Comment of the Week: Inhumanity in the Christian Message
Tuesday May 6, 2008
Christians continually insist that theirs is a message of love and hope, but the basis for this message always reduces to a threat: believe and join us, or suffer for all eternity. Without that threat, they have little to offer that is appealing or that would compete well with other religions and philosophies, but the presence of this threat creates an aspect of violence and inhumanity which taints Christianity from beginning to end.
There is one component to the Christian message that is inescapable and is entirely antagonistic to the nonbeliever. "God" will punish you after death (and possibly during this life), in the most inhumane and meanest ways possible for eternity. It is the ultimate in passive aggressive statements and passive aggressive, by its very nature, conceals itself.
That hiding may not be readily apparent day to day but it is always there and any utterance or symbol still conveys it in the passive aggressive style.
[original post]
It's been observed by many scholars that the god of traditional Judaism and Christianity is much like the Oriental despots that ruled the region in which these religions developed. Such despots demanded absolute obedience and respect, otherwise they would visit terrible retribution upon whomever dared defy them. They were "jealous" rulers who would not hesitate to use their power against the people, just as the traditional god of western monotheism is portrayed and more than willing to use its power against people who fail to obey orders.
Comments
How nice of doug to show up and prove the veracity Austin’s point.
Though I do have a hard time following doug’s reasoning. So, how does being given a choice on belief necessitates strict obedience to an imaginary character?
Does believing in Santa Claus demand total faith in him too, since we have that choice as well?
The comparison of the Biblical God to middle Eastern despots is especially apt. The Bible is rife with authoritarianism, and the whole character of God as King of Kings and Lord of Lords seems to be merely taking totalitarian politics and turning it into a cosmology.
Scott: The great thing about Santa is that even when you stop believing in him, he still gives you presents - as long as you don’t tell your parents… even then, if you still have younger siblings he might give you a break for a couple of years.
Santa is a cool dude. But god’s a bogarting bastard.
One of the cruelest and stupidest parts of the Christian tradition is confusing evil thoughts with evil deeds. Many Christians have tormented themselves with guilt over wishing for someone’s death as if they had actually committed the deed.
The smartest thing in the Christian tradition was Jesus’ hatred of blockheads and phonies.
‘So, how does being given a choice on belief necessitates strict obedience to an imaginary character?’
Scott did you actually read the post or are you deliberatly ignoring what it said? I can’t think of any other reason (other than unimaginable stupidity) that someone would so badly mis-interpret what was written.
Allow me to re-itterate for you, it is certain members of the christian faith who insist that god must be obeyed, it is not an interpretation but a direct qoute. Again and again them claim that those who do not do as god wishes will burn in hell for all eternity, that’s a pretty clear message and a pretty clear threat, your ability to act as though something completely different was said astounds me, though sadly such worm-like behaviour seems to creep up a lot.
‘Does believing in Santa Claus demand total faith in him too, since we have that choice as well?’
No because no-one says that if you don’t believe in Santa Claus and do as he says he punish you for all eternity. As I said before you seem to be missing this quite stupendously simple point:
It isn’t about believing in something meaning you have to have 100% faith in it, that’s not what the original post said at all and no-one here has made that claim either. Its about people who say that if you DON’T believe in a cetain being and do as they claim it wants you to you will be horribly punished. That’s what was said, nothing else.