“Christianity is peddling an inferior product…”
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) was a prominent lecturer in post-Civil War America, and he voiced his resistance to Christianity. He was known as the Great Agnostic; this is an excerpt from one of his speeches:
“Then I asked myself the question: Is there a supernatural power—an arbitrary mind—an enthroned God—a supreme will that sways the tides and currents of the world—to which all causes bow? I do not deny. I do not know—but I do not believe. I believe that the natural is supreme—that from the infinite chain no link can be lost or broken—that there is no supernatural power that can answer prayer—no power that worship can persuade or change—no power that cares for man.”
But there were also 19th Century women who qualified as atheists/agnostics/freethinkers—they were outraged at the negative impact of Christianity on women’s rights, and publicly argued their case. These include:
Frances Wright (1795–1852)
Ernestine Rose (1810–1892)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898)
Thomas Edison was also a skeptic, who labelled organized religion as “bunk.” Andrew Carnegie wrote in his autobiography, “Not only had I got rid of the theology and the supernatural, but I had found the truth of evolution…” Clarence Darrow, the prominent attorney who defended John Scopes in the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1925, said “I do not believe in God because I do not believe in Mother Goose.” Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) delivered a lecture in 1927 titled, “Why I Am Not a Christian.” He also offered a thought experiment about a teapot orbiting the sun between Earth and Mars: the evidence for the teapot and for god is about the same.
Christianity in Western Europe took a big hit in the wake of two world wars. Death and suffering were so massive it was hard to believe that a caring, powerful god could be paying attention to human needs.
In 1979 George H. Smith (1949-2022) published a landmark book, Atheism: The Case Against God.
“Why has Christianity refused, whenever possible, to allow its beliefs to compete in a free marketplace of ideas? The answer is obvious—and revealing. Christianity is peddling an inferior product, one that cannot withstand critical investigation. Unable to compete favorably with other theories, it has sought to gain a monopoly through a state franchise, which means: through the use of force.” (p. 114)
Church bureaucracies are actually the state franchise, with clergy at all levels working hard, by the use of force, fear, and threats, to keep faith intact. For example, hell awaits those who don’t believe the dogmas espoused by the bureaucracy. An elderly Catholic woman told me a few months ago that their priests warned them not to think about what they’d learned in catechism. I have encountered other super devout Christians who indeed refuse to think about, much less read about, criticisms aimed at their beliefs—which are, indeed, an inferior product. Grand church buildings, which provide the impressive stages 
for ceremonies and rituals—Catholics especially excel at excessive costuming—all this is designed to disguise the inferior product.
The great puzzle—actually the colossal scandal—is that Christians accuse each other of having inferior products! There are thousands of differing, bickering Christian brands. Catholics are certain that Southern Baptists get far too much wrong, and the Southern Baptists think the same thing about Catholics. There will never come a time when all this disagreement will be resolved, when all Christians will kiss and make up, when all the denominations will be erased. And, of course, Christians are sure that the other brands of western monotheism, e.g., Muslims, Jews, Mormons, offer inferior products—although all of them claim divine inspiration.
It doesn’t take much to figure out that religion—so many divisions, so many disputes, so many deeply devout believers who cannot agree—can reasonably be labelled fake news.
This reality has gained considerable momentum in just the last couple of decades. The world was so stunned by the religion-fueled terrorist attacks on 9/11 that many serious thinkers came forward to critique and expose the inferior products. Sam Harris published The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason in 2004. Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion appeared in 2006, as well as Daniel Dennett’s Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Christopher Hitchens published God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything in 2007.
These books appear to have ignited a most welcome momentum. A few years ago I launched what I call The Cure-for-Christianity Library website, a list of books, most of which were published after the year 2,000. The title count now stands at over 500—and I’m behind on adding titles. By no means are all the authors atheists, but most are, and they powerfully make the case that Christianity indeed peddles an inferior product.
One of the most gratifying things about this list is that many ex-clergy authors are on it. Dan Savage once said, “I didn’t lose my faith, I saw through it.” That is precisely what happened to these clergy, even those who were evangelical or fundamentalist.
