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Because Christianity is
our national religion and revered as a central and necessary component of
American life, it is important to examine it critically in order to evaluate its
effects on society. Such an examination illuminates the dark shadow that
Christian ideology casts over our nation, ideology that is the rot in the
foundation of Christian institutions. Christianity is dysfunctional because the
Bible is dichotomous, promoting not only love but also fear, oppression,
cruelty, war, and institutionalized intolerance, all of which are integral
components of our national character. Because of its inherent defects,
Christianity will never be a solution to social problems, and it explains why
some of us strive to voice our concerns about the effects it has on our lives
and our world.
Blind faith in and uncritical acceptance of Christianity ensures that Christian
individuals, organizations and nations will continue to support and perpetrate
monstrous atrocities against the usual demonized targets: the environment,
women, children, homosexuals, foreigners, those with differing faiths,
socialists, communists, third-world peasants, and nations that stray from the
path that imperialist and proudly Christian nations such as the U.S. demand they
trod.
Christianity: The Dark Side is a PowerPoint presentation I made for a course I took at CSUMB during the fall 2000 semester. The presentation reflects my rejection of the Christian dogma with which I was indoctrinated during my childhood and adolescence. Christianity: The Dark Side offers my reaction to the appalling history of Christianity, a manifestation of the abhorrence that arises upon a close and reasoned examination of Christian ideology, especially the eye-for-an-eye mentality underlying much of the violence in the Old Testament. The work takes a humanist look at Biblical mythology, details some of its most pernicious aspects, and asserts that it is guaranteed to pervert many of those who come under its thrall. Christianity: The Dark Side also suggests that Christianity serves as a highly addictive system of beliefs that narcotizes the adolescent fears of the unknown that lurk in the recesses of minds that haven’t evolved very far from those of our primordial ancestors. After all, it was these fears, and awe of the forces of nature and the mystery of life, that engendered belief in the supernatural.
To download my PowerPoint presentation Christianity: The Dark Side (about 5 MB), click here