CYPRESSWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
February 24, 2008
25424 Aldine-Westfield, Spring, TX. 77373
www.geocities.com/adon77373/cypresswoodbulletin.htm
www.cypresswoodchurchofchrist.com
PRAYERS AND THANKSGIVINGS:
Our congregation Various friends, relatives and co-workers
Our nation, leaders and military Peace
CRITICIZING THE PAST TODAY
“He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children” (Psalm 78:5-6).
Many critics of Christianity today have a selective use of history. The leading atheists who have written recently state that in one way or another that Christianity is evil and destructive, the cause of war and suffering (1). They often equate several things to show the evilness of religion in general and Christianity in particular. They assume that Islamic fundamentalism is the same as Christian fundamentalism. Islamic terrorists blow up people and things, so Christians must do the same. They would refer to the murder and/or blowing up of abortion clinics. Since at most only two or three clinics have been destroyed and probably less than ten people killed in the last four decades. No major conservative or fundamentalist leader has sanctioned this, rather all have condemned such events. Compare that to the thousands of attacks and deaths by Islamic terrorists and one can quickly see that there is no comparison (2).
The second aspect of criticism against Christianity is a selective use of history, looking only at the negative, ignoring the historical context, and reporting the myths that have developed over the last century or so, and in one case, over the last decade or so. We now turn to look at several of these events that have been raised to criticize Christianity.
The first criticism is that of the Crusades (3). The subject is much debated (4). The argument goes something like this. The church order Christians to go off and conquer Islam, particularly in the Holy Land (Israel). Along the way they raped and plundered, and when they got to Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and points south, they murdered innocent, peace loving Muslims. There is truth in this but it is selective. There is a historical context to this.
After Muhammad’s death around 630 A.D., his followers launched a period of conquest that would venture out of the Arabian Peninsula in all directions. Persia, the Holy Land, Turkey, and North Africa, all Christian areas, fell to the sword of Islam. Crossing the western end of the Mediterranean, Spain fell and only Charles Martel of France stopped this spread. While Muslims allowed Christians and Jews to live in certain areas, by around 1000 A.D., Muslims were closing off travel to the Holy Land of various pilgrims. This prompted action by the nations of Europe, and especially the Roman church to launch a counterattack. Those involved followed the idea of taking up one’s cross and following Jesus. The first Crusade was successful and Christians held the Holy Land for about ninety years. Islam however regained control of the region and held it until the 20th Century (5). Islam made another attack into Europe in the 1600s through Greece and the Balkans, finally being defeated at Vienna. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the Middle East was divided arbitrarily into nations, ignoring tribal distinctions.
Islam has been a militant religion and this is ignored by those who criticize Christianity. They mention the sins of the Crusaders but not of Islam; and there were slaughters by Muslims especially in Turkey when it attacked the Eastern Orthodox churches (6). Islam is selective in its memory and so are the atheists who choose to ignore the historical context.
The Crusades were fought for the survival of Europe. Now that doesn’t necessarily justify such action, especially in the name of God. Bad things happened in the later Crusades that are shameful. But before we condemn the whole thing, we need to understand that more is involved. Richard John Neuhaus states that the Crusades are a debatable and debated subject as to the validity of them (7).
The next criticism of Christianity is the Inquisition. Much of the Inquisition is made up according to Henry Kamen (8). The idea that the Inquisition targeted Jews is a myth. It only had authority over Christians. In 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella issued a degree expelling Jews from Spain. The only way they could stay was to become Christians. The grand inquisitor himself had known Jewish ancestry. The inquisition trials were fairer and more lenient than their secular counterparts. Most people received what we would call “community service.” How many people died? In a period of 350 years, the estimate ranges from 1,500 to 4,000 (9). That is a far cry from the tens of thousands we often hear about.
The third example used is that of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts. You would think that from all the hoopla surrounding them that hundreds of people died. In reality, about twenty-five people died before they were stopped through pressure from various sources. While the trials were wrong, it doesn’t justify exaggerating the figures to condemn Christianity.
Yet another example of criticism comes from Europe’s Thirty Years War. The historical context was the emerging nation-states of Europe. While religious motives were involved, it was mainly fueled by political contests of power. It wasn’t as black and white as some suggest because at times Protestants and Catholics were on the same side.
None of is to say that religious motives are not involved. What began as a Protestant/Catholic conflict in Northern Ireland developed into a conflict between communism and the freedoms of England. The Israeli/Arab conflict has religious undertones but a majority of Jews in Israel are secularists. Islam sees all land that it once occupied as belonging to Islam and must be reconquered and the people destroyed. To the Western mind, why can’t Israel have this small piece of territory and peace? It is two different points of view involved.
The last criticism is that of Adolph Hitler. The argument is that Hitler was a Catholic and that the extermination of the Jews was the fulfillment of two hundred years of anti-Semitism. What we find however is that Hitler and a number of his top leaders were influenced by German paganism. “Hitler had no time at all for Catholic teaching, regarding it as a religion fit only for slaves and detesting its ethics” (10). He knew that he had to eliminate the influences of the Austrian Catholics and the German Lutherans in order to accomplish his goals. So the Nazis listened and even told the ministers what to preach, closed opposition churches and arrested and murdered many ministers. The rise of the Confessing Church which opposed Hitler caused trouble for Hitler so he arrested and imprisoned many of its leaders (11). Hitler called Christianity a scourge of history that needed to be immunized against and blamed the Jews for inventing Christianity (12).
