Is Christianity the worst thing to have befallen humankind?

[Tim2nice]

It was essentially the reason the Roman Empire fell and it brought with it the dark ages which were utterly catastrophic and the world didn’t see any light until the 20th century. Feel free to disagree but bring some arguments to the table.

[DJB72]

Please tell me how Stalin murdering a hundred million people in the name of atheism is "better" than Christianity.

Or Mao.

The Dark Ages happened as a result of the loss of knowledge following the fall of Rome around 400AD. Most of the knowledge we currently had to build on was what was preserved by Christian monasteries after Rome fell and the Library of Alexandria was burned down.

The Renaissance was led by predominantly God-fearing Christians, usually hindered by the highly corrupted Roman Catholic Church which by that time was a way for the rich to get richer, not what Christ taught and was why the church fought translation into native languages instead of the Latin Vulgate or Greek texts only the elite could read.

With the Reformation and Martin Luther the Church became closer to what Christ had intended, but as the hierarchy grew, corruption took hold again.

Freedom of speech, the value of women as accurate witnesses and equals in society while retaining separate but equally vital roles to those of men, modern educational systems (before Rockefeller got hold of them), even social welfare systems like the age of consent to prevent the rape and abuse of children were first proposed by Christian organisations.

Tell me any way that the world in general and the West in particular has "improved" since it turned away from Christianity in the 1960s.

American schools went from problems with chewing gum and talking in class to mass shootings. Teen pregnancy numbers exploded, as did the abortion rate - and nobody is going to convince me that kids just got hornier from the early 60s.

So, mass killings - both before and after birth, single parent households, divorce rates, the rise of misandry and misogyny, returning racial tension and random violence since the West decided Christian values were outdated.

If this is your idea of progress, I'd hate to see what you think societal collapse looks like.

But don't worry. Christianity will still be here after America falls apart.

[Bilak845678]

Wow I want to Kiss you on the forehead

[DJB72]

Thanks, but let's rather shake hands...

[Zenpanda]

Religion in general is the worst thing. I can't wrap my head around people believing a random damn book, written by people being the word of an almighty, all knowing super being in the damn sky.

"the big bang? You believe everything came from nothing and it just happened? Everything being so perfect? Look at nature, it's proof of god"

Where did God come from?
"god has always been"
😑
He created the earth and all life on it.
How? Apparently from nothing, in this case something from nothing is suddenly fine.

Also nothing in nature is fucking perfect.

God is all knowing and all powerful, yet he fucked up on Adam and Eve, punished all of future humanity, punished snaked for what satan did (because that makes sense), killed millions because they didn't do what he wanted them to.
Yeah free will, right 🙄
If God is real and like in the bible, he's the equivalent of an a child with anger issues and an antfarm.

And that's just the Bible, every damn religion believes fully in their holy scriptures no matter how much bullshit it consists off.
And the worst thing is that they don't just follow their damn books, but make it everyone else's problem.

You're gay, you live in sin!
I don't believe in God.
You're going to hell!
Aren't you wearing mixed fabrics and eating shellfish and doing about 10 others things that the Bible tells you not to?
...
...
That's the old testament!
You're still breaking some of the new testament rules as well.
...
...
You're gay! You're going to hell!
🙄🙄🙄

Stop using religion and just follow it.
Have your churches/holy buildings, invite people, pass out pamflets and leave people alone.

And your threats of hell and damnation, you know why we don't fear it? Because we don't believe in it, just like we don't believe in your god and his judgment.

"what will you do if you die and find out God is real?"
Well if God is a good being, he'll understand.
If he's the one from 'holy' scripture, I'll spend a long time telling the fucker how much he sucks and how much I hate his very being. I'd tell him to take his entire heaven and shove it up his arse and to send me to lucifer so I can suck his glorious fallen angel cock and say sorry for all the shit he was put through by sky daddy

[strateguy632]

paragraph 2 n 3 show you are a hypocrit. @Zenpanda
god does miracles but without god... then something from nothing is stupid.

