There’s been a phrase around for a while now that goes along the lines of “The Bible is the atheist’s greatest weapon against Christianity” (paraphrased as I can’t find the original at the moment). I’m not a fan of the wording, specifically citing the Bible as a weapon, it suggests were in a war, or a battle with Christians. I’m no more in a war with Christians than I am in a war with the field mouse that lives in my garden. Regardless, the point remains. Many Christians have never fully read the Bible, and out of those that have, they typically choose to simply ignore that bits that don’t fit their lives.
Being fundamentally tied to a fictional book that’s thousands of years old is quite the disadvantage and Churches up and down the country are finding that out to their cost. While in the past Churches have relied on spreading God’s word to generate a steady income for their cult leaders keep people in the Church, they’re finding that it doesn’t work.
The survey found, much to Ham’s surprise, a “Sunday School syndrome,” indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.
The above quote is taken from a World Net Daily article titled, rhetorically, Why are 2 out of 3 young people leaving the church? The article quotes from a book written by Ken Ham, the nut known for running Answers in Genesis. In fact, it’s not just church that is being dismissed by those in the 20-29 age range he surveyed:
Among the survey findings, regular participants in Sunday School are more likely to:
- Leave the church
- Believe that the Bible is less true
- Defend the legality of abortion and same-sex marriage
- Defend premarital sex
So that’s everything they were taught in Sunday School then. This proves a very important point. Education is key. We’ve seen a trend over the years of people dismissing the hocus-pocus of religion once they reach college, as they are confronted by facts and not fairy tales, but here we also see that simply educating them on religion itself is an effective deterrent. After all, who could subscribe to a religion that condones murdering children, the suppression of women, homosexuals, those with disabilities and those who do not believe?
Of course, Ham sees this enlightenment as a negative thing. But who would’ve guessed that someone so deluded that they believe the earth is only 6,000 years old would be against education? Ham tries to dress his up as a conflict between scripture being taught in Sunday School and the information taught in normal School (let’s call it Truth School), and he’s exactly right. What he fails to realise is that when both sides of the argument are presented equally, it’s clear to see which is fact and which is make believe.
An article over at Politics Daily cites a number of reasonably recent studies that have highlighted how little Christians understand of the Bible. The article is in response to a resolution being proposed by Georgia Republican Paul Broun calling for an official “Year of the Bible”. I say, go for it. This is something all atheists should fully get behind. As the Politics Daily article highlights, more people believe the Bibles account of creation is literally true than know what the first book of the Bible is called. So let’s get Bibles in the hands of everyone. When they read it, and discover what a hate filled, despicable piece of work it really is, I’m sure the churches will be going out of business closing up and down the country.
Okay, so your argument goes like this:
1.) If it is the case that many Christians don’t read the Bible, then the Bible and Christianity is false.
2.) Many Christians don’t read the Bible.
_________________________________________
3.) Therefore, the Bible and Christianity are false.
Now, i won’t go into detail why this argument is fallacious (hopefully because it is obvious) but i will say a few things about your statements.
“After all, who could subscribe to a religion that condones murdering children, the suppression of women, homosexuals, those with disabilities and those who do not believe?”
The bible doesn’t condone any of these things. The Bible says nothing about suppressing women or homosexuals. The Bible never says, “When you see a woman or a homosexual, supress them!.” Also, the Bible definately doesn’t say, “Kill children, suppress the handicap (are you serious?) and suppress those who don’t believe.”
If you could show some evidence, in the Bible, of course, where these things are stated, that would be great!
Well, I am pretty sure he is referring to the way most Christians are against gay marriage. Making it illegal for Homosexuals to get married would be a form of suppression in my opinion. Of course I am not sure what he means about the suppression of the handicap or women so hopefully he explains himself or somebody who understands this better than I does.
Now for what the Bible says, I am almost positive that most of the lessons in the Bible are not made obvious. Hence all the misleading parables.
As for the child killing in the Bible, I do believe he was referring to the story of a fellow named Abraham who was told to kill his son by god as a test. Now I know that this was labeled as a “test of faith” in the Bible but can we really think of that as a legitimate reason to kill your child? Put yourself in Abraham’s shoes for a minute, if it was me i would want to be sure that it was truly god not the devil in disguise. The god i read about in the Bible wouldn’t want me to kill my child because that would be against the commandment, so i must assume that the devil is trying to pull a fast one on me just like he did Eve. Nice try devil!
Feel free to correct me if i am wrong though:)
As I was reading this post, I came across a statement that intrigued me. This statement was, “After all, who could subscribe to a religion that condones murdering children, the suppression of women, homosexuals, those with disabilities and those who do not believe?”
A pure curiosity brings me to ask where you found the evidence to put behind this statement. I will appreciate the time you take for the answer. Thanks
Here’s a starter. There are, or course, many many more heinous parts of the Bible for those who open their eyes to them.
Murdering Children:
Suppression of women:
Homosexuals:
Those who do not believe:
Apologies, I forgot to include any about those with disabilities.
As the preacher’s grandson, I can attest to this “Sunday
school affectâ€, however I think stealing the quote “Christians are
the greatest cause of atheisms†is a more accurate way to explain
this. In my experience many Christians teach understanding through
faith instead of teaching faith through understanding. In the most
Christian churches/ households it is a greater sin to not believe
then it is to not understand. It should be easy to understand why
everyone should have some knowledge/ understanding about the very
thing they place their faith in, but this backward practice was put
into place to protect the “Phariseesâ€. Of course this is not the
philosophy taught by Jesus as described in the bible. Jesus showed
himself to be an intellectual.