nation.
If Christians would live and let live, I would have no beef with them or their religion. Other sects should take a lesson from the Amish. They live what I consider to be an extreme lifestyle, but since they are not trying to convert others to their way of living (as far as I know), and they are not trying to coerce Congress to make their rules into the law of the land, I have no argument with them.
I was turned off to Christianity when I realized it doesn’t deliver. I was doing everything ‘right,’ which sounds so technical when put like that, but was extremely miserable.
I’ve been there, done that. Led Worship, Wrote worship songs, Prayed over others, prayed over myself, studied the bible intensely. Christians since my deconversion have tried to dismiss my sincerity, and that just turns me off even more. I was as sincere and dedicated as I could be.
There were times when I thought I felt joy, and I thought, ‘finally!’ But nothing. I only got more miserable and more alone. Since I rid myself of it, I couldn’t be happier.
That is what turned my off to christianity. And then there are the big three:
1) The Problem of Hell: Either god is Sadistic and Hateful, or hell doesn’t exist.
2) The non-uniqueness of Christianity. If it truly is the one source for truth, then why isn’t it unique in the world?
3) Internal and External contradictions in the bible and the faith. Internal condradictions, such as those found in the bible, as well as philosophical contradictions like, why would a perfect being create anything? External contradication such as the bible contradicting known history and science.
I consider Christianity to be harmful because of these things.
A long time ago, I started to get turned off by Christianity (and Judaism) by reading the book of Joshua.
Now-a-days: I am no so much as turned off by it as I simply don’t believe in supernatural stuff.
I get a bit irritated by those who just assume that their own superstitions are the natural “fall back” position, but what the heck.
Live and let live; if following some system helps you live a more serene life; if it helps you overcome addictions or become of more service to others, GREAT!
Thanks for the topic.
What do I dislike about Christianity? Let’s see, there’s the holier-than-thou attitude, the desire to influence government (where no religion has any business), the implication that non-Christians have no moral foundation, the misguided belief that the social guidelines of 2000 years ago are still relevant today, the conning of the gullible and vulnerable to line the pockets of the self-declared messengers of a fictional character, the wilful undermining of human advancement by subverting science education, contributing to the overpopulation problem and the HIV problem by directly or indirectly witholding contraceptives, the slaughter of millions in the name of a fictional character, the dumbing down of children, hatred of homosexuals, unhealthy obsession with sex, paedophile priests, disregard of environmental concerns…
I’m sure I can think of some more. I’ll get back to you.
I’m torn on this one. There are just too many possible answers.
It’s very tempting to answer that the Christian addiction to control is the biggest turn-off. If something doesn’t have god plastered all over it — and usually an explicitly Christian god — then way too many Christians go, to coin a phrase, ape shit.
Try to take “under god” out of the rather dubious pledge of allegiance? Evil! Try to organize a group for atheists in the armed forces? Evil! Complain that your money has to have god on it? Evil!
It isn’t all passive, either. The history of the church, particularly but not especially the Catholic church, is filled with incidents where the church attempted “outreach” in the form of threats and violence against those who did not believe. Right now, there is a definite move by some right-wing Christians to take over the U.S. military, presumably so that in the event of a secular president they can have a coup and turn the U.S. into Jesusland. Then there are the Dominionists, who have as many children as possible so that they can bring them up to be a new Christian majority no matter what happens via immigration.
That’s pretty bad, but it must be admitted that a lot of Christians don’t fit that pattern.
Of course, the Christians who don’t fit that pattern generally won’t do anything to halt those who do — as Robertson Davies once wrote on a related subject:
That, I have observed, is the moderate Christian view of atheists, muslims, jews, hindus, buddhists, and so on. When was the last time you heard of a Christian letter-writing campaign to keep creationism out of the science classroom?
So as I say, that’s a major contender. But then again, there’s a much simpler contender: any religion which views death and/or the end of the world as a positive thing is pretty sick. Christians view the end of the world as a good thing, since it will mean the second coming. And the death of someone who is “saved” (whether that’s the fundie “they accepted Jebus” or the moderate “they were good so god will accept them”) is also a good thing, because they are being eternally rewarded. Creepy, nasty things to think.
(And, incidentally, if the belief that the end of the world will be a good thing weren’t so common as to render this impractical, I would recommend that people who believe it be kept out of the armed forces, forbidden from holding public office, and preferably be forbidden from buying guns as well. It’s common sense — you don’t take someone who thinks of armageddon as the start of the party and put them in charge of the nukes. You just don’t.)
History: oppression of women, gays, minorities; repression of sexuality (homo and hetero), free speech, scientific progress
Theology: A deity who requires worship deserves none. Likewise, a deity who requires blind faith deserves none.
Logic: The absolute truth cannot be found in a book written by man. A person who literally believes in the virgin birth, resurrection, etc., is being willfully delusional.
That’s all I’ve got for now.
My dislikes do not include the whole of Christianity (as if anything does) nor are they exclusive to Christianity or even religion. That said…
1. An authoritarian basis for morality. People who (basically) acknowledge the subjective nature of morality and don’t like morality being subjective. Therefore, they assign the subjective decision making involved in moral decisions to another - God - and incorrectly believe that this makes morality objective. Such an attitude can completely divorce morality from human self-interest.
2. Rejection of solid empirical knowledge and / or acceptance of beliefs or knowledge based on unreliable methods. Having an accurate picture of what is is a critical component of decision making. Preferring plausibility or comfort to accuracy is harmful in making decisions.
Steven Weinberg said, “With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.” That doesn’t single out Christianity though; it’s religion in general. While most people are, like Zachary Moore said so well above, “good people,” so many are not, and those people are so very *loud.* But regarding Christianity, I’ve heard countless times that mainstream Muslims need to speak out against the radicals in their faith - which is true, they do - but Christians are guilty of the same silence: Where is the public Christian outrage at the Westboro Baptist Church for spewing their hate and glee at the death of others? It’s sickening. By keeping largely quiet on men such as Phelps, in the eyes of those already put off by Christianity, his statements are sanctioned by the Christian majority. I know this isn’t the case, and that Phelps is the minority, but there needs to be public Christian acknowledgment that his beliefs are wicked and detrimental to both American society and the Christian faith.