Hitler was influenced by two philosophies that many atheists refused to look at. The first was that of Friedick Nietzsche. A German philosopher of the late 1800s, he developed several ideas like the will to power, that is, the survival of the fittest and that God is dead, unneeded and irrelevant. Hitler picked up this as a principle philosophy of Nazism (13). The second was that of Darwin. The “Master Race” came from the ideas that developed out of Darwinian evolution.
The followers of Hitler understood his hatred of Christianity. “Christianity was incapable of uniting the Germans, and that only an entirely new world-theory was capable of doing so” said Hitler (14). One Hanns Kerrly, Minister of Religion in the Third Reich, said, “The question of the divinity of Christ is ridiculous and inessential. A new answer has arisen as to what Christ and Christianity are: Adolph Hitler” (15). There was a conflict in the mind of the Nazis between faith and race. While not convenient for atheists, this material and much more shows the hatred of the Nazis for Christianity, not just the inferior peoples such as the Jews and Slavs.
What is interesting in all of this is that the atheists do not examine atheistic regimes. Not only Hitler but Stalin and Mao attempted to eliminate all Christianity from their realms. People were arrested and imprisoned or simply executed because of their faith in God. Any state churches were under strict control from the government. What did these regimes do? R.J. Rummel has examined what these totalitarian states do in contrast to more democratic states. In the 20th Century alone, around 200 million people died at the hands of their own governments in peacetime. That is to say, these nations were not at war when they murdered millions through starvation or execution (16). It is easy to criticize someone else with a speck in their eye than looking at the log in one’s own. Oops, that’s Bible, and they do not recognize this. The atheistic and secular regimes have not been innocent, and when compared with Christianity, have murdered or killed many times more than those who have done it in the name of Christ.
Sadly, people only here the revision of history rather than understanding the contexts in which many of these things happened. We are not approving of the evil done in the name of God in the past, or even in the presence. What we want to understand is that a selective understanding of history is very misleading and that there is information available that looks at the total picture. Christianity has come to terms with its past, repented, and has moved away from such militant action. We continue to see where we need to improve. Slavery was supported by some Christians but eventually Christians led in the elimination of slavery in the Western world. Not so in the Muslim world where slavery is still to be found. In fact, Islam has not come to terms with its past, in part because of its selective memory. This makes discussion difficult.
When you hear someone refer to any of the above criticism of Christianity, keep in mind that there is more to the story than what one might hear in the media or read in the atheists books and articles. As Peter said, we need to be ready to give an answer in a kind, patiently and loving way, and there are answers available. There is much more that could be said including the philosophies that influence both the past and presence (17). For now, we will leave it here knowing that the criticisms have weak foundations.
George B. Mearns
(1) The leading atheists are Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris.
(2) Dinesh D’Souza has stated in several recent articles that some of the atheists are backing off of this point.
(3) The term “crusade” was coined later. It was not used at this time. See Dinesh D’Souza, What’s So Great About Christianity, Regnery, 2007, p. 204-6, from which much of this information is found.
(4) See my article in the 2/3/2008 bulletin for more information.
(5) The establishment of the Jewish state in 1948, the following wars in 1956, 1967, and 1973 gave the Jews control over Israel and its ancient borders. Palestine, by the way, was a Roman term identifying this area and was used more frequently after the second Jewish revolt in 135 A.D.
(6) During and after World War I, Turkey murdered over a million Armenian Christians, something Turkey refuses to admit.
(7) See First Things, February 2008, “Islam and Christianity: Changing the Subject,” p. 60-61.
(8) D’Souza, ibid., p. 208.
(9) At the high figure, it averages about eleven a year.
(10) D’Souza, ibid., p. 211.
(11) Martin Niemoller was arrested and not released until after World War II. Dietrich Bonhoffer became involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler, was arrested and hanged a few weeks before the War ended.
(12) D’Souza, ibid., p 218.
(13) The music of Wagner who was influenced by Nietzsche was also a favorite of Hitler’s. It is said to be long and depressing. While we might never know why Nietzsche went insane in the last decade of his life, and as some have suggested, he came face to face with his philosophy that led to this.
(14) Bruce Walker, “The Nazis and Christianity,” 11/17/2007, www.americanthinker.com He has a total of three articles on this subject. See also his book, Sinisterism subtitled Secular Religion of the Lie, Outskirts Press. 2007.
(15) ibid.
(16) See Rummel’s books, Death by Government and Power to Kill. The 200 million figure is a recent addition to his work due to new information coming from resources from communist China. D’Souza mentions a number of smaller murdering governments like Cuba, Cambodia and Uganda which murdered in the thousands to a couple of million.
(17) See Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism, Doubleday, 2007 and David Aikman forthcoming book on atheism.