Is Christianity Dangerous?

by ProfDave, ©2022

(Feb. 10, 2022) — Is religion, particularly Christianity, dangerous?  Is it “the source of all the war, ignorance and intolerance in history,” as the New Atheists are so fond of telling us?  Do we need to be afraid of religious people in public office?  (Since John F. Kennedy they have been assuring us that they will not actually act on their religion in office.  Is that a good thing?)  Should we fear a born-again Christian Taliban trying to institute a theocracy in America?  Who’s afraid of the Religious Right?  Trick questions.  Loaded to expose nonsense.

Of course, religion is dangerous!  If you take it seriously, it can change your life, expose your purposeless narcissism and unethical behavior, and give meaning and direction to your existence.  Sure, if you get it wrong, it can have tragic consequences (don’t drink the cool-aide), but if you find the Truth, it can set you free.  But atheism isn’t exactly safe, either.  It leaves you in a self-referent swamp, without moral direction – any rational or reliable standard of good and evil.  Atheists killed more people in the 20^th century than religion ever did.

Was Christianity “the source of most of the wars, ignorance and intolerance in history?”  As a card carrying, certified historian, I can tell you there is a great Latin word for a statement like that: balderdash!  Hogwash in Greek.  It just ain’t so, in plain English.  In the first place, I would defy anyone to find anything in the teachings of Jesus (or the New Testament, for that matter) that would justify holy war (that would be Mohammad – he was a military leader, Jesus was not).

Secondly, all the wars of history have been caused by people.  You could only say that since most Europeans identified themselves as Christians (until recently), thus European wars were caused by “Christians,” but it does not follow that they were caused by Christianity.  There is a difference.  Aggressive wars are caused by lust, greed, pride, power hunger, and fear – all condemned by Christianity, not condemned by atheism, and mixed in with secular religions like national chauvinism, imperialism, fascism, and Communism.   Nothing Christian about those – most became implicitly or explicitly anti-Christian. 

Is religion, Christianity in particular, a major source of war and trouble for mankind?  “Christians” have always been involved in warfare, in spite of Christian teachings.  Early Christians tended to be pacifist, but that was mostly because they refused to take the oath to the Emperor as Lord and god.  When the Emperor became Christian, Christians joined the legions.  But we must concede that some wars and a lot of civil conflict has been in the name of religion, at least on one side, or under religious leadership.  Italian history is full of “warrior popes.”  Most frequently cited are the Crusades and the “religious wars” of the 16^th and early 17^th centuries.  And Psalm singing troops were among the most effective – and ferocious.  But we need not take their “Christianity” or the “Christianity” of their cause, or of their leadership at face value.  We need to look at what religion is and its place in a civilization.  A clash of civilizations is a clash of religions.

Is Christianity dangerous?  It depends on whether you have Christianity or Jesus Christ has you!  The Christianity of Europe (or the Judaism of Jewry or the Islamism of the Saracens) was often mere ethnic loyalty or background radiation.  There is more than one way to take the name of the Lord our God in vain.  God is love, and to hate in His name is blasphemy.  On the other hand, God is also a God of justice, and has ordained the state, Christian or not, to restrain evil – by the sword if necessary.  Trouble is, we don’t always get it right and the instruments of the best of causes often run amuck.  Putting a cross on the back of a rapacious sinner and sending him off into the Middle East with a sword in his fist did not make his behavior Christian when he got there.  Duhh!  And you know motives are mixed when a Roman Catholic Cardinal provides diplomatic leadership and funding to the Protestant armies to fight Roman Catholic forces [The Thirty Years War]!

A clash of civilizations is a clash of religions.  Religious differences are a huge factor in viewing a potential conquest or regime change as alien and hence intolerable.  If candidate X threatens to change the religion of your community, as in the 16th and 17th centuries, you will fight like the devil to prevent it.  Xenophobia [fear of aliens/strangers] will take over, if not piety.  Religion is right up there next to race and language in making other people “strange.”  In the Christian West, we finally learned that it was not worth the blood and fire and destruction to force people to go against their consciences and change their religion.  Islam has not yet learned this, unfortunately, and we have questions about some secularists.  And sorry guys, trying to stamp out religion is just as incendiary as trying to substitute one religion for another.  Hands off our “ultimate concerns!”  Is that what you mean by dangerous?

Is Christianity dangerous?  Real Jesus followers or mere cultural background radiation?  Cultural Christians can be just as pig-headed, abusive, and hypocritical as cultural Muslims or Atheists – except they don’t make good suicide bombers.  In fact, most Christians are paragons of human frailty.  The best of saints glory in being bad people in recovery.  You may think that you are a wonderful person, but compared to Jesus?  The question you need to ask is not whether Christians are bad – they are – but whether Christianity makes them better or worse?  Are they bad because of too much Jesus or too little?  Judgment begins at the house of God.

Is Christianity dangerous?  What do Biblical Christians want, anyway?  I can’t speak for liberals and Jesus-Seminar people but I think traditionalists and even Mormons are on board with the following.

1. They are under Jesus’ orders to set free as many sinners as possible.  They believe true freedom is reconciliation with God – the Truth will set you free.  They will try to convert you if they care about you at all or practice their faith conscientiously.  They don’t use force: they have to convince you by love and reason.  Get used to it.  This can be admittedly obnoxious if you are allergic to Jesus, but they mean you no harm.  You just have to be secure in your own belief-system (if it’s irrational or insincere, you’re in trouble).  No reason for riot gear or screaming obscenities.
2. They are also compelled by the love of Christ to contribute to the health, welfare and human flourishing of the society in which they live.  Warning: this may include a dose of “righteousness exalteth a nation.”  Visions of righteousness differ, but Christians want to clean up abuses, help the downtrodden, rehabilitate the prisoners, “rescue the perishing, care for the dying” – altruism, random and systematic.  Historically they have been the inventors of hospitals and social services and in the forefront of reform movements (such as abolition and women’s suffrage), but if you are into vice and corruption, watch out!
3. They want a place at the table in the discussion of matters of public policy, to represent their ethical point of view just like everyone else in a democracy.  Views that are faith-based should not be stigmatized or censored.
4. They want to live peaceably according to their consciences, not only in church, but in their homes, their schools, their jobs, and in public life.
5. They want to raise their children according to their faith traditions, without them being abused and stifled on religious grounds.  And some are concerned about PG-13 and R rated teaching in public schools – without the parental guidance.

Can we live with that?  If the left cannot, then who is being intolerant?

David W. Heughins (“ProfDave”) is Adjunct Professor of History at Nazarene Bible College.  He holds a BA from Eastern Nazarene College and a PhD in history from the University of Minnesota.  He is the author of Holiness in 12 Steps (2020).  He is a Vietnam veteran and is retired, living with his daughter and three grandchildren in Connecticut.