Criticism of Christianity

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Criticism of Christianity has a long history which stretches back to the initial formation of the religion in the Roman Empire. Critics have challenged Christian beliefs and teachings as well as Christian actions, from the Crusades to modern terrorism. The arguments against Christianity include the suppositions that it is a faith of violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights and sectarianism.

In the

The formal response of Christians to such criticisms is described as Christian apologetics. Philosophers like Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas have been some of the most prominent defenders of the Christian religion since its foundation.

Scripture

Biblical criticism

Biblical criticism, in particular higher criticism, covers a variety of methods which have been used since the Enlightenment in the early 18th century as scholars began to apply the same methods and perspectives which had already been applied to other literary and philosophical texts to biblical documents.^[9] It is an umbrella term which covers various techniques which are mainly used by mainline and liberal Christian theologians to study the meaning of biblical passages. It uses general historical principles, and it is primarily based on reason rather than revelation or faith. There are four primary types of biblical criticism:^[10]

• Form criticism: an analysis of literary documents, particularly the Bible, to discover earlier oral traditions (stories, legends, myths, etc.) upon which they were based.
• Tradition criticism: an analysis of the Bible, concentrating on how religious traditions grew and changed over the time span during which the text was written.
• Higher criticism: the study of the sources and literary methods employed by the biblical authors.^[10][11]
• Lower criticism: the discipline and study of the actual wording of the Bible; a quest for textual purity and understanding.^[11]

Textual criticism

Within the abundance of biblical manuscripts exist a number of textual variants. The vast majority of these textual variants are the inconsequential misspelling of words, word order variations^[12] and the mistranscription of abbreviations.^[13] Text critics such as Bart D. Ehrman have proposed that some of these textual variants and interpolations were theologically motivated.^[14] Ehrman's conclusions and textual variant choices have been challenged by some conservative evangelical reviewers, including Daniel B. Wallace, Craig Blomberg, and Thomas Howe.^[15]

In attempting to determine the original text of the New Testament books, some modern textual critics have identified sections as probably not original. In modern translations of the Bible, the results of textual criticism have led to certain verses being left out or marked as not original. These possible later additions include the following:^[16][17]

• The ending of Mark^[18]
• The story in
  Pericope Adulterae
• An explicit reference to the
  1 John, the Johannine Comma

In The Text of the New Testament,

While consideration of the context is necessary when studying the Bible, some find the accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus within the four Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, difficult to reconcile. E. P. Sanders concludes that the inconsistencies make the possibility of a deliberate fraud unlikely: "A plot to foster belief in the Resurrection would probably have resulted in a more consistent story. Instead, there seems to have been a competition: 'I saw him,' 'So did I,' 'The women saw him first,' 'No, I did; they didn't see him at all,' and so on."^[24]

Harold Lindsell points out that it is a "gross distortion" to state that people who believe in biblical inerrancy suppose every statement made in the Bible is true (opposed to accurate).^[25] He indicates there are expressly false statements in the Bible which are reported accurately^[25] (for example, Satan is a liar whose lies are accurately reported as to what he actually said).^[25] Proponents of biblical inerrancy generally do not teach that the Bible was dictated directly by God, but that God used the "distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers" of scripture and that God's inspiration guided them to flawlessly project his message through their own language and personality.^{[26]: Art. VIII}

Those who believe in the inspiration of scripture teach that it is infallible (or inerrant), that is, free from error in the truths it expresses by its character as the word of God.^[27] However, the scope of what this encompasses is disputed, as the term includes 'faith and practice' positions, with some denominations holding that the historical or scientific details, which may be irrelevant to matters of faith and Christian practice, may contain errors.^[28] Other scholars take stronger views,^[29] but for a few verses these positions require more exegetical work, leading to dispute (compare the serious debate over the related issue of perspicuity, attracting biblical and philosophical discussion).

Infallibility refers to the original texts of the Bible, and all mainstream scholars acknowledge the potential for human error in transmission and translation; yet, through use of textual criticism modern (critical) copies are considered to "faithfully represent the original",^{[26]: Art. X} and our understanding of the original language sufficiently well for accurate translation. The opposing view is that there is too much corruption, or translation too difficult, to agree with modern texts.

