Christianity is More Dangerous Than Atheism Because of the Same Reasons I Reject it!

I'm beginning to think that when it comes to the question, "which belief system killed more people, Christianity or atheism,” that the answers given are a wash. There has been evil done on both sides, such that by merely looking at the evil itself we cannot conclude which set of beliefs is more dangerous. The numbers themselves don't tell us the whole story, so continually adding and subtracting which set of beliefs killed the most people doesn't tell us much about which set of beliefs is more dangerous.

Since it's obvious people use religion for their own selfish and evil purposes, and since self-destructive and egomaniacal people who reject religion can kill people in the name of atheism, this debate doesn't show much to us about the truth or falsity of our respective claims, except in one important respect, which is the same one we argue about between us anyway!

Christians have a revelational claim. They do not reason to their specific beliefs (the trinity? Virgin Birth? Incarnation?). They learn about such beliefs from God’s revelation and then they argue these beliefs are reasonable. Even the arguments for God's existence cannot get a person to the Trinity. Non-believers claim to follow reason and science. We have separate starting points.

That difference between us is also the same difference when it comes to which set of beliefs are more dangerous, I think, and it's clear to me which ones are indeed more dangerous. It's the Christian set of beliefs. Why? Because there’s this entity called the Holy Spirit. The Christian claim is that he speaks to them both individually through illumination, or collectively through the Bible. Non-believers have no such belief. What atheists believe is based on reason and science (in various degrees, since there are intelligent and educated ones as well as ignorant ones).

Individually a Christian can claim to have heard the Holy Spirit or God speaking directly to them, and this voice can say “kill people,” or a host of other messages, many benign. Those who claim God told them to “kill people” are the insane people, of course, but an atheist insane person has no such justification if he chooses to kill.

Whenever God’s message is believed based upon this inner voice of God’s, without evidence, Christians are absolutely sure of it and they can do a great amount of evil in God’s name precisely because a belief held without reason is one that cannot be debunked by reason. They can claim practically anything. From “God wants so-and-so elected,” to “I should marry this person,” to “we should have another baby,” to “I should bash gay people and infidels,” to “our church should step out on faith and build a bigger church,” to “so-and-so is an evil person.” These beliefs can do harm, and they are adopted based upon a voice in their own heads.

An Christian individual who hears this voice can influence a church or a nation on a collective level, if that person is a leader. Collectively a church can do great harm in such things as the Inquisition, the Crusades, or by endorsing slavery. A “Christian” nation can endorse such things as “manifest destiny,” or that we should invade Iraq, or support the Jews no matter what, because they are supposedly in Biblical “end-time prophecies.”

So I think these beliefs of Christians are dangerous and do produce greater evil for the very same reasons I reject it. Their beliefs are not based upon reason and science! Any belief not so based can and does lead to great harm.

The question I have posed continually is why God never said such things as “Thou shalt not trade, sell, buy, own, or beat slaves,” and said it as often as needed for the collective church to get the point (this could be done for witch, honor, and heretic killings as well). And if a proper exegesis of the relevant Biblical texts should’ve been so clear in the Bible that Southern Christianity was not getting it right about slavery, then where was the Holy Spirit’s influence? If Christians can repeatedly and grossly reject the influence of the Holy Spirit, then what influence does he really have in the lives of believers?

The fact is that the very claim that Christians make of the Holy Spirit and of revelation makes the Christian belief system more dangerous that atheism, regardless of which belief system killed more people. It's the basis for the Christian claim that makes it ipso facto more dangerous...by far.