Humanism, atheism and other freedoms

After the death of Jesus, any number of sects emerged with him as their figurehead. So why did all but one fail and only Paul’s church succeed? The answer is, good marketing.

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I can’t quite say why I find the above screengrab funny, but I must confess that I do.

The Inquisition is not over. Faith continues to kill and torment. In Africa, for instance, witch hunts are causing mothers to turn against their children. Even babies are being brutalised and murdered. But this is not driven by some Dark Continent cult: this is fundamentalist Christianity at work.

Professor Richard Dawkins’ appearance on the BBC’s Have Your Say programme prompted Father Jonathan Morris, Fox News’ religious attack poodle, to dredge up the old and insupportable myth that Stalin and Hitler killed millions in the name of atheism. (Catholic priests and Fox News presenters are, of course, both accustomed to spouting insupportable myths.)

This is a standard and intellectually dishonest knee-jerk response to an inescapable truth: that throughout its history, Christianity has been responsible for widespread death and misery. The Inquisition comes immediately to mind. That said, today we most frequently associate religiously inspired murder and violence with Islam. Aside from Islamic-inspired terrorism, brutal, so-called ‘honour’ killings are shamefully frequent in places like Pakistan and even among Islamic communities in more enlightened countries, such as the UK. A recent report in The Guardian highlighted the murders and burnings of women in Iraq, now that Islam can use the chaos of that benighted country to reassert its atavistic influence.

But Christianity has not finished killing.

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Christianity is a peaceful religion? Well, maybe some of it is ineffectual and a large proportion of its adherents are placidly deluded. But like islam, it contains a hardcore of activists who are not only prepared to contemplate violence but positively relish the idea.

Read this article on AlterNet to see how some fundamentalists believe that war is righteous and desirable. Then check out the video.

It would be easy to dismiss these people as the loony fringe. But they are simply the most visible symptom of a disease that runs right through christianity. Some of these people may be insane. Some may have hidden political agendas. Some may be just plain vicious. The majority are probably just deluded. But they are all dangerous.