Violence and Atrocity in the Name of God

This is the thought of what Christianity is to many people. Is it a fair characterization? 

A common objection I hear to Christianity is about its history that has been riddled with acts of atrocity and war from Christians. The Inquisition, notably the Spanish Inquisition, and the Crusades are two black marks on the record of Christian history. I will admit it, these are two shameful points in Christian history. I feel terrible that they happened, but I cannot go in the past and change this. My main problem is that frequently people reject the entire religion because of the foolish actions of people. They basically throw out the baby with the bath water.


Now I can see how people are appalled by this past. No explanation is needed. The only problem is we forget that these things were done by fallen men who were sinful. I am just as fallen as the crusaders who killed people in the Middle East or the Spanish during the Reconquista. These people were bound to mess up and you cannot set your decision on the validity of a system on the actions of a few people who were, frankly, not exactly following Jesus.


Here is an example. The United States is a massive draw for people who want to emigrate to somewhere for a better life. They want the same American Dream we all hope for. Our country has HUGE black marks in our past, notably enslaving an entire race of people and treating them poorly for years after they had been freed. That is another thing that I as a Christian am appalled by. I hate that people felt it was justifiable to enslave others, and most people no matter their background would agree. But oddly enough, people aren't scared of moving to the United States due to our countries' past because they see that the benefits of moving to the country far outweigh the missteps of the past. Why can't we do the same with Christianity?



Another rejection I hear of Christianity is that "almost all wars are caused by religion". This is a stock rejection that frankly doesn't have much historical merit, especially in the Western World. If you look at the past century all wars then in the western context were over something other than religion. Our earliest war of the 20th century, the Spanish-American War, was even about imperialism and money. World War I and World War II were both started by political ideologies and political fracturing in Europe. The Korean and Vietnam wars were meant to stop the "domino effect" of communism. None of these had anything to do with religion, but were politically and economically driven.

Stalin. Atheist. Genocidal leader

The many mass genocides in the past century have also been primarily non religious, with a few notable exceptions. And the ones that were religiously charged tended to be in opposition to Christianity, not in favor of. Armenians, many of whom were Christians, were killed by the millions by Ottoman Muslims in the early 20th century. The Cultural Revolution in China saw the killings of many Christians by an atheistic regime. Even the recent problems in Darfur were events of Christians being killed by Sudanese Muslims. Currently there are also many Christians being killed in historic regions of Christianity. Copts in North Africa are being killed by Muslims. Syrian Christians are being killed in the rebellions in their home. That is millions of Christians killed, rather than killing.

Many dictators who were atheist, including Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Joseph Stalin, contributed to the slaughtering of millions of innocent people. In the name of their atheistic regimes they slaughtered so many people.

Adolf Hitler did claim to be a Christian  But much like the men of the Crusades, I see him as a man who twisted the Word of God to his own desires. If that hadn't been so why did he kick Karl Barth, a prominent Christian theologian who was critical of Hitler, out of Germany? And why did Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, plot to assassinate him to help the cause of the Jews (he even had a brother in law who was Jewish)  If you know anything about these two men you know they are two of the finest minds of Christianity ever ( If you can read their works, they are brilliant!) and had they thought Hitler was theologically sound I doubt they would have opposed him. But they did see him as unsound and crazy. They lead the underground Confessing Church that taught a gospel that wasn't tainted by national socialism like the national churches of Germany, so they were persecuted by Hitler for not pushing his propaganda in their churches. While Hitler was on record for saying he was a Christian, I have serious doubts about that, and many other Christians do too.

Now I promise I am not trying to justify past atrocities that were done in the name of Christianity. I want people to remember Christians as loving and kind, much like Jesus was, not as warmongering people. Just notice that all of these acts were done by sinful people, regardless of religious affiliation or lack thereof,  not by a just God. To reject God because the imperfection of his creatures is a bad idea. Look at the teachings of Jesus. They are good and profitable. Unlike us God is perfect and kind.