Unfulfilled prophecy

Hundreds of years before the time of Jesus, Jewish prophets promised that a

The New Testament traces Jesus' line to that of David; however, according to Stephen L. Harris:^[33]

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

Christian preachers reply to this argument by stating that these prophecies will be fulfilled by Jesus in the Millennial Reign after the Great Tribulation, according to New Testament prophecies, especially in the Book of Revelation.^{[citation needed]}

The 16th-century Jewish theologian

On the other hand, Blaise Pascal believed that "[t]he prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ". He wrote that Jesus was foretold, and that the prophecies came from a succession of people over a span of four thousand years.^[36] Apologist Josh McDowell defends the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy as supporting Christianity, arguing that prophecies fulfilled by Christ include ones relating to his ancestral line, birthplace, virgin birth, miracles, manner of death, and resurrection. He says that even the timing of the Messiah in years and in relation to events is predicted, and that the Jewish Talmud (not accepting Jesus as the Messiah, see also Rejection of Jesus) laments that the Messiah had not appeared despite the scepter being taken away from Judah.^[37]

Prophecy of the Nazarene

Another example is Nazarene in Matthew 2:23: "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." The website for Jews for Judaism claims that "Since a Nazarene is a resident of the city of Nazareth and this city did not exist during the time period of the Jewish Bible, it is impossible to find this quotation in the Hebrew Scriptures. It was fabricated."^[38][39] However, one common suggestion is that the New Testament verse is based on a passage relating to Nazirites, either because this was a misunderstanding common at the time, or through deliberate re-reading of the term by the early Christians. Another suggestion is "that Matthew was playing on the similarity of the Hebrew word nezer (translated 'Branch' or 'shoot' in Isaiah 11:1 and Jeremiah 23:5) with the Greek nazoraios, here translated 'Nazarene.'"^[40] Christians also suggest that by using an indirect quotation and the plural term prophets, "Matthew was only saying that by living in Nazareth, Jesus was fulfilling the many Old Testament prophecies that He would be despised and rejected."^[41] The background for this is illustrated by Philip's initial response in John 1:46 to the idea that Jesus might be the Messiah: "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?"^[40]

Virgin Birth and descent of Jesus

A fundamental principle of the Christian faith is that Jesus was born of Mary, a virgin.^[42] Both Matthew and Luke trace the genealogy of Joseph back to David. According to Jewish tradition, the Messiah must be a descendant of David, but if Jesus was born of a virgin, he cannot be a descendant of David through Joseph.^[43] Michael Martin asserts that Mary's virginity is a later addition to Christianity as indicated through Paul's letters.^[44] Further, Martin notes that early Christian communities did not seem to have widely believed in the virgin birth. The confusion surrounding the virginity of Mary may result from Septuagint translation of both Hebrew: עַלְמָה, romanized: almah "young girl" and Hebrew: בְּתוּלָה, romanized: bethulah, "virgin" into Greek: παρθένος, romanized: parthenos, which usually means virgin. Relying on this translation, Matthew tried to show that Jesus's virgin birth was foretold in Isaiah 7:14—which refers to an almah in Hebrew. ^[45][46][47]

Selective interpretation

Critics argue that the selective invocation of portions of the Old Testament is hypocritical, particularly when those portions endorse hostility towards women and homosexuals, when other portions are considered obsolete, such as dietary prohibitions. The entire Mosaic Law is described in Galatians 3:24–25 as a tutor which is no longer necessary, according to some interpretations, see also Antinomianism in the New Testament.

On the other hand, many of the

Translation has given rise to a number of issues, as the original languages are often quite different in grammar as well as word meaning. While the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy^[26] states that inerrancy applies only to the original languages, some believers trust their own translation to be the accurate one. One such group of believers is known as the King James Only movement. For readability, clarity, or other reasons, translators may choose different wording or sentence structure, and some translations may choose to paraphrase passages. Because some of the words in the original language have ambiguous or difficult to translate meanings, debates over the correct interpretation occur.

Criticisms are also sometimes raised because of inconsistencies arising between different English translations of the Hebrew or Greek text. Some Christian interpretations are criticized for reflecting specific doctrinal bias^[38] or a variant reading between the Masoretic Hebrew and Septuagint Greek manuscripts often quoted in the New Testament.

