Essay: Christianity is an inherently violent re...

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   This essay is a good example of how pretty much any religion can be denigrated by out of context quotations and select historical events.

				Christianity is an Inherently Violent Religion

						Published by Jasen Tracy February 4, 2008					

						in Religion.					

											Tags: Bible and violence, Christianity and violence, god and violence, Islam and violence, Quran and violence.

				From History

Using history as the indicator, there is little doubt that Christianity
has been an extremely violent religion. The expansion by the sword
through pagan Europe, the Crusades, the Christian on Christian violence
of the Dark Ages and Reformation periods, the genocide of the American
Natives, and the forced imperialist rule of most of the world during
the �Colonial� Age all testify to this.
Christians often forced compliance to their religion on others.
Augustine, one of the must influential people in the development of
Christianity, fully supported this practice quoting the Bible passage,
�Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that
my house will be full.� This violent fundamentalism has been far too
common in Christian history.
Even today, Western armies lead by fundamentalist Christians occupy
Muslim countries and support unpopular regimes on the citizens of other
Muslim countries.
The Question of Inherency

The question goes further than simply whether Christians have been
excessively violent. Obviously, they have. We have to realize though,
that every religion has violent followers. The inventors of modern
suicide bombing and by far the most prolific practitioner of it, the
Tamil Tigers, are a fundamentalist Hindu group. Islam does not have a
perfect record either.
But the question is this: Is Christianity inherently violent? That is, is it by its very nature and true practice a violent faith? I am afraid the answer is yes.
A prominent preacher justified the recent unprovoked invasion of
Iraq by appealing to the Bible passage, �let him who has no sword, sell
his cloak and buy one.� One of the chief political figures in
fundamentalist Christianity went on international television to promote
violence against Muslims. She said, �We should invade their countries,
kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity.� Not only was she
allowed to do so without legal repercussions (showing support for her
ideas reach to the very top leadership), she received virtually no
criticism from the wider Christian community at all and remains a key
figure and best selling author.
If we merely dismiss these facts as the ravings of a few fanatics,
we do so at our great peril. About 10 percent of the 2 billion
Christians in the world are fundamentalists. That�s 200 million
Christian fanatics worldwide, and they control the most power military
in the world - the U.S. armed forces. And all of them are bent upon the
exploitation of non-Christian lands.

Liberal Christians

The other 90 percent of Christians are not fundamentalists, but their
beliefs are not based on a literal interpretation of the Bible.
Unfortunately, this majority rarely speaks out against their
fundamentalist brothers. By failing to do so, they enable the
fundamentalists and will be lumped together with them in the minds of
the non-Christian world. This is understandable though given the nature
of the Bible. The Bible�s vagueness and frequent contradictions make
literal interpretation both difficult and unpleasant.
In any case, to be a non-fundamentalist and non-violent Christian
they have to ignore many plain passages of the Bible. Christianity,
unlike Islam, has a basic teaching that mandates hatred and abuse of
people who follow other religions. Violence is mainstream; it is not
just a misguided few. When you read verses from the Bible, you see how
it instructs the killing of the infidel, and violence on outsiders.
Such passages from the bible as these:
And he said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from
gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and
every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
The LORD is a man of war.
He who sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.
(Note: this means Christians have to kill four billion people alive today).
O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them
(Note: Allah as inaccurately pictured in the Bible is particularly
bloodthirsty, killing over 32 million people, whereas Allah in the
Qur�an killed only 10 people).
For I set all men every one against his neighbor.
David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me.
Many other examples are possible, but these should suffice.
New Testament

Some Christians like to say that their New Testament overrules all this violence. However, as you can see, this is not the case:
The New Testament upholds the old:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
It does not contradict the crimes of the old; it reaffirms them.
It does this not just in general, but explicitly:
Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and
mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his
own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
It must be admitted that the New Testament does not have any
specific commands to commit massacres, but that is simply because
Christians at that time had no political or military power. As soon as
they achieved some, 1700 years of conquest and prosecution resulted.
Proof of the Peaceful Islamic Faith 

In contrast, we know Islam is a religion of peace. To quote the Qur�an, English translation:
Oh mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a
male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may
know each other (Not that you may despise each other). 49:13
Seest thou not that we have set the evil ones on against
the unbelievers to incite them with fury? So make no haste against
them, for we but count out to them a (limited) number (of days).
19:83,84
(God has knowledge) of the (Prophet�s) cry, �O my Lord!
Truly these are a people who will not believe!� But turn away from
them, and say, �Peace!� 43:88,89
�Repel evil with that which is best.� 23:96
You can clearly see that Islam teaches that we should be at peace with those who do not accept Allah�s teachings.
Conclusion

When Christian fundamentalists launch unprovoked attacks that kill tens
of thousands of innocent civilians, there will surely be a release of
anger aimed at Christians. It will be difficult to be overly concerned
about what type of Christian a person is if they have not made it
absolutely clear beforehand.
At this very moment, fundamentalist Christian forces occupy several
Muslim countries and prop up several other unpopular regimes in other
Muslim countries. They have plans to do more. Already the rhetoric
against Iran is being turned up, a country they have had a long history
of interfering with. We must wake up to this fact and realize that our
struggle is not against other countries; it is against fundamentalist
Christians, and indeed Christianity and its inherent violence.
http://zealfortruth.org/2008/02/christianity-is-an-inherently-violent-religion/