[Zenpanda]

How does that show I'm a hypocrite? I don't think the big bang is something from nothing and neither do most atheists. But somehow Christians claim that's what we believe.
The big bang was a big burst of energy and everything in it's most basic form is energy.
We don't know yet what caused the big bang, but we don't think it's from nothing. If that was what we believed, we wouldn't continue researching it.
Our current stance is, very long a ago, an explosion of unbelievable magnitude happened and released an enormous amount of energy. Different configurations of energy form atoms, molucules, matter. Different configurations make different kinds of matter. That matter clumped together to create big 'clouds' of matter. Those clouds when dense enough made those materials clump together and form planets and stars after a long time. When the right materials end up together it has the right elements to start life. Life evolves of great amounts of time and that's how everything on earth came to be. By coincidence and accident. We were just lucky. Chaos and coincidence created everything.

[Anonymous]

Why do people treat the Roman Empire like it was the greatest thing to ever exist? They literally had people fight to the death or get mauled by animals for entertainment.

[Tim2nice]

The Roman Empire wasn’t perfect but what happened after its fall was catastrophic. And by the way people still fight each other today for entertainment and kill animals

[Opinion Owner]

Christianity, in the Roman Empire, not only promised liberation from any afflictions encountered in this world, but also established community that was totally equal, regardless of social class or gender. Over time, there came the renaissance. That was a period of time, heavily influenced by Christianity, that brought about great artists, scholars, and progress towards modernity. How is that a bad thing?

[meepmeeperton]

This is exactly true, Anonymous. A lot of the 'liberal' values of human rights and equality that this guy surely loves were born out of Christianity. The Roman Empire was brutal...

[Tim2nice]

Yes, the total wipeout of paganism, inquisition, heresy laws, burning at the stake of anyone daring to question the church held beliefs, crusades, slavery, etc were wonderful examples of Christian liberation

[meepmeeperton]

Violence and slavery were huge parts of the Roman Empire, though... LOL.

[Opinion Owner]

Christianity: Speaks out against tyrannical governments, slavery, child sacrifice (one of the most common pagan practices of the time), violence against women, and other atrocities

This guy: Christianity is the worst 😡

[meepmeeperton]

Yep, at least Christianity laid the groundwork for modern morals. People had a totally different concept of what was right or wrong before Christianity. The Roman Empire conquered lands with no remorse, killing all the men and enslaving the women and children. He’ll make excuses for that, but not Christianity even though Christianity is the whole reason people started to think of these acts of brutality as immoral and stop doing them.

[coxoabean]

No, what is, is that it's being pushed away. It being pushed away is the worst thing to happen to mankind!

[Tim2nice]

No. Nobody’s pushing Christianity away. People have just realised it’s bullshit and toxic

[coxoabean]

It's really not tho and that's the problem

[coxoabean]

Like, I just don't understand how people can deny God! You know how wonderful it is to Know you are going to heaven one day, or to know that you have a Saviour who is ready to answer your prayers! The peace that passes all understanding when you are going through the darkest of times. The joy of having God hold your hand and lead you to a wonderful life. The joy of knowing God protects you every single day! The happiness of watching a broken lost soul go from absolute pain to Joy! To see people who were lost and broken cry being so thankful that a loving God would forgive their every sin! The happiness of being able to talk to someone who has your back. The joy of being able to pray and knowing God hears every single prayer and not only that, it is LITERALLY stored in a veil up in heaven!! The list goes on! But it is truly amazing to have such a wonderful feeling of knowing that there is a Amazing God who loves the most broken and hurt. He gave his life for us so we don't have to suffer eternal judgment. He shed his blood, so that we could be saved and all we have to do is believe.

[coxoabean]

I understand that so many people push Christianity away bc it has been made to seem like God is an angry substitute teacher up in heaven just ready to judge us all. But no... he is a mountain of redeeming love. Ready to forgive! People make Christianity seem like God expects us to be perfect to get to heaven, when no! You can be saved by believing that Jesus coming to die on the cross was enough to pay for your sins. That there is not one single thing that you could do to make it to heaven on your own. If you tried to you'd be lost. God made a way because he loves us. He knew we as humans wouldn't be perfect, so he cared enough to make a way for us. All you have to do is believe that Christ was enough to pay for your sins, and that he rose from the dead on the third day, and that he was perfect, God in the flesh (the Trinity), and there is nothing that you could ever do, you could never be good enough to make it to heaven on your own. Once you believe that, he gives you eternal life. You see most religions teach a Do religion. You have to do xy and z to get to heaven, if you don't God isn't going to let you go. This causes so many people to think "I'm never going to be good enough, I will never make it, so why try, why even believe in God" then they want nothing to do with it. But then there is the Done religion and that is the one of, salvation is already bought and paid for! It was done and sealed on that cross in that tomb. God loved us so much he made a way... it's Done! So you see, of course I can see and understand why most people would get tired of religion but sadly they don't know how amazing life with God really is. To see the tears of joy in a sinner who received Christ's face! It's just the joyous of feelings