Criticism of historical behavior

Certain interpretations of some moral decisions in the Bible are considered

Colonialism

Christianity and colonialism are often closely associated because Catholicism and Protestantism were the religions of the European colonial powers^[49] and acted in many ways as the "religious arm" of those powers.^[50] Historian Edward E. Andrews argues that although Christian missionaries were initially portrayed as "visible saints, exemplars of ideal piety in a sea of persistent savagery", by the time the colonial era drew to a close in the last half of the twentieth century missionaries became viewed as "ideological shock troops for colonial invasion whose zealotry blinded them."^[51]

Christianity is targeted by critics of colonialism because the tenets of the religion were used to justify the actions of the colonists.^[52] For example, Michael Wood asserts that the indigenous peoples were not considered to be human beings and that the colonisers were shaped by "centuries of Ethnocentrism, and Christian monotheism, which espoused one truth, one time and version of reality."^[53]

Slavery

Early Christian perspectives of slavery were formed in the contexts of Christianity's roots in Judaism, and as part of the wider culture of slavery in the Roman Empire. Slavery was widespread in the Roman Empire, including at the time of Augustus when Jesus was born. Both the Old and New Testaments recognize that the institution of slavery existed, with the former sanctioning it within certain limits (Leviticus 25:39-46, Exodus 21:2-21).

According to Jennifer Glancy, sexual exploitation of slaves in the Roman Empire was helped by Christian morality. Jesus urged his followers to act like slaves, implementing a slave morality. The early Christian theologians were unconcerned about slave morals.^[60] In the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine), a shift in the view of slavery is noticed, which by the 10th century transformed gradually a slave-object into a slave-subject.^[61]

Since the Middle Ages, the Christian understanding of slavery has been subjected to significant internal conflict and has endured dramatic change. Nearly all Christian leaders before the late 17th century recognised slavery, within specific biblical limitations, as consistent with Christian

The "Curse of Ham" along with Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians, VI, 5-7 helped American slave owners to balance their beliefs with slavery. The Southern Baptist Convention separated from the Triennial Convention in order to support slavery, which the southern churches regarded as "an institution of heaven".^[64][65] The New Testament was ignored except in reminding that Jesus never condemned slavery and the Epistle to Philemon in which a runaway slave was returned to his owner.^[66]

Christian abolitionist movements

Many feminists have accused notions such as a male God, male prophets, and the man-centered stories in the Bible of contributing to a patriarchy.^[78] Though many women disciples and servants are recorded in the Pauline epistles, there have been occasions in which women have been denigrated and forced into a second-class status.^[79] For example, women were told to keep silent in the churches for "it is a shame for a woman to speak in the church".^[80] Suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton said in The Woman's Bible that "the Bible in its teachings degrades women from Genesis to Revelation".^[81]

Elizabeth Clark cites early Christian writings by authors such as

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

King claims that every sect within early Christianity which had advocated women's prominence in ancient Christianity was eventually declared heretical, and evidence of women's early leadership roles was erased or suppressed.^[84]

Classicist

Many critics of Christianity have cited the violent acts of Christian nations as a reason to denounce the religion. The science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke said that he could not forgive religions because they endorsed atrocities and wars over time.^[89] Richard Dawkins makes a similar case in his book, The God Delusion. In the counterargument book The Dawkins Delusion?, Alister McGrath responds to Dawkins by suggesting that, far from endorsing "out-group hostility", Jesus commanded an ethic of "out-group affirmation". McGrath agrees that it is necessary to critique religion, but he says that Dawkins seems to be unaware that it possesses internal means of reform and renewal. While Christians may certainly be accused of failing to live up to Jesus' standard of acceptance, it lies at the heart of the Christian ethic.^[90]

Peace, compassion and forgiveness of wrongs done by others are key elements of Christian teaching.

Christian theologians point to a strong

doctrinal and historical imperative against violence which exists within Christianity, particularly Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, which taught nonviolence and love of enemies. Weaver says that Jesus' pacifism was "preserved in the justifiable war doctrine which declares that all war is sin even when it is occasionally declared to be a necessary evil, and it was also preserved in the prohibition of fighting by monastics and clergy as well as in a persistent tradition of Christian pacifism".^{[99][unreliable source?]} Others point out sayings and acts of Jesus that do not fit this description: the absence of any censure of the soldier who asks Jesus to heal his servant, his overturning the tables and chasing the moneychangers from the temple with a rope in his hand, and through his Apostles, baptising a Roman Centurion who is never asked to first give up arms.^{[100][unreliable source?}

