Christianity: Bad Religion, Good Idea

Ok so some of my views have changed since then, this was a paper I wrote in college, but some people have asked me to put it out there so here it is.

Christianity is a religion that evolved from the teachings of one of thousands of Jewish Messiahs crucified during the Roman Empire’s reign in Palestine. At the time there was considerable religious, political, and social strife signifying the inevitable upheaval of the current structure. There was also a firm and determined belief in the coming of a Messiah or great leader resembling the traits of the Jewish King David who would arrive and free God’s chosen people, the Israelites from foreign rule. Jesus’ early followers seemed to possess a poverty stricken distaste for the aristocracy of the Sadducees, who insisted on temple ceremonies and strict interpretation of all six hundred plus Mosaic laws, that is evident in it’s attraction to the underprivileged which can be credited for it’s success and perseverance.
Jesus himself did not write any scriptures and everything that is known about him, basically the foundations for his religion, was written in the New Testament which was constructed nearly six decades after his death by religious devotees in order to propagate their faith. Jesus began to preach about the coming of God and the need to repent in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, Jon the prophet who was a follower of the Essenes who believed in physical resurrection and the immediate coming of God’s kingdom no doubt influenced his beliefs. Jesus taught that every individual’s thoughts, actions, and goals were the determining factor in whether or not one would enter into God’s kingdom. This meant a retreat from humanistic and superficial values such as lust, hostility, and the pursuit of power and wealth and an increase in the purity of the heart and soul characterized by pure love for God first and the fellow man second. Jesus did not seek to destroy the old faith, simply to reform and fulfill it. He expressed his belief that the current state of Judaism was more focused on upholding dogmatic traditions and the obedience of Mosaic Law down to every detail of daily life, which distorted the prophetic value of early teachings. He saw the rules as only propagating the appearance of good faith while ignoring the inner thoughts and being.
It was not until Saint Paul, a Hellenized Jew who had originally been named Saul, began his work as a Jewish Christian missionary that the religion began to separate from Judaism into a new religion. He was key in spreading the Christian message to the non-Jewish. He began to create doctrines that caused a break from Judaism, and taught these to Jews and Gentiles alike. He devised the concept of the original sin of man, and taught that all were sinners because of Adam’s defiance, and Jesus had come to Earth to die on the cross and atone for all mankind’s sin, in order to allow them to gain salvation simply by believing that Jesus had done such. This was propagated by the belief that the individual was wicked by nature and unable to overcome sin alone, and that through baptism they could be cleansed of this wretchedness and develop a personal union with God.
This version of Christianity was appealing because the decline on Hellenism and reason in culture allowed for an increase in emotion and revelation as an answer to social and existential problems. It became the official religion of the Roman Empire in the Fourth Century AD because the mysticism of Christianity had a greater ability to evoke emotion in people than did science and reason. The promise of personal salvation and the “drift away from rational and worldly values helped prepare the way for Christianity” (Perry 155). It offered new hope to those who had been disillusioned by rationality. With the Roman Empire being as vast as it was the individual found it hard to relate themselves to the city-state mentality and searched for a new form of attachment. The message behind Christianity gave hope to those who were disillusioned by the lack of attachment to any larger entity, by defining a loving Father and Devine Savior, possessed by nothing but unconditional brotherly love that was a far cry from the cold vengeful god of old. It filled a vast well of loneliness by offering membership in a community who did nothing but love and care for one another. Christianity provided for the emotional well being of man that was lacking in the Greco-Roman emphasis on self reliance and intellect. It appealed to those who were poor and oppressed, by promising them eternal life in a kingdom of perfection were birth and the status one held in life were unimportant. It gave them a sense of dignity in their faith that they could not find in their socioeconomic structure. It was helped by an overwhelmingly well-structured organization process that was able to grow and increase its numbers, thusly; its sense of community amongst its followers grew very quickly. The religion also appealed to women because it stressed the need for fidelity and kindness in marriage as well as the father’s need to provide for his wife and children. Christianity also began one of its most crucial foundations, the adaptability of its beliefs to encompass other faiths and notions and increase its numbers by increasing its appeal by systematically adopting ideas and concepts from the other religions and cultures it came into contact with.
The Roman Empires vast borders assisted the spread of Christianity as its missionaries were protected on the roads they traveled spreading the gospels by Roman soldiers who kept the roads clear of dangers. Rome did not intend to protect and propagate this strange new faith; in fact, they saw it as a threat to the social order because of their refusal to engage in Roman festivals, as well as their scorn for the promiscuity and violence associated with Roman Bath’s and Gladiators. They preached of allegiance to a single God rather than to the Gods of Rome and its Emperor. Christianity suffered much persecution as a result of being used as a scapegoat for the problems within the Empire itself. They were imprisoned, beaten, crucified, fed to animals in the arena, and burned to death; in efforts to halt its spread. The first reign of persecution was relatively mild. Under Nero in 64 AD there was a bit of local persecution in which few lives were lost. The second wave of persecution was led by Decius in 250 AD and was a much larger scale elimination attempt that was upheld by his successors for another decade. In 303 AD they were subject to Three years of vicious persecution, which scared some away, but ultimately succeeded only in strengthening the resolve of the faithful and attracting new followers who were drawn by the displays of courage that the Martyrs exhibited. Finally the Roman Empire conceded to the Christian Faith and in 313 AD Constantine issued an edict allowing for tolerance of Christians, free flow of information, and the institution of legislation that would be favorable to the church. In 392 AD the Roman Empire switched it’s persecution from Christians to Heretics when it adopted Christianity as its main religion and outlawed the worship of Pagan Gods.