[Tim2nice]

Can’t deny something that doesn’t exist

[coxoabean]

Ok, then

[Red_Arrow]

The Roman Empire was attacked by many different forces from many different countries. It was already suffering many losses before Christianity contributed to its fall by being monotheistic while the empire was mainly polytheistic. That rang truer with many over the polytheism, but that was only one of many factors causing the decline of the Roman Empire.

Two other factors are major factors in the fall of the leadership. Intake of lead by the aristocracy may have been as much as 1 mg/day. The resultant mental incompetence and especially the rapidly declining birth rate among the ruling class are now believed to have been major factors in the decline of the Roman Empire.

Many consider this the beginning of the Dark Ages due to a lock of cultural advancement, but this assumption is likely due to the lack of historical documentation during that time.

Christianity has tried to bring peace to its believers, but that sometimes has led them to make war against others. Then there are the figures whose only connection Christianity is using it to push their own political agendas. Trump, who has shown that he does not even know how to hold the Bible right side up, said, "Let's Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote, directing his supporters to a website selling the book for $59.99. Many "Christians" have abandoned the true beliefs of Christianity to follow the "Christian Right", which holds revering Trump as the highest good, no matter how many he harms.

[Knightwatch27]

Oh, here we go again. The anti-Christian's layman's attempt at history. Sure I'll bring arguments. It was the opposite. The Roman empire by the time of Christendom's introduction into state religion was a corrupt bureaucratic mess already teethering to its end with revolts and barbaric invasions. Already then Christianity had gained massive traction because it treated people way better than anywhere else in the world, especially women. The few centuries that followed the collapse in 475 AD to ca. 800 AD, *that* is the dark age but is all too often misapplied by the uninformed and amateur rank historians. This era was marked by little documentation and by great migrations and invasions from all sides, the Huns, the Vikings, the Saracens etc. But the actual Medieval Age, 1000-1500, was extremely advanced and prosperous, feudalism was a very effective system for the needs of the time and massive leaps were made in architecture, medicine, art, military and economy which was in no small part thanks to the Catholic Church who sponsered these things and established the very first Universities.
Christianity is the *best* thing to happen, and its decline, a reason for the decline in western society.

[Lionman95]

Just for clarification what kind of light did he world see in the 20th century? There were two wars that in combination killed more humans than any war in the history of humans. Humanity invented the atomic bomb a force of destruction that is only killing people in seconds but also takes away the ability to live in the place or close by in healthy way.
Most modern ways of controlling people´s lifes were invented or improved to perfection in the 20th century. I wouldn´t call the 20th century a good century for humanity.
The Roman Empire fell down for many reasons first of all big empires fell after some time. If Christianity was the reason for the fall down of the Western Roman Empire in 476, how do you explain that the Eastern Roman Empire surpassed it by nearly 1000 years?

[Tim2nice]

The light is the freedom, free education and healthcare for all, no starvation, sexual liberation, etc

[SixFootSexy]

https://www.crossway.org/articles/how-christianity-gave-rise-to-modern-science/

"Since the order in nature is contingent on the act of the Creator, we have to go and look and see what kind of order he put into it."

There were thousands of years for other cultures to develop science, but faith is the starting point for understanding the universe. There are no great atheistic societies. Rome fell because it ignored natural laws and fell into decadence and degeneracy.

[strateguy632]

1, no, it actually benefits.

2, i guess you never heard of austri- goths defeating rome in 400 a. d.

3, opposite, BEFORE the dark ages rome n greek had gladiators fight until death... animal aagainst people or people gladiator THAT was the dark ages, ended by christian sanctity of life.

jesus was "light of the world".