Ranking very high on this ex-clergy list is John W. Loftus, whose high energy output is demonstrated by the list of books cited to the right of this article (at the top). The anthologies he engineered include essays by a wide range of authors who are knowledgeable about the inferior product that Christianity peddles.
The list also includes ex-clergy Tim Sledge, Dan Barker, and Hector Avalos, all of whom have authored several books. Tim is the owner of Insighting Growth Publications, focused on books about getting along without religion. Dan Barker is co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation—the other co-president being Annie Laurie Gaylor, also a published author on the dangers of Christianity. There are quite a few ex-clergy who have written about their disappointing experiences in the church, e.g., Jerry DeWitt, Drew Bekius, David Chumney, John Compere, Anthony B. Pinn, and Tom Rastrelli.
There are other authors who specialize in demonstrating the inferiority of the Christian product: Robert Conner, Seth Andrews, David Fitzgerald, Guy Harrison, David McAfee, Hemant Mehta, Richard C. Miller, David Orenstein. William A. Zingrone.
Women have been prominent too in the dismantling of Christian claims: Annie Wood Besant, Betty Brogaard, Greta Christina, Margaret Downey, Cassie Fox, Karen L. Garst, Candace Gorham, Abby Hafer, Carolyn Hyppolite, Susan Jacoby, Deborah Mitchell, Candida Moss, Catherine Nixey, Amber Scorah, Carolyn Shadle, Janice Selbie, Chrissy Stroop, Valerie Tarico, Gretta Vosper, Barbara Walker, Diane Wilson, Marlene Winell.
My emphasis so far has been on books, but then there’s the Internet. It has been claimed that “the Internet is where religion goes to die.” Well, not quite. Churches and religious enthusiasts also are prominent on line. But it is a good thing that atheists/agnostics/freethinkers are so well represented, and their writings and videos are accessible to folks sitting at their computers, or searching on their phones. This blog is an example—as well as countless others. And Derek Lambert has made a great contribution with this MythVision Podcast.
The inferiority of the Christian product is based largely on its copycat theology. Once the context in which the Jesus-cult arose is understood, it’s very hard to take it seriously. Richard Carrier has illustrated this abundantly in his 2014 book, On the Historicity of Jesus: Why We Might Have Reason for Doubt. This book is 618 pages, massively footnoted—but nonetheless highly readable. He followed this up in 2020 with Jesus from Outer Space: What the Earliest Christians Really Believed about Jesus. Carrier explains in the Preface, “…the earliest Christians taught Jesus came from outer space. Not in a fully modern sense, but in an ancient sense.” (p. 8) A prime example being the apostle Paul, whose only “contacts” with Jesus were his revelations from Jesus in heaven above. In this 2020 book Carrier provides detailed descriptions of many other dying-and-rising savior god cults that provided the ideas that were adopted by the early Jesus-cult. An article on his blog, Dying-and-Rising Gods: It’s Pagan Guys. Get Over It, (2018) also provides abundant information about these cults. These works are essential homework for anyone truly curious about how Christianity arose.
Ernestine Rose (1810–1892)
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)
Matilda Joslyn Gage (1826–1898)
for ceremonies and rituals—Catholics especially excel at excessive costuming—all this is designed to disguise the inferior product.
Women have been prominent too in the dismantling of Christian claims: Annie Wood Besant, Betty Brogaard, Greta Christina, Margaret Downey, Cassie Fox, Karen L. Garst, Candace Gorham, Abby Hafer, Carolyn Hyppolite, Susan Jacoby, Deborah Mitchell, Candida Moss, Catherine Nixey, Amber Scorah, Carolyn Shadle, Janice Selbie, Chrissy Stroop, Valerie Tarico, Gretta Vosper, Barbara Walker, Diane Wilson, Marlene Winell.
· Guessing About God (2023),
· Ten Things Christians Wish Jesus Hadn’t Taught: And Other Reasons to Question His Words (2021). The Spanish translation of this book is also available.
· Everything You Need to Know About Prayer But May Not Want to Admit (2025)
The Cure-for-Christianity Library©, now with more than 500 titles, is here. A brief video explanation of the Library is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment