Over the centuries, Christianity has been criticized by philosophers, journalists, members of other religions, scientists, and other people from all walks of life. This article outlines some of the major criticisms of Christianity and the actions of its followers, that have been offered through the years.

Criticisms regarding the Bible

Main article: Criticism of the Bible

The Bible itself is often the focus of criticism concerning its morality, internal consistency, consistency with regard to the historic record, and with regard to science. Difficulties also arise when considering which translation to use, as many modern translations take into account newly discovered ancient manuscripts of the Bible, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and Codex Sinaiticus, which suggest that passages such as the Pericope Adulteræ, and Mark 16 originally took other forms than are present in earlier translations such as the King James Version, and sometimes didn't even exist. There is also the question of whether the masoretic text, which forms the basis of most modern English translations of the Old Testament, is the more accurate or whether one of the translations which pre-dates the masoretic text, such as the Septuagint, Syriac Peshitta, and Samaritan Pentateuch is more accurate.

Criticisms regarding selective interpretation of the Bible

Some maintain that Christians hypocritically choose to follow only those portions of the Bible they like.

Sometimes particular attention is directed to rules contained in the Old Testament which are not observed by Christians . Many of the rules in question are specifically abrogated by the New Testament, such as circumcision in Galatians 2:1, and the entire Law is described by Galatians 3:24-25 as a tutor which is no longer necessary. The alleged hyprocrisy is in the continued invocation of portions of the Old Testament that are considered obsolete under Christianity, particularly when those portions support hostility towards women and homosexuals.

Criticisms regarding Christianity and tolerance

Main article: Historical persecution by Christians

Claims that Christianity is the one true religion have, according to some critics, led people to fight wars to enforce their belief. The most notable examples of Christian warfare include the Crusades of the Middle Ages, directed mainly against the Muslim

After the establishment of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman under emperor Theodosius I, the state acted to persecute rival beliefs which challlenged the supremacy of the established church, which thus became increasingly intolerant of dissent. The state issued decrees intended to oppress or eradicate not only pagans (including adherents of the older Roman religion and of cults such as Manichaeism) but also Christian groups regarded as heretical (such as Arians and sects influenced by Gnosticism). The state aimed to "suppress all rival religions, order the closing of the temples, and impose fines, confiscation, imprisonment or death upon any who cling to the older Pagan religions." Sanctions included confiscation of property, destruction of religious writings, exile, and sometimes execution. The Roman state church also tolerated acts of violence against Jewish synagogues (see Christianity and anti-Semitism).

The idea that heretics should be punishable by death continued to be supported by some later Christian writers, such as the 13th-century scholar Thomas Aquinas, who held that heretics "deserve not only to be separated from the Church by excommunication, but also to be severed from the world by death", ). During the Reformation period, both sides in the conflict thought it appropriate to execute heretics: the radical theologian Michael Servetus was condemned to death by the Roman Catholic authorities, but actually executed by the Protestant authorities in Geneva.

Historical persecution by Christians was also focused on other Christians such as the Cathars, in the Albigensian crusade. Inquisitions were also used against domestic populations, to eliminate individuals who expressed divergent opinions. Atrocities commited by the state in the name of Christianity have historically gone hand-in-hand with pogroms by the populace, leading to horrific massacres, such as St. Bartholomew's Day massacre carried out by a Catholic mob against Protestants. Christian mobs, sometimes with government support, have targeted non-Christians. Examples include the destruction of pagan temples and murder of the philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria by a Christian mob.

Christian fundamentalists often use passages in the Bible to criticize homosexuality, and because of the influence of such biblical teachings during the Middle Ages, for centuries, homosexual acts were punishable in Europe by death. Even today, Christian groups, particularly in America, are accused of being at the forefront of homophobia, with extremists such as the Westboro Baptist Church picketing the funerals

British environmental activist George Monbiot has also argued that Christian fundamentalists are driving the United States's current foreign policy, to the detriment of all concerned.

