three to thirty thousand people<\/a>) constituted sure proof against the validity of Christianity.<\/p>\nUgh\u2026 This fellow is a good friend, and he\u2019s very bright, but what a knuckleheaded thing to say.<\/p>\n
The logic of this church-morality argument goes like this: The Christian Church should be perfect, and the Christian faith is invalid if the church displays a grievous moral failure, which it has done many, many times. This argument is inconsistent with Christian beliefs, let alone common sense, both of which hold that the Church is not perfect.<\/p>\n
This argument is not apostasy, it\u2019s bad social science.<\/p>\n
If one wanted to judge Christianity by participation in atrocities, one should compare the Church\u2019s participation in atrocities versus that of other religious and secular institutions. As data for this comparison, here\u2019s a list of the worst genocides of the last 100 years:<\/p>\n
China (1960s, 1970s), 30 million dead
\nUSSR (1920s, 1930s, 1940s), 2 0 million dead
\nGermany (1930s, 1940s), 11.4 million dead
\nJapan (1930s, 1940s), 10 million dead
\nPakistan (1970s), 3.1 million dead
\nSudan (1960s, present day), 2.8 million dead
\nNigeria (1960s), 2 million dead
\nAfghanistan (1980s), 1.8 million dead
\nCambodia (1970s), 1.7 million dead
\nTurkey (1910s, 1920s), 1.5 million dead
\nIndonesia (1970s, 1980s), 1.2 million dead
\nRwanda (1990s), 1 million dead
\nIndia (1940s), 1 million dead
\n(Source: Barbara Harff, National Geographic, Jan 2006, p. 30)<\/p>\n
Okay, I don\u2019t think that counting up atrocities is a useful way to judge religions, but if one is going to do so, at least do it accurately. From the above list, it appears that most of these terrible atrocities have been committed by governments or institutions rooted in belief systems other than Christianity. By the logic of this argument, then, Christianity is supported.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some time ago, I was having lunch with a good friend. The conversation turned to Christianity, and he asked me what I thought of it. I mumbled though my sandwich some generally affirmative answer, and he responded with utter conviction: \u201cBut what about the Inquisition?\u201d In his mind, this Christian-based atrocity (which executed three to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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