Old Testament - Quite frankly the God of the Old Testament displays some of the most immoral behavior I can think of.
Arbitrary designation of a chosen people? Is that like a Master Race? Command to perform genocide? Jews get a pass on that one since they were just following orders… oh wait.
Job’s ordeal? Inaction is the same as action in this story IMHO?
Inequality of all people not only NOT condemned but actually condoned. Women’s rights and slavery being 2 items on the top of my head.
New Testament - The guy who dies for our sins is actually not just a man but also God himself, but because he takes on human form then he can atone for our sins.
We should act like Jesus which is of course impossible since he’s God and we aren’t. But then again who would want to behave like God unless of course you have no problem with the above mentioned Old Testament grievances.
All of those problems are assuming a literal interpretation of the Bible. If you use the Bible more allegorically (liberally) then what’s the point of actually having the Bible since you get to interpret the Bible anyway you want at that point. Isn’t that simply using your reason/logic/rationalism and then finding validation for your reasoning in a specific document (which you get to interpret anyway).
I could keep going but I want to keep it brief.
Sent here by Friendly Atheist by the way
You are correct: as an atheist, this is fairly easy for me.
My biggest turn-off is related to how many I meet that respond in the middle of a conversation based on reasoning with some assumption that since they’re Christian they immediately have a stronger case regardless the nature of the argument (particularly morality, sciences, and others).
Another issue (particularly as a resident of Texas and the USA) is how the most vocal proponents of Christianity feel that in spite of being a recognized majority, they still need to pass laws and make statements that make obvious their contempt of anyone that would be appropriately labeled anything but Christian (such as the recent changing of the state pledge and vocally declaring non-theists not worthy of being citizens of their state/country/tribe).
When I see the state Governor appointing someone as head of education-related decisions that vocally opposes evidence-backed science, I fear not only for all of the current school-kids in my state that will soon have far fewer educational science opportunities available to them (without much personal self-study and research on their part), I also am saddened by all of the other states that rely on our school-book choices and will be similarly limited. Related to that is also the self-interest related expectation that as I age it may well be harder to find medical personnel that can trust to treat my inevitable senescence with data and science rather than the expectation that magic spells can solve my problems most effectively.
Wow. Where to begin?
Well, for starters, the word “Christian” in America has come to mean “right wing Republican asshole who is a pro-life, pro-torture, bigoted hypocritical Creationist homophobe.”
Now granted, most Christians are not like this. But the ones dominating our national discussion *ARE* like this, and until the “good” Christians stand up, get noticed and reclaim the label, “Christian” will mean whatever the loudest Christians SAY it means.
Even if we take the right-wing fundies out of the equation, though, I would still have a problem with Christianity.
Christianity relies largely on “faith”, and I contend that “faith” is a dirty word. “Faith” is the opposite of reason and rationality. “Faith” means it’s OK to believe in something just because it feels good, regardless of any facts or evidence to the contrary. “Faith” undermines science, and promotes anti-intellectualism.
Christianity instructs us to believe in supernatural entities without any shred of proof — and to obey their wishes, as conveniently translated for us by self-appointed priests and clergymen.
No thank you… I have a mind of my own…
Well as a Christian….let’s see…. um, I guess the thing that angers me but more so hurts me, is being criticized the minute I’m not who everyone expects me to be.
You see, as people, (Christian, Buddhist, Islam, Atheist - whatever you want to be) we tend to put each other in little boxes of what we think each is supposed to be. I step slightly outside of my “good little Christian” box and someone always has something to say.
Truth of the matter is, God designed me. He is the only one who knows who I am made to be. Should I try and represent Jesus as a Christian, yes but I hope for the days where people remember one thing - I’m not Him and no one will ever be.
Perfection is something only the Lord Himself could achieve. Otherwise, I’m just me being me. I don’t want to slam a Bible in your face, I don’t want to tell you who you should be. I live my life to follow Christ because, for me, it is what completes me.
Don’t get me wrong. I am on fire for who He wants me to be. I want to read, and learn, and study, and live what He is trying to teach me….but please, if I step out of line - don’t preach at me! We are all on the same team - we all long for a passionate beautiful life with Christ in eternity. I’m going to mess up and so are you, I just prefer not to yell at you for it.
I am, however, more than ok with people correcting me out of love
Christianity used to turn me off because it did not make sense to me. In fact, it made less sense the more I looked into it.
However, just last week I realized that me being God in my own life wasn’t working…someone else out there would be able to do a much better job at being God.
I used to be turned off because I couldn’t have it proven. There was not proof anywhere out there…at least not to the standards I set. Now…I still at times struggle to believe certain aspects of it, but once I let my guard down, realized I was willfully being disobedient…Christianity doesn’t seem that bad.
People who claim to be Christians, then act in some far off way still irritate me…but they are just people, they have had issues in their lives, that I can’t judge them…Christianity is about me Loving God, and loving people…some days I’ll do it better than others…
It’s not my job to base who I am in Christ off of anyone else’s interpretation of Christianity, so the thought about Christianity used to disturb me…now not so much since I’ve realized I cannot be God…I need to let him do it…things line up logically if you really search it out…to where it may have only been a week difference…I’m all for the difference now.
I know people will struggle with this belief system until they are dead or believe…I know that the struggles are real, intense, and can be through different means whether it’s intellectual, emotional, etc., Christianity will always give a bad name off to people…it’s Jesus they need to know…not Christianity.
I haven’t read many of the comments above, so I might repeat myself. Here’s a list off the top of my head. (I know there are always exceptions to these, everyone’s different, yadda yadda)
1. Hypocrisy.
2. Anti-science attitude.
3. I find the concept of Hell to be horrifyingly sadistic.
4. Arrogance and patronizing attitudes.
5. The ideas of original sin and blood sacrifice make no sense to me.
6. Meddling in government.
I’m certainly not implying that all atheists are peaches and cream! (I’ve met plenty of arrogant atheists, and even some with anti-science attitudes for example.) And depending on whether you mean “Christianity” as the pure doctrine, or “Christianity” as it is practiced by real people some of the items above may or may not apply.
