this post was submitted on 03 Jan 2026
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Aside from the status of Christianity in America, and the particular church that these particular behaviours come from, there's also the problem that the bible is a highly inconsistent book that, alongside some good moral philosophy at times, also advocates great evil. It tells you how much you should get when selling your daughter. It instructs the ancient Jews on what the rules for taking each other into slavery should be (this is the more lenient version, where they should be released in the Jubilee year, although how often the Jubilee is held varies...). It also instructs them to "buy slaves from the nations around you", and says they should be held as chattel. It says that disobedient children should be executed. It says that if you beat your slave and he survives at least two days, you didn't do anything wrong in beating him. Jesus at one point instructs that a runaway slave should be returned to his owner, on the basis that the world was ending anyway and it was less trouble for everyone (he was an end times preacher and said in the gospels that he would return to bring the heavenly kingdom within the lifespan of the people present).
CW sexual violence
It says that if a woman isremovedd within city limits and no one hears her cry out for help, that she should be stoned to death as an adulterer because she was supposedly willing. It says that where aremoved is determined to actually beremoved, the victim should be forced to marry theremoved, who should pay her father restitution. There is no restitution or protection for the victim.Firstly, any Christian who reads the bible sees the chosen people, who are supposedly holy and superior, being downright evil. They don't do those things, so they must be even more holy, and unbelievers must be doing even worse! Or they do do those things, but don't see a problem because, again, they see the holiest men in the bible doing awful things, too.
Secondly, and more obviously, they can use the bible to justify pretty much anything. It's a contradictory work that's been translated many times. Some of these donkeys use the famous verse "it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" to justify prosperity gospel. They're just so used to twisting scripture to suit their ends that it wouldn't occur to them not to.
Oh wow, I can't believe the people who worship this guy suck
When you start looking into it it's incredible how evil the bible is. Christians who aren't literalists and think that the bible is an imperfect collection of documents gathered by imperfect humans can be perfectly decent people, of course. There's some really good (if not particularly groundbreaking, it is after all a literally ancient text) moral philosophy in it.
But literalists? To be fair even literalists discard most of the bible at various times to avoid the bits they dislike, but the commitment to taking it literally, however insincere/incomplete, really does push them into some deeply evil beliefs. My mother is and grandmother was a proclaimed literalist and both manage to be mostly decent people... But good god can you not ask questions because when you point out the contradictions they quickly get angry then uncomfortable.
As an added bonus I live with my mother ... And have a biology degree. Wheeeeeeeee. She has been listening to the fucking Americans about evolution and it's both infuriating and deeply stupid.
It's very frustrating. I went to a Church of Christ when I was young, a literalist sect. They believed that instrumental music in the church, and dancing anywhere was sinful. Even the name, Church of Christ, must be exact because Jesus said make the church in my name. Of course they also held the more harmful beliefs.
I was forced to go from the ages of 9-13. By the time I was 11 I was pretty sure it was bullshit, and I'm thankful I didn't go younger or I may have been indoctrinated. 11-12 years old I read the King James Bible (they explain away translation etc as being guided by god) just about cover to cover and I was convinced it was bullshit. But there was one moment in particular that sealed the deal.
I asked in bible class before church one Sunday if people who had never heard the word would go to hell. I was told that god makes sure that everyone on earth learns about Jesus and the resurrection at some point, and if they chose not to believe they were damned. I followed up- what about people in an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon? I was told that if they were truly good people, god would have sent someone to teach them, so since that didn't happen, they deserved hell.
It's some sick fucking stuff.
I mean, by the letter of the bible, infants go to hell. "No one comes to the father except through me" is an absolute statement. I had a very good friend for years (we lost touch over the last fifteen years or so but she was very important to me for a long time) who is a Christian and iirc a priest's daughter. She is also bisexual and has many close gay friends. I asked her how she reconciled that with her Christianity, and she said basically that it was easy, because she worshipped a Jesus and a god that wasn't homophobic etc - if she's wrong and biblical homophobia actually reflected God's will, well, she wouldn't worship that being anyway. Always struck me as an interesting take, if not spectacularly theologically sound. And of course I will take someone being a decent human being over bigotry justified by good theology (not that accepting the supposed proscription of homosexuality in the bible is good theology of course) a thousand times over. I sometimes need to remind myself that people like her exist and are just as Christian as the assholes.