]

Historically, prohibitions on fighting by monastics and clerics have often been discarded; the notion of military monasticism emerged in the 12th century, in large part because of the advocacy of

Baltic Crusades.^[101]

Science

See also: Christianity and science

During the 19th century an interpretive model of the relationship between religion and science known today as the

Earth was flat, and that only science, freed from religious dogma, had shown that it was spherical. This thesis was a popular historiographical approach during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but most contemporary historians of science now reject it.^{[102][103][104]}

The notion of a war between science and religion remained common in the historiography of science during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[105] Most of today's historians of science consider that the conflict thesis has been superseded by subsequent historical research.^[106] The framing of the relationship between Christianity and science as being predominantly one of conflict is still prevalent in popular culture.^[107]

The astronomer

Copernicus (who thought the Earth and planets revolved around the Sun). He states in Cosmos: A Personal Voyage that Ptolemy's belief was "supported by the church through the Dark Ages... [It] effectively prevented the advance of astronomy for 1,500 years."^[108] Ted Peters in Encyclopedia of Religion writes that although there is some truth in this story, it has been exaggerated and has become "a modern myth perpetuated by those wishing to see warfare between science and religion who were allegedly persecuted by an atavistic and dogma-bound ecclesiastical authority".^[109] In 1992, the Catholic Church's seeming vindication of Galileo attracted much comment in the media.^[110][111]

Ethics

Main article: Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche § Christianity and morality

The

philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche

was a notable critic of the ethics of Christianity.

Jesus

Main article: Criticism of Jesus

See also: Historicity of Jesus and Mental health of Jesus

Jesus is the central figure of Christianity

. Since the time in which he is said to have lived, a number of noted individuals have criticised Jesus. Objects of criticism include the morality of the life of Jesus, in both his public and private lives, such as Jesus' mental health, morality of his teachings etc.

Early critics of Jesus and Christianity included Celsus in the second century and Porphyry in the third.^[112][113] In the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche was highly critical of Jesus, whose teachings he considered to be "anti-nature" in their treatment of topics such as sexuality. More contemporary notable critics of Jesus include Ayn Rand, Hector Avalos, Sita Ram Goel, Christopher Hitchens, Bertrand Russell, and Dayananda Saraswati.

Ethics in the Bible

Main article: Ethics in the Bible

The ethics of the Bible have been criticized by some who call some of its teachings

death penalty, violence, patriarchy, sexual intolerance, colonialism, and the problem of evil

and a good God, are examples of criticisms of ethics in the Bible.

The ethics in the Bible have been criticized, such as the passages in the Old Testament in which God commands the

omnipotent, omnibenevolent being, however skeptical theism suggests that humans do not have the understanding of the big picture to make an adequate assessment. However, a counter argument by Stephen Maitzen suggests that the ethical inconsistency in the bible that is not followed by most Christians or Jews today, such as the execution of homosexuals, blasphemers, disobedient children, or the punishment for mixing linen and cloth, ultimately undermines the skeptical theism argument.^[115] Christian ethics have also been criticized for breeding intolerance (such as antisemitic views), and for having a repressive nature. Criticism has also been aimed at the threat of Hell.^[116]

Christianity and politics

Main article: Christianity and politics

See also:

Religion and politics

Some

Gallup polling shows that within the US, trust in organized religion has declined since the 1970s.[122] Phil Zuckerman, a sociology professor, argues that political campaigning against same-sex marriage in churches "is turning off so many people from Christianity", and it is responsible for a decline in the number of Christians in the United States.^[123]

David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Institute, and Gabe Lyons of the Fermi Project published a study of the attitudes of 16- to 29-year-old Americans towards Christianity. They found that about 38% of all of those who were not regular churchgoers had negative impressions of Christianity, especially evangelical Christianity, which they associated with conservative political activism, hypocrisy, anti-homosexuality, authoritarianism, and judgmentalism.^[124] About 17% had "very bad" perceptions of Christianity.^{[125][126][127]}

Role of women

There are three major viewpoints within modern Christianity over the role of women. They are respectively known as Christian feminism, Christian egalitarianism and complementarianism.