Throughout the centuries following there were constant differences arising between the church in the west dominated by the Pope and that in the east controlled by the Byzantine Emperors who claimed to be successors from the Roman Emperors. They claimed domination over all that was once under Roman rule and refused to allow the Pope any dominion over them. Political and cultural differences as well as differences in language only served to widen the gap until 1054 AD when there was an official split between the Roman Catholic Church and what became the Greek-Orthodox church. It was this split that allowed for the rise of Latin Christendom that evolved into a common European civilization centered on Christianity and the Papal seat of power in Rome, speaking Latin and following Germanic social customs and legal structures. The Germanic invasions and conquering of what was the Roman Empire led to an adaptation of the tribal system of government that was held into a more conventional form, Feudalism, which eventually became the Monarchy.
With Christianity’s organization growing stronger and Roman culture and city life declining, it is not difficult to imagine how crucial a role the Roman Catholic Church had in shaping the civilization of the middle ages. The church succeeded in taming the Germanic conquerors by stressing a higher emphasis on nonviolence and morals, and opened their eyes to new ideas through the scraps of Greek civilization it had managed to spare from the invader’s pillaging. “In a dying world, the church was the only institution capable of reconstructing civilized life” (Perry 183). God Had Created the church to guide his love and protection to his people, and life without the church was inconceivable.
Later in the middle ages, the church played off a growing spiritual vitality as well as rising economic conditions and political stability to increase its power. It also manipulated its activity in a holy war against Muslims to increase devotion in its followers and shape social institutions into following Devine standards set forth by the church in Rome. This was done through many means including the instigation of the sacrament, which could only be administered by the church and was seen as necessary to fulfill the personal relationship with God. The church also adapted its idea of excommunication, which was expulsion from the church, and abandonment of the individual by God, guaranteeing Damnation and eternal suffering in death. The church adapted the seven sacraments of baptism, confirmation, matrimony, extreme unction for the dying, the Eucharist (recreation of the last supper, held during Mass), penance, and ordination. These sacraments were necessary for absolution and enabled the church to exude a level of social control that it deemed desirable.
It was not long before the church itself began being infiltrated by conspiracies and assassination plots as the church gained more power and the power bestowed on high-ranking officials was also increased. As a response to the lacking morals in the clergy, the Gregorian reform occurred. This stressed a return to spirituality and a decline from the behaviors that Jesus himself abhorred. Pope Gregory fought to separate the church from being under the rule of any kingdom and strengthen its morals by giving it more dominance over government than government had over it. He excommunicated many clergymen who had been deemed immoral and forbade priests with wives or concubines from Mass. He even went so far as to excommunicate the King of Germany, which resulted in Civil wars and the increase in the churches prestige by forcing the King to beg the church for forgiveness simply to maintain rule.
The Crusades were another step in social control for the Christian Church. It served to channel the warrior desires of the Germanic followers in aggression against those who would not accept the churches authority. The crusades were also an attempt to bring the eastern sect back under Papal control. The church gave knights that were fighting the crusade an image of a Devine pilgrim armed to the teeth, ready to strike out and take back holy lands and increase faith in their God by force, while crushing the evil Muslim faith. Pope Urban even allowed for participation in the crusades to be an act of penance and admissible as a way of demonstrating sorrow for sins, basically allowing your sins to be forgiven by killing and torturing enemies of the church. After two centuries and a number of crusades, the zeal for crusading had faded when it became apparent that the church was using the wars simply to extend its power and dominion over the world.
After centuries of suppressing knowledge and destroying intellect to keep the common faithful and in ignorant blind obedience, the church can be accredited for reviving what it originally suppressed, learning. It established monastic and cathedral schools to teach the fundamentals of reading and the teachings in the Bible to students. The church also supported the large organized bodies that were spontaneously developing into universities, in which one could learn from a variety of subjects including church law and theology (considered the Queen of sciences), once they were fully prepared. Strangely university students then seemed to enjoy playing more than studying and would often engage in drinking and fighting (socializing), much like they do today. It was this new emphasis on learning which paved the way for the renaissance and the age of enlightenment, which can both be attributed to shaping, or at least laying the groundwork for the modern worldview. The renaissance was an age of art and culture, a return to emotions and ideologies without neglecting the intellect and rational thought as early Christianity had. The renaissance can also be attributed to major changes in political and religious thought, changes that led to the European Revolution, the French Revolution, and even the American Revolution.
It is said that without a belief in God it is impossible to be happy or virtuous. As to virtue, I can only speak from observation, not from experience. As to happiness, neither experience nor observation has led me to believe that believers were either happier or unhappier than non-believers. It is customary to find grandiose reasons for unhappiness, because it is easier to be proud if one can attribute ones misery to a lack of faith than on their own true problems and personal failings. As to morality, a great deal depends on how one interprets the term, for my part, I think the important virtues are intelligence and kindness. Intelligence is impeded by any creed and kindness is inhibited by the belief in sin and punishment.
I do not believe that a decay of dogmatic beliefs can do anything but good. I admit at once that new systems of dogma such as those of the Nazi’s and the Communists are even worse than the old systems, but they could never have gained popularity and a following without a foundation in orthodox dogmatic habits instilled in the youth. Stalin’s language is full of reminiscences of the theological seminary he attended. What the world needs is not dogma but an attitude of scientific inquiry combined with the belief that the systematic torture of millions is not desirable, whether inflicted by Stalin, Hitler, or a Deity imagined in the likeness of the believer.