Christianity must be attacked...

[Blarg]

If some people have died for trying to disseminate the bible, that pales in comparison to how many people have been persecuted, enslaved, or even raped and murdered for not knowing anything about or sometimes just not caring about the bible. Christians are on historically the shakiest ground in the world when they want to talk about themselves as the persecuted and not the persecutors. Christians have even gone murderously and genocidally nuts persecuting each other for not being quite the right type of Christians or somehow not Christian enough.

And people spreading their religion in lands inimical to it are doing so with full knowledge and acceptance of how dangerous it is. They are no different than people spreading political philosophies counter to those of the prevailing administrations and population base. In short, they are agitators.

As to Christianity not being welcome in communist countries, it is thriving in many of them now, but the reason is clearly expressed within communism itself and quite valid: Christianity has commonly allied itself with the wealthy and powerful at the expense of everyone else, and served as an extension of the power of kings and despots throughout history. It is not alone in this, and that's why Christianity is not the only religion communists are not fond of. A second reason is that religion is indeed the "opiate of the masses," and can easily contribute more laziness than vigor in every regard.

That communism has its own flaws in no way wipes away the problems in Christianity and other religions, nor does it cover them up and hide them.

Religions and their proselytizers are perfectly capable of being legitimately criticized, and the horrors, abuse, and the simple trouble they cause have been and can be quite real. And really, it's hard to feel sorry for missionaries trying to wedge themselves into as volatile situations as possible and then, and only sometimes, getting the expected and natural violent response or simply getting kicked out.

It's especially inappropriate to take the example of China, where the West forced its way into the country at the point of cannon and rifle, and stole land and rights from the indigenous people, as a place where Westerners, religious or not, didn't in a certain way get what was coming to them, and certainly no more than what they visited on the natives.

[Blarg]

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I'd like to know how many people out there are aware of how many people DIED, and how many more were jailed and tortured, so that you could read the Bible in English?




A million? a billion? I have no idea. But I don't really care, and it's not going to make me want to read the bible any more.

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I concur. Thanks for nothing.

I think you mean, died advancing their own personal agendas, regardless of you or whether you gave a damn or were even against the whole idea in the first place. Yup, thanks a whole lot for pursuing your own goals.

[bromad1972]

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Actually, to be perfectly accurate, this country was not founded on Christian values.

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I cringe at the state of public education in this country.

Barron Vangor Toth
www.BarronVangorToth.com

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And why is that? Because he is correct? Or because they overlooked the beliefs of the founding fathers in YOUR public school?

[kalooki45]

In the case of China, I was referring to the present day, not back during the opium wars and whatnot. Your point about that I agree with.
Again, my point is that almost every large-scale atrocity committed in the name of Christianity was committed by the Roman Catholic Church.
There was a REASON for the Reformation, folks...and it wasn't pretty!
I think it relates to the reason why Jesus himself never got involved in politics. He set the example then and there for the separation of Church and State. "Render unto Caesar..", etc.
As soon as the Church tries to function as a State, it becomes subject to the necessary compromises, evils, and power plays of statehood, which makes it both a bad state AND a bad religion! It's not possible for something preoccupied with the next world to operate in this one without being infected by it.
I've never seen a theocracy yet, even a Christian one, that I'd care to live in for 5 minutes...you can't CODIFY spirituality. You get repressive, totalitarian, evil regimes instead...only God can administer His law and His Truth. Perhaps He wants it that way?