response paper

topic: Will the world be a better place if Christianity ceased to exist today?

While Christianity may have played a pivotal role in the advancement of civilizations and exploration, in modern times, it only seems to be more trouble than it’s worth.  And would be better off if it was left behind centuries ago.

1.) Wars based on religious differences (the crusades, Israelis vs Palestinians)

With so many religions spreading as different people from all walks of life came together, each claiming to be the one true path to give meaning and purpose on this brave and huge world of ours, a conflict between ideas and beliefs was inevitable.  Countless wars and conflicts fought for the glory of their creators divine infallible will. Some may argue that religion plays a key factor in preventing these conflicts in the first place by regulating human behavior through morality, and thus should be kept in order to prevent some kind of societal breakdown.  But while some historians debate that morality and ethics may have originated from religions and evolved from there, in an increasingly secular world, morals and their values are no longer dependent on religion in order to be taught and spread.

2.) Religion to justify horrible acts (religious terrorism, martyrdom)

It’s incredible what some people are prepared to do when they can claim a higher infallible power wills it to be done.  Many sources of history have tended to gloss over the messier sides of history.  When religions headed by corrupt and power-hungry patriarchs, went out of their way to excuse their actions, don’t like how your wife talks to you?  Claim all women were created from men so naturally they are inferior.  Need a reason to convince your followers to blindly slaughter your enemies without question?  Claim that the enemy is a bunch of Satan worshiping savages, that god would praise and reward you for killing them.  Others may claim that this kind of demonization is equally as prevalent if not more so in other places such as politics, and they’re right.  Demonization and fear mongering have done long lasting serious harm in the political world.  And have created both political and racial issues that still plague our society to this day.

3.) Opposing what goes against the Bible (Homophobia, Pro-life movement)

One of the main prevailing arguments religious people use to argue against progressive movements such as LGBQ+ rights, and a woman’s right to choose, is how such actions go against the beliefs of ideals gleamed from a bunch of letters (referring to apostle Paul and the New Testament) as far back as 50-60 A.D.  And with the language that never really calls out these subjects as sinful because they weren’t as big of an issue as they are today.  They absolutely are plenty of examples or at least evidence of homosexual relations and people who lived outside of gender norms throughout history.  But they, for the most part, had to keep this part of their lives a secret, until at least the early 20th century out of fear for their own safety.