Unlike some of the above commenters, I’ve never had a bad experience with Christians (aside from being bored by church). I don’t dislike Christians, and I can only say I dislike Christianity in the sense that I deconverted from it.
So what turns me off is that in religion, belief has metaphysical importance. Belief is in itself a good.
As one of the regulars over at Friendly Atheist I want to say I really like the idea of your website and I hope it prospers.
As a grammar school kid I always disliked any ideas of exclusivity. Religions claiming that they had the right way and the only way were an instant and permanent turn-off to me.
As an adult I have no difficulty tolerating religions until they intrude into five rooms where they don’t belong. When they go there, I am immediately in their faces.
The five rooms that Christianity and any other religion should stay out of are: someone else’s bedroom, the courtroom, the public classroom, the operating room and the laboratory. Stay out of those and we’re fine.
About the only real problem I’ve got with Christianity is the concept of vicarious atonement, have no idea if the miracles happend or not, I wasn’t there. The Virgin Birth, likewise and as a New Englander it strikes me as being none of my business. “christianity”, the name “Jesus” pasted on the American Imperial Religion whose god is Mammon, that’s an entirely different matter. That is sheer evil and what most people on the blogs seem to mean when they use the word. “christianity” is a fascistic blight on the country and the world.
Oh, I should mention, liberal Christians aren’t anywhere near pushy enough. The world would be a lot better place if they asserted themselves more.
I discovered mythology. I felt so betrayed that people had told me xianity was true when I came to realize it was just plagiarized from earlier mythological ideas.
My problem with Christianity is the same with all religions- faith.
To be perfectly clear, I am defining faith very narrowly- faith is belief in something without, or contrary to evidence.
All religions make claims that cannot be verified by evidence- sometimes (like the Creationists) they make claims that are directly contradicted by evidence. “Faith” becomes the barrier to inquiry.
Faith, in no circumstances, should be viewed as a valid mode of thought, and we should aggressively root out faith from our lives. Why do I make this claim?
Once you allow faith to justify a belief or action, you can now justify any belief or action. Faith frees you from the confines of evidence, from the confines of skeptical and rational thought, and allows you to decide something is true because you believe it to be true.
The worst atrocities in history have been brought about by faith, whether it is faith in religion (like the Inquisitions), faith in the state (like Soviet Pogroms), or faith in an ideology (like the racist ideology of Nazi Germany).
In this, I think, I’m a little different. I have absolutely no problems with religion. Zero. But I have an issue with faith- and since nearly all religions are founded on a bedrock of faith, I end up opposed to religion. There are religions that don’t require faith- certain flavors of neo-paganism and Discordianism to name some examples.
If someone invented a branch of Christianity that didn’t: require belief in god, the resurrection, Jesus’s divinity, the prophecies of the various books, etc.- I’d take no issue with it. But it’d hardly be Christianity anymore.
It’s rehashed pagan mythology stitched on, Frankenstein-like, to Judaism. And Judaism is rehashed Mesopotamian mythology descended with modification.
I especially hate it when Xians justify the genocide of the OT (even though it’s all fiction they THINK it’s real and approve anyway). Not just what Joshua, Saul, David, et. al. did, but what god did to the first born Egyptians and then laughed about it later - I need to find the reference for that last part.
JC showed signs of megalomania and schizophrenia with sudden outbursts at random moments and lashing out against people who were on his side.
So, Xians think he was either:
a)a liar
b)crazy
c)God
My vote goes to (a) and (b) and definitely NOT (c). Though I doubt that the JC of the NT even existed as recorded.
The NT outdoes the OT in terms of horrow due to the horific, pernicious, and manipulative doctrine of Hell.
Biblical consistency and uniformity of writing style would be a start if I am to believe that a deity had anything to do with it. There isn’t a single sentence in that book that couldn’t have been written by a human.
Christianity without the bible is also rather violent. I need to ask for forgiveness for the sins of a remote ancestor, and if I don’t I will be tortured for eternity? Oh, but God loves us.
I could write volumes about what Christian fundamentalists have done to make the world a worse place, but that doesn’t address Christianity as a religion. That would be more about why fundamentalism and its use of political opportunism, which is NOT unique to Christianity, bothers me. So, in regards to Christianity specifically as a religion: It turns me off because it’s full of shame and self-degradation. This reflects my Roman Catholic upbringing, I think. Most Christian doctrine, regardless of sect, espouses a transcendental dualistic view of the Self, where the Spirit is holy and in need of saving, and the Body is loathsome and must be shed. Now, as someone who has to live in my own body for my entire life, I found having this perspective unlivable. What can such a view do but teach us to hate ourselves? Furthermore, it dehumanizes us to seek perfection, in particular when that perfection can only come after death. What a way to live! A life of self-imposed body dysphoria? No, thank you. Total repression of our “animal instincts,” as they are derisively termed, in pursuit of perfection is downright unhealthy. That’s not to mention the self-loathing that comes from reminding yourslef of your “unworthiness” with the judgment of a perfect god-figure, who created you and loves you, but hates your body for the natural functions he made it to do. How twisted and damaging to one’s psyche.