• Christian feminists take a feminist position from a Christian perspective.^[128]
• Christian egalitarians advocate an ability-based, rather than a gender-based, ministry of Christians of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic classes.^[129] Egalitarians support the ordination of women and equal roles in marriage, but are theologically and morally more conservative than Christian feminists and prefer to avoid the label "feminist". A limited notion of gender complementarity is held by some, known as "complementarity without hierarchy".^[130]
• Complementarians support equality as well as the beneficial differences between men and women.^[131] They maintain that men and women have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, therefore, they believe that men and women must work together in order to improve their strengths and help each other in times of weakness.

Some Christians argue that the belief that God is a man is not based on gender, instead, they argue that the belief that God is a man is based on the tradition which existed in the dominant Patriarchal society of the time in which men acted as the leaders and caretakers of their Families.^[132] Thus, the idea of God being "The Father" is with regards to his relationship with what are "his children", Christians.

Most mainline Christians claim that the doctrine of the Trinity implies that God should be called Father rather than Mother, in the same way that Jesus was a man rather than a woman.^[133] Jesus tells His followers to address God as Father.^[134] He tells his disciples to be merciful as their heavenly Father is merciful.^[135] He says the Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask^[136] and that the Spirit of their Father will speak through them in times of persecution.^[137] On Easter Sunday, he directs Mary Magdalene to tell the other disciples, "I am going to my Father and your Father...."^[138] Mark Brumley points out that behind New Testament language of Divine Adoption and regeneration is the idea that God is our Father because He is the "source" or "origin" of our new life in Christ. He has saved us through Christ and sanctified us in the Spirit. Brumley claims this is clearly more than a metaphor; the analogy with earthly fatherhood is obvious. God is not merely like a father for Christ's followers; he is really their Father. Among Christians who hold to this idea, there is a distinct sense that Jesus' treatment of women should imply their equality in leadership and marital roles every bit as strongly as the definite male gender of Jesus should imply a name of Father for God. Instead of characterizing alternative naming as antifeminist, they characterize it as unnecessary and unsupported by the words which are found in the Bible.^[133]

In 2000, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to revise its "Baptist Faith and Message" (Statement of Faith),^[139] opposing women as pastors. While this decision is not binding and would not prevent women from serving as pastors, the revision itself has been criticized by some from within the convention. In the same document, the Southern Baptist Convention took a strong position of the subordinating view of woman in marriage: "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband. She has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation."^[139] (Emphasis added)

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not allow the ordination of female clergy. On the other hand, the Chaldean Catholic Church continues to maintain a large number of deaconesses who serve alongside male deacons during mass.^[140] In some evangelical churches, it is forbidden for women to become pastors, deacons or church elders. In support of such prohibitions, the verse 1 Timothy 2:12 is often cited:^[141]

But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

Doctrine

Miracles

Philosopher David Hume argued against the plausibility of miracles:^[142]

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

The Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church reject Hume's argument against miracles outright with the teachings of St. Gregory Palamas, who postulated that Reason alone was not sufficient to understand God's energies (activities such as miracles) and essence, but faith was.^[143]

Miraculous healings through prayers, often involving the "

Celsus found it hard to reconcile the Christian human God who was born and matured with the Jewish God who was supposed to be one and unchanging. He asked "if God wanted to reform humanity, why did he choose to descend and live on earth? How his brief presence in Jerusalem could benefit all the millions of people who lived elsewhere in the world or who had lived and died before his incarnation?"^[148]

One classical response is Lewis's trilemma, a syllogism popularised by C. S. Lewis that intended to demonstrate the logical inconsistency of both holding Jesus of Nazareth to be a "great moral teacher" while also denying his divinity. The logical soundness of this trilemma has been widely questioned.^[149]

Hell and damnation

Christianity has been criticized as seeking to persuade people into accepting its authority through simple fear of punishment or, conversely, through hope of reward after death, rather than through rational argumentation or empirical evidence.^[150] Traditional Christian doctrine dictates that, without faith in Jesus Christ or in the Christian faith in general, one is subject to eternal punishment in Hell.^[151]

Critics regard the eternal punishment of those who fail to adopt Christian faith as morally objectionable, and consider it an abhorrent picture of the nature of the world. On a similar theme objections are made against the perceived injustice of punishing a person for all eternity for a temporal crime. Some Christians agree (see

