When a Christian shows hatred, does it indicate Christianity is a negative force in the world? (See details.)

Question

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When arguably the biggest international blunder in US history is performed by a fundamentalist Christian President, does it prove the religion is greedy and war-mongering?

When Fred Phelps preaches that homosexuals, Billy Graham and Swedes are all absolutely hell-bound, does that show the true views held by the Christian Church?

When a group of Christians shouts down a Hindu cleric who has been called by the Senate to offer their morning prayer, does that indicate that Christians are a vengeful, hate-filled lot that cannot abide diversity?

Oh, and by the way, when a couple of atheists display immaturity in their Y!A questions and answers just to get a rise out of Christians, does that mean that atheists are all angry and dogmatic?

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Answer 1

When we drum and dance around a fire...
Does it make us Satan Worshipers? ; )

Everyone should be active in alleviating hatred within their own group!

Answer 2

Oh the whole, most Christians are just law abiding, take-the shirt-off their-backs-to-help someone else folks, trying to make it in this world. Trying to be the best they can. You can't just judge a whole religion because of a few bad apples.
There is good and bad in every religion! Judging a religion because of a few bad apples is like judging a race of folks because of one mugger that just happens to be that race.
There are bad actors no matter where you go. Don't spend you time analyzing the bad, try looking at the good!
As for the government-that one guy who refused to pledge on the Bible-if a Jew can do it, why can't he? What makes him so bloody special? If it had been a Pagan they would have had to swear on the Bible..........
I am not Atheist, nor am I Christian, I am a Deitist! I follow no particular subscribed organized religion, but I also am stumped at the judgements mentioned in your post. As for the Hindu Cleric, I see no harm in him offering a morning prayer if that is all it is.
I have been privy to observe people of almost every religion going- You can't judge the whole religion by a handful of zealots and closed-minded hypocrits! I have alot of friends that are Christian (some of them are even Christian Ministers), some that are Muslim, a whole bunch that are Pagan.....there is good and bad in all of them.
Those that want to stand there and point their finger at someone else...needs to take another look-if you have one finger pointed at someone else...there are 3 pointing back at you!

Answer 3

To all these questions I would answer no. The negative behavior of certain Christians does not in and of itself testify to the destructive nature of Christianity, anymore than the puerile behavior of certain atheists on Yahoo Answers, indicates the depravity of atheism.

Neither Christians nor atheists are a monolithic group. There are virtuous people, and people worthy of scorn in both camps. Now one can make a persuasive argument, as Sam Harris has, that the general laxity in which we treat truth claims of religion, has a direct causal relationship with certain problems in this world. We can also make an argument, as again Sam Harris has, that certain religious beliefs will naturally produce certain actions in this world, but one cannot isolate just a few individuals’ random bad behavior and state emphatically that such and such behavior is the result of Christian belief, or lack of belief in a God. One must prove the connection in either case.

Answer 4

I would have to say that when a Christian shows hatred, they have become a negative force. People seem to forget the consequences of the things they say ( myself included). We seem to live in the moment, most days and only think about our selves. We do not realize that everyone around us is touched by someway when we do or say something. The result can be positive or it can be negative. If we focused on being positive in our reactions, the ripple effect would have great consequences indeed.

Answer 5

Any individual act is the responsibility of the individual first and only secondly does it reflect upon his family, country, belief or other affiliations he may have been influenced by.

Acts of blunder and hatred by individuals are only human and ought be expected from time to time, but for all the cases you've listed in the details of your question, even humanness does not necessarily offer an automatic excuse.

(an atheist ... for the benefit of those who didn't already know ...LOL)

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 6

Monotheism is the true belief in the God of Abraham which is why Jews and Muslims do not believe in the Trinity.

"The three-in-one/one-in-three mystery of Father, Son and Holy Ghost made tritheism official. The subsequent almost-deification of the Virgin Mary made it quatrotheism . . . Finally, cart-loads of saints raised to quarter-deification turned Christianity into plain old-fashioned polytheism. By the time of the Crusades, it was the most polytheistic religion to ever have existed, with the possible exception of Hinduism.

This untenable contradiction between the assertion of monotheism and the reality of polytheism was dealt with by accusing other religions of the Christian fault.

The Church - Catholic and later Protestant - turned aggressively on the two most clearly monotheistic religions in view - Judaism and Islam - and persecuted them as heathen or pagan.

The external history of Christianity consists largely of accusations that other religions rely on the worship of more than one god and therefore not the true God. These pagans must therefore be converted, conquered and/or killed for their own good in order that they benefit from the singularity of the Holy Trinity, plus appendages." -- The Doubter's Companion (John Ralston Saul)

Answer 7

Dear NH,

The fact of the matter is when a person says that he or she is a "Christian", we cannot know what is in their heart. A christian is one who has had a life transforming experience with God Almighty. But the transformation occurs on the inside (in the soul), where neither you nor I can see.

A true "christian" is going to hate the devil and his own sins, but he will love everyone and seek the highest good for them.

Answer 8

I do not believe that George Bush has showed hatred. It is just some people's opinion about it.

The teachings of Jesus are right for everyone no matter how negative forces they show in the world.

Jesus is perfect. People are not perfect.

Answer 9

maximum individuals of them do no longer talk up for the comparable reason that your do no longer see a great many Muslims denouncing terrorism vocally. a number of them would secretly believe element of the extremists message, a number of them do exactly no longer care what "the international" thinks of them. it incredibly is plenty too uncomplicated to assert "properly those are not authentic Christians" and disassociate themselves from the completed factor. however the ironic factor is, Fred Phelps and his prolonged kin are "authentic Christians", they save on with the previous testomony extra to the letter than maximum American Christians do.

Answer 10

Unfortunately, we are all judged by our behavior.

Christians who behave badly represent their belief poorly.
Atheists who behave badly represent their disbelief poorly.

We can all determine which group behaves badly more often than the other. And we can determine the severity of the bad behavior by observing the circumstances of that bad behavior and the resultant consequences.