Then there’s the more personal reason, which ties into those given above, somewhat. I resent being made an outlaw of gender and sexuality. Fortunately, I had the good sense as a pre-teen to skip over most of the “self-loathing gay Christian” act. I’ve always felt comfortable with the idea of being attracted to men. What bothered me was that other kids weren’t so lucky. By my senior year in a nondenominational Catholic/Protestant school, I was the only out gay student in a high school of over 100 students. It may sound petty, but it sucked to never have a boyfriend, especially when I knew and loved people who were obviously repressing their sexuality. I was, and still am, furious at homophobic Judeo-Christian doctrine for having created such a hostile climate towards homosexuality that I would be deprived of the affection that others around me so openly exchanged. And even now, when I am out at college and have the chance to enjoy myself, that old Catholic shame comes back to tell me to hate my body and its urges. Despite my best efforts to excise it, it’s ingrained. And though I might be perfectly comfortable with the idea of having a relationship with another man (or, indeed, with anyone I may fall in love with), the physical action of it no longer comes naturally to me. It’s as William Blake wrote in “The Garden of Love,” if you will excuse my reprinting of the entire poem:
I laid me down upon a bank,
Where Love lay sleeping;
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping, weeping.
Then I went to the heath and the wild,
To the thistles and thorns of the waste;
And they told me how they were beguiled,
Driven out, and compelled to the chaste.
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut
And “Thou shalt not,” writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.
Sorry about the long post, but this is a very personal issue for me, as much as it is for you.
Christianity in general doesn’t turn me off when taken at face value. It’s just that there are so many people who use their faith as a basis or justification for some really bad things. The most glaring of which to me is the persecution of gays and strict sexual repression.
I’m a former Christian, current atheist. When I was a Christian, I never saw that, but I see how easy it can be now. I’m lucky enough to live in a liberal enough area where it isn’t a big issue. I left Christianity for other reasons, mainly because I came to the conclusion that it just wasn’t true.
If Christianity was only what I perceived when I was a Christian, I would have the slightest problem with it. I still don’t have a personal problem with it. It’s only when I see the big things like what Sam Harris talks about that I get worried.
what’s my problem with Christianity? Well there are a number of problems I have with Christianity.
I don’t have a problem with *most* Christians, although the Intelligent Design/creationist crowd pisses me off because they are trying to pass their religious-based nonsense off as science which it patently is not and I’ve run into a lot of Christians on the Internet that are very smug about the fact that they are “saved”, and they seem to enjoy telling me that I’m going to go to hell.
I’ve always had a problem understanding how people can simultaneously believe that God is all loving and that he will damn you to eternal suffering and torment if you don’t worship him, even if you made a genuine effort to discover the truth about religion and stuff and you tried to be a good person and be nice to people and all that good stuff. It just seems incredibly unfair that if Christianity is true, my mom, who was one of the most loving, gentle, caring, moral people you could know but happened to be an atheist is burning in Hell for eternity right now because she didn’t believe in Jesus. I don’t think ANYBODY deserves to suffer for eternity, no matter what they did when they were alive. Also, some people will say that even if you are a bad bad person if you accept Jesus as your Saviour you automatically go to Heaven, which also seems unfair. Hilter was Christian, so that would mean that he’s in Heaven while all the innocent Jews he gassed are in Hell.
Also, the idea that Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven from our sins or whatever just doesn’t make sense to me, why couldn’t God just forgive us? Why was it necessary for blood to be spilled in order for us to be forgiven? It doesn’t make much sense to me.
That’s about all I can think of for right now.
I’m not bothered or angered by the fact that it’s made up.
No, it’s the obsessive need to be actively recruiting people all the time. Bothering people at every turn doesn’t help your cause.
Also the emotional blackmail. I have to credit my pastor’s weekly guilt trips of ’say yes to Jesus, today, right now, just say yes to him,’ for finally giving me the oomph I needed to leave the church behind. I just wanted to scream at him, “I will do it on my own time, if I do it at all. Stop pestering me!” Which I guess fits in with the aggressive proselytizing, but this was in the middle of his sermon. Like he was trying to convert the choir or something. It really put me off.
Third, I know that it’s a small part of Christianity, but I really do have to mention the religious authoriarians who want to subsume every sect into theirs and turn the country into a theocracy run by them. Small part, I know, but they are Christians.
I was raised Jewish, so it wasn’t like I was never expected to be a Christian. However, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all incredibly misogynistic and I’m a feminist!
I feel that notion of Original Sin - which basically states that being human is a sin - is damaging to people, because we can’t be anything but humans. Making thoughts sinful is also harmful, because trying to avoid a thought is guaranteed to make you think the thought (example: try not to think of a white elephant). These are probably some of the things Dawkins et al. think of when they say teaching religion to children is abuse.
1) Christianity was clearly invented and constantly revised by people throughout the years. People wrote the bible, various councils changed church dogma, people were responsible for the religion splintering into different factions and if there is one thing I know to be true about people it’s that they are often wrong. Especially 2000 years ago.
2) Making decisions based on faith makes no sense to me. I prefer decisions to make made on clear evidence and rational thought.
3) I hate that people think morality only comes from God. We invented computers and put men on the moon. We don’t use science from 2000 years ago; we don’t use political systems from 2000 years ago, we don’t use economics from 2000 years ago. We can make up a rational cohesive code of morality based on truths that we have from experience in today’s world.
4)Religion is more polarizing than anything else in the world. It’s impossible to argue with someone who respects the word of God above the word of any of the 6 billion people on this planet. Yet it is those 6 billion people that will determine our fate.
I am intellectually unable to believe in the god(s) described in the bible and by his followers. I haven’t chosen not to believe. It is intellectually impossible for me.
This has driven a wedge between me and my father, mother, some of my siblings, and many people that I grew up with. It’s a shame that a fable has this much power.
-Mike
I was turned off to Christianity because I found out that it’s simply not true.
Bill, my heart goes out to you.
You wrote: “Christians, myself included, have a tremendous power. We have the power to turn people away from Christianity forever.
It’s breaking my heart…I can barely concentrate on anything and my stomach has been turning all day. No, I am not exaggerating. The emails and comments I’ve received in JUST ONE DAY are painful to read.
I want to do something here. My hope is to put the reality of the unseen into words for us all to see.”
Bill, Christianity is broken, and you can’t fix it.
Christianity is a completely broken system, from top to bottom. It’s 2000 years old, and if you put OC (original Christianity) next to its modern-day namesake, you’d never recognize it.
I know that’s a sentiment many Christians might agree with. But here’s one they won’t: It’s the things that are different that are BETTER.
