by Chris Alexion, Copyright January 18, 2006, all rights reserved. 230 views
"It seems to me that the people who have held to [Christianity] have been for the most part extremely wicked. You find this curious fact, that the more intense has been the religion of any period and the more profound has been the dogmatic belief, the greater has been the cruelty and the worse has been the state of affairs. In the so-called ages of faith, when men really did believe the Christian religion in all its completeness, there was the Inquisition, with all its tortures; there were millions of unfortunate women burned as witches; and there was every kind of cruelty practiced upon all sorts of people in the name of religion."
–Bertrand Russell, "Why I Am Not A Christian"
1 • gemma • May 21, 2006 • 6:49 PM
Russell is not actually commiting the fallacy of abusive ad hominem here as he is not attacking the source of an argument. Ad hominem is fallacious when applied to deduction, and not the evidence (or premise) of an argument.
He is putting forward his own argument that religion has been historically bad for society when it is adhered to dogmatically and he then proceeds to give evidence for that.
2 • Brad Shorr • June 08, 2006 • 12:23 PM
Russell's line of thought is so faulty I hardly know where to begin. First, to say that most adherents to Christianity are extremely wicked is quite an assumption. I wonder how he would go about proving that. Second, other breeds of dogmatists have inflicted enormous harm on Christians–Muslims, Communists, Nazis, for instance. Why does Russell single out Christianity for condemnation? Third, Russell ignores the possibility that these Christians did evil not because they followed Christ, but because they did not. The history of man has been one long string of brutality and wickedness. This includes history before Christianity and certainly history after the demise of Christendom. Any "ism" can be become terrorism. I think the doctrine of Original Sin is the soundest explanation for evil. We have to look within ourselves, not for scapegoats.
3 • Bex • October 30, 2007 • 6:51 PM
There are "good" people and "bad" people in any religion, Christianity itself isn't cruel in itself, it's those who use the religion as a tool for cruelty. People find ways of using good things for evil, which only makes it more evil.
4 • Apollos • January 08, 2008 • 1:13 PM
Every man who has ever sinned CHOSE to sin, thus making him guilty ONLY when he sinned.
How does one reconcile "original sin" with these verses?
Eze 18:4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
Eze 18:5 But if a man be just, and do that which is lawful and right,
Eze 18:9 hath walked in my statutes, and hath kept mine ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
1Jn 3:4 Every one that doeth sin doeth also lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.
Sin is an act committed, not a hereditary attribute.
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