In the Abrahamic religions, Hell has traditionally been regarded as a punishment for wrongdoing or sin in this life, as a manifestation of divine justice. As in the problem of evil, some apologists argue that the torments of Hell are attributable not to a defect in God's benevolence, but in human free will. Although a benevolent God would prefer to see everyone saved, he would also allow humans to control their own destinies. This view opens the possibility of seeing Hell not as retributive punishment, but rather as an option that God allows, so that people who do not wish to be with God are not forced to be. C. S. Lewis most famously proposed this view in his book The Great Divorce, saying: "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'"

Hell is not seen as strictly a matter of retributive justice even by the more traditionalist churches. For example, the

Some modern critics of the doctrine of Hell (such as Marilyn McCord Adams) claim that, even if Hell is seen as a choice rather than as punishment, it would be unreasonable for God to give such flawed and ignorant creatures as humans the awesome responsibility of their eternal destinies.^[157] Jonathan Kvanvig, in his book, The Problem of Hell, agrees that God would not allow one to be eternally damned by a decision made under the wrong circumstances. For instance, one should not always honor the choices of human beings, even when they are full adults, if, for instance, the choice is made while depressed or careless. On Kvanvig's view, God will abandon no person until they have made a settled, final decision, under favorable circumstances, to reject God, but God will respect a choice made under the right circumstances. Once a person finally and competently chooses to reject God, out of respect for the person's autonomy, God allows them to be annihilated.^[158]

Idolatry

Christians have sometimes been accused of idolatry, especially with regard to the

The Roman Catholic Church teaches that baptism is a necessity. In the 5th century, St. Augustine concluded that infants who die without baptism were consigned to hell.^[160] By the 13th century, theologians referred to the "limbo of infants" as a place where unbaptized babies were deprived of the vision of God, but did not suffer because they did not know of that which they were deprived, and moreover enjoyed perfect natural happiness. The 1983 Code of Canon Law (1183 §2) specifies that "Children whose parents had intended to have them baptized but who died before baptism, may be allowed church funeral rites by the local ordinary".^[161] In 2007, the 30-member International Theological Commission revisited the concept of limbo.^[162][163] However, the commission also said that hopefulness was not the same as certainty about the destiny of such infants.^[162] Rather, as stated in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257, "God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments."^[164] Hope in the mercy of God is not the same as certainty through the sacraments, but it is not without result, as demonstrated in Jesus' statement to the thief on the cross in Luke 23:42-43.

The concept of limbo is not accepted by the Orthodox Church or by Protestants.^[165]

Atonement

The idea of

Robert Green Ingersoll suggests that the concept of the atonement is simply an extension of the Mosaic tradition of blood sacrifice and "is the enemy of morality".^[172][173] The death of Jesus Christ represents the blood sacrifice to end all blood sacrifices; the resulting mechanism of atonement by proxy through that final sacrifice has appeal as a more convenient and much less costly approach to redemption than repeated animal sacrifice—a common sense solution to the problem of reinterpreting ancient religious approaches based on sacrifice.

The prominent Christian apologist Josh McDowell, in More Than A Carpenter, addresses the issue through an analogy of a real-life judge in California who was forced to fine his daughter $100 for speeding, but then came down, took off his robe, and paid the fine for her from his billfold,^[174] though as in this and other cases, illustrations are only cautiously intended to describe certain aspects of the atonement.^[175]

Second Coming

Several verses in the New Testament contain Jesus' predictions that the Second Coming would take place within a century following his death.^{[original research?][176]} Jesus appears to promise for his followers the second coming to happen before the generation he is preaching to vanishes.^{[according to whom?]} This is seen as an essential failure in the teachings of Christ by many critics such as Bertrand Russell.^[177]

However,

Most Christian traditions teach belief in life after death as a central and indispensable tenet of their faith. Critics argue that the Christian conception of the afterlife is inconsistent with that of the Hebrew Bible. George E. Mendenhall believes there is no concept of immortality or life after death in the Hebrew Bible.^[181] The presumption is that the deceased are inert, lifeless, and engaging in no activity.^[181]

The concept of

Gaudium et spes claims that the example of Christians may be a contributory factor to atheism, writing, "...believers can have more than a little to do with the birth of atheism. To the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral, or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and religion."^[184]

Secular and religious critics have accused many Christians of being hypocritical.^[185] Tom Whiteman, a Philadelphia psychologist found that the primary reasons for Christian divorce include adultery, abuse (including substance, physical and verbal abuse), and abandonment whereas the number one reason cited for divorce in the general population was incompatibility.^[186]

Sectarianism

Some have argued that Christianity is undermined by the inability of Christians to agree on matters of faith and church governance, and the tendency for the content of their faith to be determined by regional or political factors.