Modern “interpretation” almost universally has improved the actual practice of Christianity. I have no desire for us to go back to ancient versions of the tradition.
The problem is the theology is based on master-slave dynamics. The language is “God as King”. It’s top down, which is great if you’re a king, and great if you’re powerful, and wonderful if you’re a member of the priesthood… but terrible if you’re poor, weak, sick, etc.
Christianity hates the weak. They speak with forked tongue and bless the weak, then trample the weak…
What does the Church do with the weak of spirit? The weak of faith? Those wracked by doubt? Those suffering emotional pain? Those weak to temptation? It casts them aside. It wants the SURE, the strong, the willing and the supplicant.
NEVER does the Bible teach one lesson about the very moral occupation of self-doubt, of questioning, of tentativeness, of weighing both sides. Nope. Instead it’s all about the virtues of knowing you’re right in believing in God when the whole sinful broken world tries to tear you down.
It’s a bunch of stories voted on by the powerful, that were chosen to placate the weak and keep them from rising up. Sheep.
It tells each and every perfect child that they are broken. It tells my daughter that she has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and she deserves Hell, for the wages of sin is death.
All to make a fat wad of cash, or buy Reverend Falwell another jet.
Well, if humanity is broken, then Christianity certainly is. It tethers us morally to a more barbaric, less enlightened time. A time when men owned women. A time when daughters were sold into slavery, and the price was set by God.
It sets a worldview where the physical is evil and the spiritual is virtueous, casting us against our own biology. It says sins will be righted after death, and thereby placates the suffering masses and insures that they won’t be righted any time before.
It places modern culture, morals and moral decisions in the hands of the long dead, and elevates them and their self-appointed spokespersons to the status of gods.
It is a belief that REQUIRES man to speak for God, which inevitably causes trouble. Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and everyone speaking for God cannot help the corruption. Prophets especially included. Possible saviors especially included. Authors of Biblical books who saw visions at roadsides especially included. Church Fathers who voted on biblical inerrancy especially included.
Individual believers especially included. All readers of the Bible, especially included. The act of reading the Bible and attempting to understand it is ITSELF an act of speaking for God. Interpretation allows for placing absolute power in the hands of the human ego. No human ego can resist… it’s Tolkien’s Ring of Doom.
If humans are broken, then Christianity is broken the moment any Christian asserts any fact about God.
It’s because the entire field of theology is a field where no idea can be falsified. It’s a broken field of thought that is wonderful for musing. Fantastic for illuminating mystery. Wonderful for creating perspective or setting life into stark relief. But terrible…absolutely terrible at discriminating fact from fantasy.
I think Christianity is fatally broken. It had a 2000 year chance, but it has failed humanity. I think it’s time to salvage what’s good about it and move on, untethered by the brutality of a system designed to work best when carried by cannon and sword.
We may find God eventually, or a god of some shape or form unimaginable to us now. But I highly doubt the slavemasters and inquisitionists and goat slaughterers of the bronze age had a better insight than we do. Time to move on.
Most atheists that I know come from Christian backgrounds. A few are bitter, but most are not. In fact, the overwhelming majority maintain a respectful silence, not wanting to offend their friends and relatives. Unfortunately, their silence makes them invisible, and thus arises the stereotype of the “Village Atheist”, which everyone finds so distasteful.
Pointing out difficulties in the Christian faith is a purely destructive enterprise, and I seldom have the stomach for it. I do think people would be better off if they faced some of these difficulties instead of giving God the credit for the sunshine and taking the blame for bad weather on themselves. But religion looms so large in some people’s lives that anyone who tries to shake someone’s faith is assuming a big responsibility for the consequences if they succeed. I don’t want the responsibility, so….live and let live.
The thing that comes to mind at the moment that turns me off about Christianity is the total dependence on ‘belief’ for salvation. The bible says those that believe are saved but the unbelievers are condemned. (Specific examples: John 3:16 and Rev. 21:8) Combine this with the fact that there is no solid supporting evidence for any of the supernatural claims of Christianity.
The worst thing about this is that the resultant fear of disbelief causes most Christians to so close their minds to even the slightest possibility that they could be wrong, that it is near impossible to have an intelligent conversation with them about god-belief vs. atheism. AND it causes a lot of them to conclude that unbelievers must really be immoral and evil it unbelief merits hell, as the bible says it does. This, I think, is the source of all the negative stereotypes of atheists down though the ages. The bible tells them so.
So there you go, there is one of the things that turns me off about Christianity. Thanks for asking
I once was planning on being a missionary, taking the good news to Africa. Then I went to Africa and realized they already had the gospel (and thousands of different varieties of it), but they really needed development and medical care, so I shifted my studies toward more direct relief (ie., medicine).
Theologically speaking, the things that led me away from Christianity were:
1) Paul (accepting him as an inspired writer)
2) Suffering- the general injustice of the world (es
3) Hell (separate from #2)–the idea of eternal suffering for wrongs inevitably committed by flawed creatures, or for ignorance of the Truth, never sat right…
I attend a private Christian university and practically all of my friends are Christians. One thing that still annoys me (though maybe not quite as much as when I actually still called myself a Christian) is the acceptance of the selfish, American consumer lifestyle. The gospels call Christians to radical acts of service and self-sacrifice, and few of the Christians I know even come close to that. As a humanist now, I’m just as enthused about service for others, but I’ve stopping trying to get them to believe something I could never prove was right.
Faith, Jesus, the Bible, Christians, Indoctrination.
I’m not turned off by Christianity. I’m just a non-believer.
In fact, I find it a little off-putting that you think it should be easy for me to find a story about why Christianity puts me off. Like you expect all atheists to be angry.
Ever hear of the FriendlyAtheist.com?
(after my mistaken post over at the FriendlyAtheist…reading thoroughly is overrated).
The herd mentality bothers me (of course that is found many places beyond the church), and the judgment that is directed toward people who are not part of the herd (again, not exclusive to Christians, but certainly present to a very high degree).