Criticisms regarding Christianity and science

Main article: Religion and science

Christianity has sometimes had an antagonistic relationship with science. According to American religious scholar Kaufmann Kohler, the resulting Christian orthodoxy from the 4th century onward "emphasised faith, produced a thinking that deprecated learning, as was shown by Draper ("History of the Conflict between Science and Religion") and by White ("History of the Warfare of Science with Theology"), a reliance on the miraculous and supernatural, under the from old pagan forms of belief. In the name of the Christian faith reason and research were condemned, Greek philosophy and literature were exterminated, and free thinking was suppressed."

Perhaps the best known example of this is when Galileo Galilei (who has been referred to as the "father of science"), was opposed by the Roman Catholic Church, even though Galileo asserted himself as devout Catholic. Galileo, for popularising Copernicus's Heliocentrism, which is now understood to be correct, was persecuted. According to Professor Andrew Dickson White, in A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (III.iii), 1896, Galileo's experiences demonstrate a classic case of a scholar forced to recant his scientific insight.

The above view is roughly what scholars today call the conflict thesis (or the warfare model, or the Draper-White thesis) - This idea of a war between science and religion (specially Christianity) was common in the historiography of science from the late 19th to the mid-20th centuries, and is still common in popular culture, but it has lost much of its support among professional historians.

Criticisms regarding Christianity and reason

Main article: Existence of God

Some critics, such as Daniel Dennett and ethologist Richard Dawkins, argue that Christianity has sought to suppress rational enquiry and hence the quest for truth. Dawkins cites the story of Thomas from the Bible and argues that the Bible actively discourages believers from making rational enquiries about their faith. Dawkins has said that he is against religion "because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." Though Dawkins and Dennett are significant living critics on the issue of reason, they are by no means alone. A number of prominent philosophers throughout the ages have made similar criticisms. Bertrand Russell's are recounted in Why I Am Not a Christian. Nietzsche is well known for his bleak view of Christianity.

Many Christian theologians have made appeals to reason as an important aspect of the Christian faith. These thinkers have included that same Thomas, who believed in Jesus after touching his wounds; John Wesley, who included "reason" in the theological model known as the "Wesleyan Quadrilateral"; and Tony Campolo, author of the book A Reasonable Faith. Theologian Alister McGrath, author of Dawkins' God: Genes, Memes, And The Meaning Of Life, is critical of Dawkins' arguments for atheism.

Many of the founding fathers of the American Revolution were arguably Deists and critical of organized religion in general. George Washington served as a vestryman in his local church in his youth. He never became a communicant in any church, but did attend church with his wife. The Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie declared Washington to be a deist after his death, but Washington's adopted daughter said he was a Christian. Washington firmly believed that a religious sentiment was necessary for a virtuous and free citizenry. Thomas Jefferson did not believe in the divinity of Jesus, but wrote an entire biography of him minus the supernatural, to promote his view of Jesus as a moral teacher.

One outspoken Deist was the radical Thomas Paine, who argues in his "Revealed Religion & Morality" that "the most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries, that have afflicted the human race, have had their origin in this thing called revelation." Paine argues that the dominance of Christianity was established through violence, "by the sword."

Responses to criticisms of Christianity

Most of the above objections are socio-historical. Some would argue that religion by nature is fundamentally personal, hence socio-historical trends can never be applied to debating the merits of personal belief and the objections are strictly incidental.

It can also be argued that criticism of Christianity based on its perceived retardation of science is shaped by the modern "survivor's viewpoint;" that is, an artificial dichotomy between church and science is created only because science has thrived into the modern time, while to the church of a few centuries ago, it could have seemed another, possibly dangerous cult.

Some of the apparent contradictions in the Bible arise from either translation or the changing meanings of words in the vernacular. To take an example, Shakespeare sometimes uses the word "merely" to mean "absolutely," a usage not found in modern English. See Hamlet, I.2, l.137.

See also

• Criticism of Religion
• Anti-clericalism
• Anti-Catholicism
• Anti-Protestantism
• Criticism of Mormonism
• Criticism of Islam
• Anti-Judaism
• Christian apologetics
• Criticism of Atheism
• Catholic Bible Contradictions

Citation

Joseph McCabe, "A Rationalist Encyclopaedia: A book of reference on religion, philosophy, ethics and science," Gryphon Books (1971). Excerpts appear at: