Am I Being Unfair to Christians?

There was a comment that appeared in one of my articles that I felt needed to be personally addressed, due mostly to the fact that I’ve been asked similar questions in the past. These questions usually devolve into simply “why do you have to pick on MY religion”, and I thought it might be fair to answer it as candidly as I can, in order to avoid looking as though I may be unfairly picking on one specific religion. Here is the quote:

Why do you insist on bashing Christians? If you don’t believe in God that’s fine, but why insult those who believe? I don’t believe in insulting you for your belief, don’t insult mine. Christmas is a Christian holiday because we celebrate the birth of Christ! If you don’t believe in it why do you take off work for Christmas, all of you who don’t believe should work! We as a Country have compromised on so much that we have lost focus! A company named Tyson has dropped celebrating Labor day and recognized a Muslim holiday. Why is no one complaining about that? Labor day is a day to recognize the CHRISTIAN men and woman who built this Country, who LABORED hard for all of us. And one more thing, are you gay? Yes, it is unnatural to be with the same sex, take religion out of it if you want, but it’s still not right! I care about you as much as any one else and I hope the best for you! I pray you find truth in your journey here on earth! God bless

The anatomy of such questions is usually identical. They boil down to two propositions: 1) that Christianity (or any other religion) is being maliciously attacked without provocation, and 2) that I should be thankful that they exist. From the perspective of a Christian, I can understand how it might seem as though I am unfairly singling them out. The fact that I do is due not to any specific prejudice, but because it is the dominant religion that exerts he most influence on my life and culture. It would be like asking a cheetah why he pursues the gazelle; there is no malice in his actions. The cheetah is driven by instinct, and also by the fact that the gazelle is one of the few plentiful sources of food, and even the seemingly savage way in which he attacks his prey is only due to the necessity of his survival.

Christians may occasionally feel as though they are being singled out, but in actuality, the cultural and political dominance they have secured makes any small assault bounce off their seemingly invincible armor coating. They are visibly frightened that all of these attacks seem personal, but pointing out the hypocrisy, cruelty and sheer impossibility of the claims made by the religion serves not to damage the individual believer, but the belief itself. It isn’t Christians that I have a problem with; it’s Christianity. If that sounds a little weird, you’ve obviously never been vacationing in foreign countries as an American. The hostility they encounter in foreign nations is not directed at them, but rather at the institution they represent. Much of the world hates America, but still love Americans.

As for the second point, I will go on record and state that I am not grateful for Christianity. Part of me still resents the fact that the works of ancient philosophers and thinkers were almost entirely destroyed by the early Christian church, which chose to erase everything in the past that conflicted with their world view. Archimedes is said to have discovered the principles of Calculus almost 2000 years before Newton, but his writings were erased and rebound as prayer books. The fact remains that Christianity robbed the world of progress for almost 1700 years, and has been adamantly fighting progress ever since. Think of all the great minds through time that were extinguished in the hot flames of heretical punishment. Today, the fact that stem cell research is still illegal is only a small demonstration of the Churches increased insistence that progress and discovery are bad.

So why pick on Christian? Sure, the Muslim world may be a terrifying place for some people. It does not change the fact that the Western world is still has a religious leash of Christianity around its neck. If Islam became the dominant religion of the North America, you can bet that I would be “picking” on them a lot more.

I do offer a question in response to your question, dear sir: If the conviction in your religion is so strong, why would you care what I have to say? If you are in the right and I am in the wrong, why should you feel oppressed by my apparent babbling? A part of you might be thinking that the reason you care is that you wish to have my soul saved, but surely that isn’t the only reason. Like most religious people, you want a homogony of thought. You may secretly doubt even the least fantastic claims of your religion, and seek comfort in the fact that a vast majority of others feel as you do. It may appear shocking to you, but my belief is strong enough that I would not change my mind even if every single human being thought differently than I. The conviction that there is no God does not stem from the beliefs of my parents, my friends or my neighbors. They are my own. Once a person comes to realization that the Universe is not controlled by a “parent” in the sky but rather by simple natural laws, any other proposition to the contrary seems both childish and mundane. It would be akin to believing once more that Santa is real.

I offer to you the idea that it is the homogony of your beliefs that make you secure, and not the inalienable truth of your religion. If you did believe that Christianity was undeniably true, than there would be no need to worry of the likes of me. You will see with time, however, that more and more human beings will come to doubt the incredible claims made by your holy book. It’s only a matter of time.

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