I wouldn’t even mind the judgment that much, if some of the more vocal ones didn’t use it to restrict the rights of others (abortion, gay marriage, etc). That really irks me.
This is more of a problem for religion in general. Once you start believing in things that aren’t real where do you stop? If kids are told there is an invisible sky-guy then why not also believe in astrology, phrenology, tarot & Sylvia Browne. It makes people dumb.
Very simple: It’s almost certainly not true.
Friend brings up some interesting, compelling, and powerful points about this religion. I must say that I was impressed with that submission!
My beef with Christianity has a lot to do with its attitude toward obvious logic. Case in point: stem cell research. I know its touchy, but as a person who knows many people who would benefit from such research, its hard to stand by and let theologians decide the fate of thousands, if not millions. I think that atheists tend to appreciate life more in the sense of conscious, established, and suffering life. Let me ask you, would you prefer to see a living being saved from death by stem cell research? Or, are you more bothered by the fact that a small group of cells might die from the process of researching them?
I think its important to look at faith objectively and logically, especially when it involves something as precious as conscious life. Lets put our brains before our books, our hearts before our hypocrisy, and our logic and reason before our leaps of faith.
First, try not to let the fact that people disagree with you turn your stomach. It isn’t your fault that we have no clear evidence for a transcendent creator.
Second, if I had to summarize what turns me off about Christianity it is the elevation of belief based on faith, revelation, authority to be a virtue, the only meaningful virtue a person can hold, and the demonization of honest questions and disbelief as the ultimate crime, worthy of eternal punishment.
I can no longer understand how I could have believed that blind acceptance of unproven premises could be the ultimate good, and that having a different opinion was the ultimate evil, worse than any crime against another person. Offending the sensibilities of a God who we could never harm in any way, even if we tried, is worse than any amount of suffering we could cause to our fellow human beings.
I don’t know how I can adequately express how evil that idea is, and how much suffering it leads to.
I hate the intolerance of some christians - a family member of mine is a devout christian, he says that homosexuality is evil and should be outlawed and that another family member was offending him by reading The DaVinci Code.
I hate the fact that some christians expect people to be completely respectful of their beliefs and insult everyone else’s - you don’t believe what I believe, therefore you’re wrong and you should change what you think. If you want me to respect your beliefs, respect mine.
I hate the fact that many christians propagate lies about athiests - that we must be immoral because we don’t follow their god’s rules. That’s insulting.
And lastly, I hate the fact that christianity teaches people blatant untruths and blind obedience. We need less blind obedience, more questioning - less “young earth” and “creationism” and more science and reason. If something is a fact and it doesn’t reconcile with your belief, change your belief or tell yourself you’re being challenged or something - don’t try to change the fact.
First of all, I get it, I really do. If you truly believe that anyone who doesn’t share your beliefs will die and suffer eternally in a hell, how can you NOT try to convince anyone who will listen to you? That would go double for anyone you really care about or love. So, yes, I get it, but it’s going to alienate as many people (or more) than it ’saves’. It’s irritating on a personal level and highly destructive on a societal level.
In addition, I second everything that Friend said in comment #39 - it’s broke and you can’t fix it. And worst of all, it’s the flaws that have made it so successful.
The sad truth is that intolerance WORKS. If your faith claims to be the one and only truth, to be spread at all costs, once it becomes the faith of those in power it will eradicate any other more tolerant faith. It happened in ancient Rome, it happened all over Europe, it happened in the Middle East with islam, it happened to the natives of the Americas and it’s in danger of happening here again.
Diversity is a good thing, in my book, but when push comes to shove, intolerance is far stronger. Is that strength something any true believer is willing to abandon? Why should they, if it works? Seriously, if you have the one and only truth, isn’t tolerance pointless at best, and downright wrong if it gets in the way? Looked at that way, tolerance suddenly seems like an evil to be eradicated.
Can you see know why many people fear, mistrust, and dislike the intensely religious of all stripes? With faith, all things are not only possible, they are excusable. I can think of no more dangerous way to look at the world.
Keats said it more elegantly-
“The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.”
Welcome to the world as we know it….
Disciple of Jesus Christ is a more apppropriate term in my opinion.
I believe in God! I have all my life - I did not become a “Christian” unitl I was 19. I am married to a music Pastor and we serve in a Non-Denominational church. The majority of people who attend our fellowship or walk through the doors are the hurting, the ex-drug addicts (one who is on our music team), the current drug addicts, and so on. And not one of them have ever, ever been shunned or ridiculed. That would be horrific! We are a church that is in our community - that has our heart for our community as a whole - not just the part that looks good or does the “right” thing. Having said that - we are also a church made up of imperfect people. We fail. We make mistakes. We do stupid things all the time. I HATE that there are so many “Christian” idiots out there! If at the end of my life, having lived it believing in God with all my heart, I find that it was the correct thing for me to do - then I will be very fortunate. If I die and find that I was wrong all along - I will not have harmed any one along the way, no harm would have been done and I will face the same end as everyone else then. But for me, I choose God and make no personal apologies for me but am heart broken but what I have read above because of others….
Okay, I’ll start with a quote that someone else had on Hemant’s website, b/c it sums up perfectly how I feel:
“My major beef with Christianity is the need to “witness” or proselytize. In the extreme, this turns into the absurd and dangerous attempt to legislate so-called Christian morality, but I am as turned off by little, old ladies going door to door with Bibles trying to save my soul as I am by political/religious ideologues trying to turn America in to there version of a Christian nation or trying to institute Sharia law in a European nation.
If Christians would live and let live, I would have no beef with them or their religion. Other sects should take a lesson from the Amish. They live what I consider to be an extreme lifestyle, but since they are not trying to convert others to their way of living (as far as I know), and they are not trying to coerce Congress to make their rules into the law of the land, I have no argument with them.”
beautifully said. this is very much one of my beefs too. and it doesn’t just happen to non-xtians. I’ve got a dissertation here of stuff to say, so just bear with. if you read it all, I’ll be impressed
First off, I wanted to say you seem like a really nice and good guy, and I’m sorry if these comments add to your pain. they’re really not aimed at you personally, and I don’t hate Christianity as a whole. most of my family is christian (I used to be and I still have some leanings, but I”m mostly agnostic deist now). it’s just lately in this country the zealous christians really seem to be increasing in number and causing a lot of trouble. When I say “you” in this message I don’t mean you personally Bill.
I grew up in a very liberal catholic environment. I knew about other religions and the environment was pretty tolerant (yes, it can happen). but when I went to college, I started getting the “Jesus camp” type fundies in my face telling me I was going to hell. one of my main beefs is they won’t even let other believers be-you have to believe THEIR way, or NO way. it’s not enough to believe in God and Jesus-you have to do it their way, and you have to be mean to gay people, pagans, agnostics, etc, all of which I was friends with and didn’t see a problem with. the in-fighting is a big problem. however, once I was around more non-liberal catholics I developed a problem there too. much of catholicism thinks they too are the “only way”. honestly liberal catholics should just join the reformed catholic church b/c many of the tenets of catholicism are not so liberal. just recently the pope confirmed this when he said all other churches are defective. it’s the same theme “believe our way or else”. I’m an agnostic deist now, and my main beef with xtianity as a whole (and most religions) is that they think they know for sure and that’s that, everyone else is wrong. they just know. the liberals I grew up with were more like agnostic xtians b/c they did admit they didn’t know and they could be wrong. many of my friends in similar situations turned agnostic theist/deist as well.
if religions would just admit they don’t have all the answers, that they could indeed be wrong, and stop trying to make EVERYONE conform to their way of thinking, I could live with them. I have no problem with them encouraging people to live better lives, helping poor people, etc. but is it really necessary to tell people how and when they can have sex, that they can’t use birth control, that if you’re raped and/or you want to live and you have an abortion you’re evil, that if you’re born gay you’re going to hell? is it necessary to terrify children with hell to get them to do what you want? is it necessary to decide your child is a christian before he or she can even walk? what I don’t get is many use the bible to justify being against gays, but when you confront them with some more really ridiculous things that the bible says (like stoning people!) they say “oh we don’t do that, that’s barbaric”-but you discriminate against gays? that’s not barbaric? I don’t get it. I do admire Jesus very much and think he said a lot of wise things. why don’t his “followers” follow him more? he hung out with all the “sinners” and was kind to them.
another beef: missionaries. I had one admit to me recently that giving poor people food was just a “tool to get them to come to christ”. what??? what about helping people b/c it’s the right thing to do? what about doing it b/c you think that’s what Christ would have wanted you to do and you want to be like him? what about helping them b/c it’s worth it to make the world a better place and help your fellow human? in the church I went to as a kid, they did just that-it was in DC and many homeless people came in. they were never pressured to convert at all. the church helped them b/c it was the right thing to do. some of them starting wondering about the religion of the people who had been so kind to them, and a few converted. but they did it b/c they wanted to, b/c they saw something in it that appealed to them. to me that’s much better than “here, have some food, now read this bible, or you might not get the food tomorrow”
another beef: thinking other cultures, religions, and people are inferior and “savages”. look at what was done to the native amercians, the hindus, the africans, the pagans, etc. why was it so important that they be xtian and european like? many of the native americans, for example were pantheistic-considering I can find plenty of stuff about some of the pagan and pantheistic origins of xtianity, I don’t think xtians should feel so superior. why not focus on commonalities rather then differences?
do more to help fellow believers. there are many xtians, jews, bahais, and others being killed in the middle east. speak out more against this and send aid to them, instead of sending money to groups that disrupt non-xtian prayers in the senate, or spending money on museums to help promote shoddy science. I notice some fundies love to talk about xtians and other religious are being martyred in places like Vietnam (they are, it’s horrible) but when you ask them what they do to help-well, not much. or you can send some of that money to all the people in the world who need help-there are so many.
don’t force in presidents that we don’t want. stop blocking stem cell research-let’s at least see what it can do. don’t hate someone just b/c they are not a xtian like you. the atheist, agnostic, deist, hindu, jew, muslim, etc. living next door might have a lot more in common with you than you realize-but you have to get to know the person, not the religion.
stop crying about discrimination when it’s done to you, and then doing it to everyone else. you can’t have it both ways. you can have your groups all you want, but so can everyone else. if you want your prayers in the senate-then the Hindu, Muslim, Jew, etc also must have theirs.
stop doing stuff like what was done to Nicole Smalkowski. it’s shameful. and stop pushing creationism into our schools. school is a place for science, not religion. you have kids coming out of schools ignorant as anything. it’s disgraceful.
uphold separation of church and state. stop saying this is a xtian country, when it was founded mostly by deists. acknowledge that it is for everyone.
admit that other religions have good stuff too. Buddha had a lot of good things to say just like Jesus. Buddhist monks have mediation and prayer experiences that change them too. it’s the experience more than the religion. Sam Harris argues this point well.
don’t hate on me just b/c I’ve stepped away from organized religion.
I have to also say it really annoys that thanks to the fundies, when many people hear the word christian they think of Jerry Falwell and the creationists. ironically, there are plenty of liberal christians who do believe in evolution at least around here. I was taught evolution in a liberal catholic school I went to. many catholics and Episcopalians I’ve met believe in it. I wish they’d speak up more-another point, moderates and liberals need to speak up more. most of my family is liberal catholic and they all believe in evolution. I didn’t even hear about creationism until college. sorry, but creationism has got to go. it’s okay to admit you’re wrong. it doesn’t mean you have to not believe in any higher powers. deists have been believing in a natural God that started evolution for a long time. someone else here quoted it very well “Well, for starters, the word “Christian” in America has come to mean right wing Republican asshole who is a pro-life, pro-torture, bigoted hypocritical Creationist homophobe.”Now granted, most Christians are not like this. But the ones dominating our national discussion *ARE* like this, and until the “good” Christians stand up, get noticed and reclaim the label, “Christian” will mean whatever the loudest Christians SAY it means.”
