COMMENTS:
Quite a bit. They started out as essentially a jewish cult, oddballs, but mostly harmless. Then for the longest time they were a powerful state religion, burning women and nonbelievers at the stake, waging war in the name of their god, killing even women and children in their fanatical drive to convert or conquer the entire world (sound like anyone we know?) then they became a more or less enlightened religion, tolerating science and other religions, and believing in womens rights and the rights of non-believers.
Actually, it was secularism that civilized the Christians. Of course, now conservative Christians and their camp followers take credit for our civilized values, as it gives them a false moral high ground from which to direct their obsessive hatred toward Muslims.
It if wasn't for those with secular beliefs, Christianity would still be on par with Islam. And if the Western rightwingers have their way, it someday will be.
Have you ever even read the Bible? Look, the Bible teaches, and has always taught, that a true follower of Christ will treat others as they wish to be treated. The problem you have is with the church as it grew and grew. The Christan Church was great under persecution, until it was legalized after that damn edict of Milan. The Church became the horrible thing it became in later centuries because of the adoption of politics into the Church structure. Especially today the Christan Church (especially in America) has lost their original driving force. Most of the Churches in America are dead spiritually, and our society has this preconception that Christians are bad because the church of the past millenia did a lot of things, which were POLITICALLY MOTIVATED, NOT SPIRITUALLY. Read the book of Matthew, NKJV, and you might learn something about a much vounted concept called tolarence.
The ancient world of 1st century Judea has little to do with our democraticized civil-rights valuing modern western world. Unfortunately, much of the rest of the world is still stuck in this black and white view of life/death, and it pollutes any chance of working out deep hurts and wounds.
'Scriptural' literalism is so ridiculous. The common people are easily convinced and subsequently misled. The real world is one thing, the religions deal with fantasy and invented imaginary things. No one 'has to' believe anything in particular! Freedom of thought is so refreshing. The Old must fade away and give way to the New, which is much closer to the Ultimate and True, the Real!
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