[Tim2nice]

Yeah right. A fictional man is the light. That’s why there’s still fighting and disease

[HawkPerception]

Religion as a whole a plague on humanity and it's up there with the worst things that have happened in society.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ep1oktyqBpc

[HawkPerception]

is a plague*

[TheRealPepperPotts]

No. War and incurable diseases are. And probably liver and onions, too. They are pretty bad... :D

[strateguy632]

good points here! 👍

[OddBeMe]

Ehh, religion in general could actually be kinda involuntary. A human species with fear of death and an imagination- yeah we’re inventing afterlives and rules to get there.

Christianity had some bloody days, and even now has some sex trafficking (looking at you Mormons). But as far as todays world wide safety, it’s Islam’s refusal to grow the fuck up.

[RebelinSteel]

Pretty much any religion is the same. It is very much related to your geographical area. Look at the Aztecs, if you lived in that area at the time, 20,000 to 200,000 sacrifices a year is a few.

[SotiCoto]

Islam is. THEN Christianity.

In the grand scheme of things if I was given a choice to wipe out either the Christians or the Muslims, I would (after complaining about why it couldn't be both) pick the Muslims for complete eradication.

[Tim2nice]

That’s also my sentiment because Christianity these days has been tamed. My argument is Christianity ruled the entire western world and stunted scientific progress as well as human development for close to 15 centuries

[CrabCakes11]

I don’t know about the worst, but it’s certainly in the top ten

[ProbablyClueless]

No, there have been many many many way worse things for the world than establishment Christianity. And anyway, that Christian society ended up producing the world you benefit from now, so it certainly hasn't been all bad.

[DextroShade]

I would say feminism is far worse because while civilization grew and advanced under Christianity it is declining under feminism.

[TommyMountainFigure]

I can think of something far far worse than Christianity. I just draw the line at broadcasting my view of it.

[PBandJ_Nerd]

No, there's been worse things that have happened in human history.

[Tim2nice]

Not for such a long time and the extent of it

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

It's best thing that ever happened to mankind as it brought salvation by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For you it will be the worse when the Lord Jesus Christ sends you to hell fire.

[Iron_Man]

no it’s the one and only it’s real be appreciative if not, we would have nothing

[Tim2nice]

The one and only what? Could you explain please if you can?

[Iron_Man]

How else do you think you got put on earth? Everything works out perfectly we’re design perfectly and all the animals. Do you think we just floated around for no reason? God put us here

[Anonymous]

Pretty damn close to it. It's all man-made bullshit to keep stupid people in line.

[OtterMan68]

I think what happened in Maoist China and Stalin's USSR was worse than all the negative things the Christian church has wrought combined

[Anonymous]

without religion, we'd still be living in caves scratching each other's asses like monkeys

[NathanDavis]

it was mosquitoes...

[axcitjuki]

Without Christianity women would never have rights you should accept this all

[Tim2nice]

What utter nonsense! Japan isn’t Christian yet their women have rights. Women have only got equal rights in the last 50 years when Christianity has been in fast decline

[axcitjuki]

Read how women were treated in the eido peroid in Japan and you'll see how stupid this comparison is.

[Tim2nice]

In Christian Europe women were just baby making machines and servants. They didn’t get the right to divorce until mid 19th century, the right to vote until after the First World War and the right to body autonomy until 1970’s. In some American states they still don’t have that right

[HelpfulWoman]

religion in general has had a lot of issues

[dreamstar72]

Hate, war, control, power, greed, etc

[exitseven]

no, liberalism is worse.

[gorydetails]

absolutely not. Communism is worse.

[bannacookies]

Not the worse, but it causes issues.

[Enginn]

You are learning. Join islam instead

[Tim2nice]

I actually come from a Muslim background and I dislike it more than Christianity. I’m just talking about the negative impact Christianity had on people for such a long time

[LiamJHayden]

Marxism.

[Tim2nice]

Marxism is an idealistic concept that hasn’t been allowed to be tested properly due to the elites being scared shitless of losing their privileges and grip on the masses

[meepmeeperton]

Oh boy... "real" communism has never been tried, huh?

[Tim2nice]

@meepmeeperton it has not. The world isn’t ready for communism yet. Let’s not forget rampant capitalism was responsible for millions of children dying in factories and workhouses

[meepmeeperton]

Interesting that it failed every time it was attempted.

[shortster]

You misspelled Communism.

[BarryLiverstone]

Nope