don’t label all non-xtians, especially atheists, as “satanists”. if atheists don’t believe in your god, what on earth makes you think they will believe in your devil? they just don’t believe in gods. period. that doesn’t make them bad people. get to know them. I mean all non-xtains when I say this, but I mention atheists specifically b/c the bias seems to be the worst against them. from my own experience, I’ve met good and bad people of all backgrounds. but I will say that the trend for me, when dealing with atheists vs. christians-an atheist will usually respect me and not tell me I have to agree with him. he just wants the same in return which I have no problem giving. a christian-the liberal ones will usually respect me and live and let live (at least around here). but the conservative ones-forget it-they will tell me I’m wrong, how can I even think non-xtians might be right, and will start quoting bible verses, especially that ridiculous fool one about people who don’t believe in their god.
oh yeah-stop relying on the freaking bible for everything. yeah, it has some good stuff, but it also has lots of well, embarrassingly bad stuff. just b/c the bible says it doesn’t make it right.
As for me, I didn’t “rebel” against anything. My experiences with religion growing up were actually pretty good. I wasn’t scared with hell or anything. I just was always skeptical, and eventually I stopped believing in a lot of stuff, so I figured why be dishonest and keep calling myself something I’m not? Someone else on here quoted it well:
“Also, the idea that Jesus died on the cross so that we could be forgiven from our sins or whatever just doesn’t make sense to me, why couldn’t God just forgive us? Why was it necessary for blood to be spilled in order for us to be forgiven? It doesn’t make much sense to me.”
That’s pretty much it. Thanks for reading.
We often hear about the angry atheist, but what about the aggressive Christian that keeps the unbeliever in the closet, afraid to speak?
1. Concept of faith and the idea that humans can’t contest the word of God because it can make reasonable arguments useless.
2. Implying that atheists lack morals because it may cause discrimination.
i first turned away from organized christianity when my pastor at the time told me, and not in a nice way, to stop asking questions. just have faith. maybe that works for some but those who want answers won’t be satisfied with that.
since that time (age 17) i feel that i used a step down approach…similar to the nicotine patch for those trying to quit smoking. i wasn’t quite ready to give up on god so i tried mormonism. totally wrong for me. i then went to wicca. no jesus…no difficulty reconciling the discrepancies in the bible. however…it was just tough to talk myself into believing in magic.
i finally realized its all false. humanity is what matters. if we could stop concentrating on the after life and invisible beings and start concentrating on ways to make the world better…we go a lot further.
now i’m not condemning every aspect of church. many of them, especially mormons, have great track records as far as taking care of people. just cut out the fiction and concentrate on that and we would be much better off.
i’m not as articulate as many here but that’s what i have to give.
I’m not turned off by Christianity. I’m just a non-believer.
“In fact, I find it a little off-putting that you think it should be easy for me to find a story about why Christianity puts me off. Like you expect all atheists to be angry.
Ever hear of the FriendlyAtheist.com?”
Yeah, that’s a good site. but there are a lot of angry atheists who do lend credence to the stereotype. I’m glad you don’t. just look at some of the comments on blogs like the rational response squad.
I spent many years searching my soul and examining the claims of the faith of my parents (formerly mine, too). After deciding it didn’t convince me (at all) It has becime the single most cause of pain to my family and former community. The singlemost cause of joy in my life (knowledge, rationality) is the singlemost cause of pain in theirs…
and that sucks.
Smoke and mirrors fairytales being passed off as truthful and fate-determining end-all, be-all facts thus elevating the followers of said fairytales (at least in their own minds) as the priviledged chosen above all other living beings pisses me off. Seeing oneself as chosen, with a direct line of communication with the king of the fairytale, and elevated in stature can cause one to treat others (aka ‘the enemy’) poorly, as we all have witnessed many times over. Now take these believers of such fairytales and give them political power and you really have a problem on your hands.
It doesn’t help that many of the arrogant believers become so engulfed in their fairytales that they are no earthly good, and that really puts a burr under my saddle. Thinking of Earth, the only home we have, as a temporary and disposable place is a dangerous mindset. Seeing yourself as dominant over this home and seeing this home as being created for your benefit, to provide for your comfort is also potentially harmful, especially if you are of the mindset that its usefulness is almost fulfilled, since the hero in your fairytale is preparing to swoop down and remove his chosen from the planet before destroying it.
Where to start:
1. As Andy says, “it’s almost certainly not true”
2. Treatment of “faith” as a virtue, often (but certainly not always) resulting in mindless sheep (strange that that word has positive connotations in Christianity) who can’t think for themselves - aka herd mentality.
3. Inability to accept rational criticism/arguments (or, ending all of them by relying on #3)
4. Evangelism. And yes, I even hate it when the atheists do it.
Alright guys…comments are closed. Thank you all so much for your comments…I really mean that.
[...] Friendly Christian was asking what turns us off from Christianity. I gave my answer there, but I want to expand a bit on one [...]
Does the word “Christian” make your stomach turn?
It’s 12:45 AM and I’m partitioning my hard drive… yes, I know, strange turn of events for this time of the night. I never get a chance to just sit down, take time and write a good blog post anymore. I’ve been following a fel…
[...] make your stomach turn?” It’s not my question, mind you. It’s from the Friendly Christian, and Jennifer at the “Et Tu?” blog brought it to my attention with this post. Although [...]
I am a deeply committed evangelical Christian. But yes, I am turned off by certain ideas that professed Christians promote. For example, I see no real evidence in scripture for eternal torment in hell. The scriptures teach annihilation in hell, and many evangelical scholars are admitting that this is so. Annihilation makes sense, be-cause people who have rejected Jesus would be unhappy living eternally in the unselfish at-mosphere that surrounds His presence. But it makes no sense at all to claim that a God of love maintains an everlasting Auschwitz. Read Jude 7. Sodom and Gomorrah suffered a punishment of eternal fire. Clearly, the results of the fire are eternal, not the duration!