Individuals and groups throughout history have been persecuted by certain Christians (and Christian groups) based upon sex, sexual orientation, race, and religion (even within the bounds of Christianity itself). Many of the persecutors attempted to justify their actions with particular scriptural interpretations. During

From the start of Christian rule in Europe, Jews were increasingly discriminated against, at times rising to outright persecution. This sometimes took the form of events like the Rhineland massacres, and the Blood libel was often the source (claiming Jews ritually murdered Christian children). Jews were also expelled from a number of countries, including from England and later Spain. In the latter case, if converted they could remain. However, as most did so only under duress, Judaism continued to be practiced in secret by many. As a result, the Spanish Inquisition was formed to root them out, along with the secret Muslims there. In the First Crusade, after the Siege of Jerusalem, all Jews and Muslims within the city were massacred by the Crusaders.^{[citation needed]}

After the

Adolf Hitler's 1920 Nazi Party Platform promoted Positive Christianity—which mixed ideas of racial purity and Nazi ideology with elements of Christianity and removed "Jewish" elements.^[191][192]

Nazism aimed to transform the subjective consciousness of the German people—their attitudes, values and mentalities—into a single-minded, obedient "national community". The Nazis believed they would therefore have to replace class, religious and regional allegiances.

Christian persecution complex is the notion that Christian values and Christians are being oppressed by social groups and governments.^[204] According to Elizabeth Castelli, some set the starting point in the middle of the 20th century while others point to the 1990s. After the September 11 attacks, it accelerated.^[205] The concept that Christianity is being oppressed is popular among conservative politicians in contemporary politics in the United States, and they utilize this idea to address issues concerning LGBT people or the ACA's Contraceptives Mandate, which they perceive as an attack on Christianity.^[206]

Others (like professor Candida Moss and lecturer Paul Cavill) point out that this mentality of being persecuted roots back to the earliest times.^[207] It appeared during the era of early Christianity due to internal Christian identity politics.^[208][209] Cavill claims that the New Testament teaches that persecutions are inherent to Christianity.^[210]

Criticism by other religions

Hinduism

Indian philosopher Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan wrote:

Unfortunately Christian religion inherited the Semitic creed of the 'jealous God' in the view of Christ as 'the only begotten son of God' so could not brook any rival near the throne. When Europe accepted the Christian religion, in spite of its own broad humanism, it accepted the fierce intolerance which is the natural result of belief in 'the truth once for all delivered to the saints.'^[220]

Judaism

David Flusser viewed Christianity as "cheaper Judaism" and highly anti-Jewish. He also regarded the "failure of Christianity to convert the Jewish people to the new message" as "precisely the reason for the strong anti-Jewish trend in Christianity."^[222]

Stephen Samuel Wise criticized the Christian community for its failure to rescue Jews from Europe during Nazi rule. He wrote that:

A Christian world that will permit millions of Jews to be slain without moving heaven by prayer and earth in every human way to save its Jews has lost its capacity for moral and spiritual survival.^[223]

Islam

Muslim scholars have criticized Christianity, usually for its

They have taken as lords beside Allah their rabbis and their monks and the Messiah son of Mary, when they were bidden to worship only One God.^[225]

Origins

Some have argued that Christianity is not founded on a historical Jesus, instead, they have argued that Christianity is founded on a

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

• Årsheim, Helge (2016). "Internal affairs? Assessing NGO engagement for religious freedom at the United Nations and beyond". In Stensvold, Anne (ed.). Religion, state and the United Nations: Value politics. London: Routledge. pp. 79–94.
  SSRN 2892536
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• Ben-Asher, Noah (September 21, 2017). "Faith-Based Emergency Powers". Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. 41: 269–300.
  SSRN 3040902
  .
• Cavill, Paul (2013). "Anglo-Saxons Saints' Lives and Deaths". In Kojecký, Roger; Tate, Andrew (eds.). Visions and revisions: The word and the text (Unabridged ed.). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  ISBN 978-1-4438-4332-4
  .
• Ellerbe, Helen (1995). The Dark Side of Christian History. Morningstar Books.
  ISBN 978-0-9644873-4-5
  .
• ISBN 978-1-4514-1094-5
  .
• Hoover, Linda (2015). Effects of Negative Media on Evangelical Christians' Attitudes Toward Evangelism (PhD).
• Janes, Dominic; Houen, Alex, eds. (2014). Martyrdom and terrorism: Pre-modern to contemporary perspectives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-995985-3
  .
• ISBN 978-1-56639-081-1
  .

