Morality & Politics
Atheist Morality: Should Christians Throw Stones?
One
of Jesus's most
famous admonitions to his followers was that "he who is
without sin" should cast the first stone (this is probably one
of the best messages in the entire Bible). When anti-atheists make
atheists their scapegoat for everything they don't like in
society, or try to force their religion down the throats of
atheists' children, do they remember those words? Christian
fundamentalists have no right whatsoever to lecture anyone
about morality or past sins. When they cast stones, do they realize
that Hitler's attempt to exterminate the Jews was far
from an exceptional event in Christian history? Do they realize it
was merely the culmination of 700 years of systematic
fundamentalist extermination and torture of "heretics"?
It started with the Crusades, continued with the medieval
Inquisitions, and was fully sanctioned by the Roman Catholic church
(starting with Pope Innocent IV, who legalized it in "Ad
Extirpanda") until the early twentieth century, when
the Pope finally outlawed torture as a means of converting
unbelievers. It should also be noted that the Church was
conspicuously silent
during Hitler's Holocaust, although Catholics dispute this.
They claim that Pope Pius XII did a great deal to save Jews behind
the scenes, but Jews point out that he suddenly
"discovered" his sympathy for the Jews only after 1942,
when he realized the Allies might win, so he shrewdly kept one foot
in either camp by secretly helping Jews while publicly refusing to
denounce Hitler's actions. The RC church never even
excommunicated Hitler, nor did they add his "Mein
Kampf" to their long list of banned books! In fact, Pope Pius
XII himself ordered church officials in Berlin to send
"warmest congratulations" to Hitler on his birthday every
year, as shown in the picture at right of Archbiship Cesare
Orsenigo and Hitler on April 20, 1939.
The worst part is that this incredible 700 year history of mass murder was only distinguished from earlier eras by the sheer scale of the atrocities. Those atrocities had actually been occurring on a smaller scale since virtually the dawn of Christianity. While Christians were fed to the Lions at one time in Rome, they eventually seized power about a century after the death of Emperor Commodus (yes, there really was an Emperor Commodus, although the events surrounding his death were somewhat different than those shown in "Gladiator", one of my all-time favourite movies). Once they seized power, they immediately repaid the favour tenfold, by torturing, crucifying, and otherwise killing those who refused to convert! It is well known that they outlawed gladiatorial combat upon seizing power, but few Christian historians like to point out that they replaced it with a greatly increased appetite for public executions and tortures.
Even the most superficial study of world history will show that the aggressive xenophobia of Christianity has been remarkable, almost stunning compared to other religions. A sharp contrast to the fundamentalist approach was seen in the original Roman state religion, which was based on cultural assimilation: rather than obliterating other societies' religions in favour of their own, they simply incorporated those societies' gods into their own pantheon (the Jews resisted this process and aggressively attacked other religious sects, thus forcing the Romans to wall them off in separate communities). Ancient tribal peoples rarely fought over the existence or non-existence of their respective gods; they preferred to simply think of another tribe's gods as inferior to their own, without attempting to deny their existence. It may surprise you to know that some of the Jewish Old Testament texts still show these polytheistic influences; for example, God instructs his people that they should "have no other gods before me". Notice that he doesn't tell them that these other gods don't exist; he merely tells them that he must be first. Unfortunately, God's prescribed method for ensuring his primacy involved violence, and his followers took this message to heart.
However, it's problematic to evaluate the morality of a religion or philosophy based on the past behaviour of its adherents, no matter how heinous. Stalin was an atheist and he killed millions. Hitler was a Christian and he killed millions. The Roman Catholics were Christians and they killed countless tens of millions throughout the Dark Ages, with the Crusades, Inquisitions, and the brutal conquests and subjugations of Africa and the Americas. Far from indicting atheists and vindicating Christians, a direct comparison of historical records should, if anything, give Christians a moment of self-doubt. Sure enough, more enlightened Christians are perfectly willing to acknowledge that they must break away from the past rather than yearning to return to it, but the right-wing fundamentalists are not given to self-doubt, so they will inevitably steer the discussion away from their history and back toward their insistent question: does humanism have a moral code, and if so, how can that code be universal without God?
They usually phrase this question in such a manner that it's obvious they think it's very difficult to answer. However, the question of whether morality can exist without God is merely another form of bigotry, as we will easily see when we look at the worldwide history of ethical philosophy.
Continue to 3. Can You Be Moral Without God?
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