Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails PDF
Preview Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails
Additional Praise for Christianity Is Not Great “Christianity Is Not Great shows that Christianity, even at its best, has severe problems and a sorry history that must be honestly addressed. At its worst, it is a threat to this republic, and to the health and safety of future human inhabitants of this planet.” —ABBY HAFER, senior lecturer in biology, Curry College “Rich food for thought, not only for evangelical apologists and conservative believers, but also for those for whom faith is failing or has already failed.” —GRAHAM OPPY, professor of philosophy, Monash University, author of Arguing about Gods “Loftus's latest is a compendium of the world's most iconic freethinkers and science writers at their finest. This may very well be his most celebrated work— which is saying a great deal indeed.” —DAVID MILLS, author of Atheist Universe “‘By their fruits shall ye know them.’ So says the Good Book. This good book, brought together by the indefatigable John Loftus, assays the fruits of Christianity, from ancient times to the present day, and documents persuasively how they are the produce of a poisonous tree. Christian apologists are quick to credit Christianity for the march of science, morality, democracy, and human rights, but the cold light of historical facts and present realities, marshaled in these pages, suggests otherwise. Overall, this fantastic collection makes a good case for religion in general being an artifact of the childhood of civilization— and a childish thing that we would do very well to put away.” —REBECCA BRADLEY, author of The Lateral Truth on the Skeptic Ink Network Published 2014 by Prometheus Books Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails. Copyright © 2014 by John W. Loftus. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Cover design by Nicole Sommer-Lecht Inquiries should be addressed to Prometheus Books 59 John Glenn Drive Amherst, New York 14228 VOICE: 716–691–0133 • FAX: 716–691–0137 WWW.PROMETHEUSBOOKS.COM 18 17 16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1 The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: Christianity is not great: how faith fails / edited by John W. Loftus. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-61614-956-7 (pbk.)—ISBN 978-1-61614-957-4 (ebook) 1. Christianity—Controversial literature. I. Loftus, John W., editor. BL2710.C47 2014 230—dc23 2014015841 Printed in the United States of America Foreword Hector Avalos Introduction 1. Religious Violence and the Harms of Christianity John W. Loftus Part One: How Faith Fails 2. The Failure of the Church and the Triumph of Reason Robert G. Ingersoll 3. The Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Christianity Victor J. Stenger 4. Faith, Epistemology, and Answering Socrates’ Question by Translation Peter Boghossian Part Two: Political/Institutional Harms 5. Love Your Enemy, Kill Your Enemy: Crusades, Inquisitions, and Centuries of Christian Violence David Eller 6. Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live: The Wicked Christian Witch Hunts John W. Loftus 7. They Will Make Good Slaves and Christians: Christianity, Colonialism, and the Destruction of Indigenous People David Eller 8. The Slave Is the Owner's Property: Christianity and the Savagery of Slavery John W. Loftus 9. Christianity and the Rise of American Democracy Richard Carrier Part Three: Scientific Harms 10. The Dark Ages Richard Carrier 11. The Christian Abuse of the Sanctity of Life Ronald A. Lindsay 12. The Gender Binary and LGBTI People: Religious Myth and Medical Malpractice Veronica Drantz 13. Christianity Can Be Hazardous to Your Health Harriet Hall, MD 14. Christianity and the Environment William R. Patterson 15. Doth God Take Care for Oxen?: Christianity's Acrimony against Animals John W. Loftus Part Four: Social and Moral Harms 16. The Christian Right and the Culture Wars Ed Brayton 17. Woman, What Have I to Do with Thee?: Christianity's War against Women Annie Laurie Gaylor 18. Secular Sexuality: A Direct Challenge to Christianity Darrel W. Ray 19. The Crazy-Making in Christianity: A Look at Real Psychological Harm Marlene Winell and Valerie Tarico 20. Abusive Pastors and Churches Nathan Phelps Part Five: Morality, Atheism, and a Good Life 21. “Tu Quoque, Atheism?”—Our Right to Judge Jonathan MS Pearce 22. Only Humans Can Solve the Problems of the World James A. Lindsay 23. Living without God Russell Blackford Notes About the Contributors Anthologies are not easy to organize. Contributors have to be recruited, and they may not all be available at the time you need them. Scholars have to respect you enough as an editor to join your project if they are available. Over the past few years, John Loftus has demonstrated his ability to recruit the best scholars and scientists to his anthologies, including The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails (2010) and The End of Christianity (2011), both published by Prometheus Books. The present anthology, Christianity Is Not Great, is no exception. Scholars representing fields as varied as physics and anthropology are here. Unfortunately, illness and previous commitments kept me from contributing to this one. One reason I have contributed in the past is that he will allow me, as a scholar, to be as technical and as detailed as I need to be to make my arguments. Consequently, these anthologies are some of the most substantive collections of rebuttals to theistic arguments, and specifically to Christian theistic arguments, in existence. They signal a new era insofar as atheists are organizing coherent and scholarly responses that are wide-ranging in scope, instead of just focusing on a few traditional issues (e.g., philosophical arguments against theism or creationism). These anthologies touch on, among many subjects, history, sociology, psychology, and biblical studies. Christianity Is Not Great swiftly demolishes one of the greatest and subtlest myths promoted by believers. The demolished myth is that Christianity, even if it cannot be proved to be true, has at least been good for the world. It has supposedly freed slaves and fostered science. On the contrary, Christianity Is Not Great shows that Christianity has been bad for the world precisely because its ungrounded beliefs interfere with a realistic view of our world. Unrealistic views of the world cause unnecessary pain and suffering, and those views should be rejected. Furthermore, it is simply not true that Christianity deserves credit for freeing slaves, fostering science, and other positive developments that believers usually ascribe to this religion. Aside from the wonderful contributions, this volume is an indirect tribute to Loftus himself. John Loftus is an indefatigable laborer for atheism. He represents one of those voices who still has not received the honor he deserves. Yet few modern atheists have provided as much useful service to educating the masses about atheism as he has done. Just think of all he does. He manages a biblioblog. He organizes anthologies. He writes his own books. He speaks around the country. He works hard to
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