Further reading

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Skeptical of Christianity

For a more comprehensive list, see Bibliography of books critical of Christianity.

• A Rationalist Encyclopaedia: A book of reference on religion, philosophy, ethics and science,
  Gryphon Books
  (1971).
• Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon, by Daniel Dennett
• Civilization and its discontents, by Sigmund Freud
• Death and Afterlife, Perspectives of World Religions, by Hiroshi Obayashi
• Einstein and Religion, by Max Jammer
• From Jesus to Christianity, by L. Michael White
• Future of an illusion, by Sigmund Freud
• Harvesting our souls: Missionaries, their design, their claims. by Shourie, Arun. (2006). New Delhi: Rupa.
• History of Hindu-Christian encounters, AD 304 to 1996. by Goel, Sita Ram. 2016.
• Hindu view of Christianity and Islam. by Swarup, Ram (1992).
• Sam Harris
• Light of truth : Or an English translation of the Satyarth Prakash. Dayananda, S., & Bharadwaja, C. (1915). Allahabad: Arya Pratinidhi Sabha.
• Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why, by
  Bart Ehrman
• Missionaries in India: Continuities, changes, dilemmas. Shourie, Arun. (2006). New Delhi: Rupa.
• My Illumination by Richard Green
• Out of my later years and the World as I see it, by Albert Einstein
• Russell on Religion, by Louis Greenspan (Includes most all of Russell's essays on religion)
• The Antichrist, by Friedrich Nietzsche
• The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins
• God Is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens
• The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, by Carl Sagan
• Understanding the Bible, by
  Stephen L Harris
• Where God and Science Meet [Three Volumes]: How Brain and Evolutionary Studies Alter Our Understanding of Religion, by Patrick McNamara
• Why I am not a Christian and other essays, by Bertrand Russell
• Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, by John W. Loftus (Prometheus Books, 2008)
• The Christian Delusion, edited by John W. Loftus, foreword by Dan Barker (Prometheus Books, 2010)
• Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee (Madhya Pradesh, India), and Sita Ram Goel. 1998. Vindicated by time: the Niyogi Committee report on Christian missionary activities. New Delhi: Voice of India.
• The End of Christianity, edited by John W. Loftus (Prometheus Books, 2011)
• The Historical Evidence for Jesus, by G. A. Wells (Prometheus Books, 1988)
• The Jesus Puzzle, by Earl Doherty (Age of Reason Publications, 1999)
• The encyclopedia of Biblical errancy, by
  C. Dennis McKinsey
  (Prometheus Books, 1995)
• godless, by Dan Barker (Ulysses Press 2008)
• Peter Gandy
  (Element 1999)
• The reason driven life by Robert M. Price (Prometheus Books, 2006)
• The Case Against Christianity by
  Michael Martin
• The case against the case for Christ by Robert M. Price (American atheist press 2010)
• God, the failed hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger (Prometheus Books, 2007)
• Jesus never existed by Kenneth Humphreys (Iconoclast Press, 2005)

Defending Christianity

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Christian apologetic works.

• "The Jury Returns: A Juridical Defense of Christianity" by John Warwick Montgomery. An Excerpt from "Evidence for Faith" Chapter 6, Part 2
• "The Infidel Delusion" by Patrick Chan, Jason Engwer, Steve Hays, and Paul Manata
• Atheist Delusions: The Christian Revolution and Its Fashionable Enemies, by David Bentley Hart
• Dethroning Jesus, by Darrell Bock, Daniel B. Wallace
• Jesus Among Other Gods, by Ravi Zacharias
• Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis
• Orthodoxy, by G. K. Chesterton
• Reasonable Faith, by William Lane Craig
• Reinventing Jesus, by J. Ed Komoszewski, M. James Sawyer, Daniel B. Wallace
• The Case for Christ, by Lee Strobel
• The Dawkins Letters, by David Robertson
• The Reason For God, by Timothy J Keller