Christianity isn't an evil religion

Is Religion Evil? An Answer by a Former Atheist

Peter Guirguis Apologetics 39 Comments

PDF Version:  If you’d like a PDF version of this blog post for free, then please click here.

Every once in a while, an atheist responds to one of my tweets by sending me some kind of picture of a horrific situation, and telling me that religion is evil.

African childUsually, it’s a picture of a malnourished African child followed by a comment like, “Look, here is your loving God letting kids starve to death!”

I always respond by defending God in some kind of fashion.

I can relate to some of these objections about religion because after all, I’m a former atheist myself.

When I was an atheist, I didn’t understand how a loving God could allow so much suffering in the world.

But now, I know the answer to that question, and I’m better off for knowing it.

So is religion evil? And more importantly, is Christianity evil?

If you’re a Christian, then you need to know how to answer this objection when it comes up.

And if you’re not a Christian, and you’re someone that believes that Christianity is evil, then please consider these five reasons why I believe that’s not the case.

5 Reasons Why Christianity is Not Evil

1. True Christianity is Not a Religion

First of all, we have to ask the question, “Is Christianity really a religion?”

If you look it up in a college text book or on Wikipedia, then you’ll read that of course Christianity is a religion.

But for those who practice Christianity in its truest sense, we beg to differ, and here’s why.

Religion is about what humans have to do to get to God.  Most religions of the world teach that you have to do a bunch of things to get to God.

This is not the case with Christianity.

Christianity says that God has done one thing for humankind, so that we could have a relationship with Him.

God gave His only begotten Son so that whoever believes on Him, would not perish but would have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

So when people bundle Christianity with other religions, it shows that they misunderstand the key difference between them.

True Christianity isn't about a religion, it's about a relationship with God. Click To Tweet

And there’s a huge difference between religion and relationship!

It’s one of those things that you have to try yourself to really understand.

2. People Twist the Meaning of Bible Verses

Usually the people that say religion is evil, and that Christianity is evil, will cite people killing, hating, and hurting others all in the name of God.

If you read the Bible the right way from cover to cover, you’ll find that God instructs people to do just the opposite of those things.

He commands people to love, serve, and help others.

So then, where’s the problem?

The problem is that people twist Bible verses so that they will serve their own agenda.

For example, people from Westboro Baptist Church preach that God hates gay people.

They take Bible verses out of context, and twist them to serve their own beliefs that aren’t compatible with the Bible.

While homosexuality is listed as a sin in the Bible, so is fornication, which is also known as sleeping with someone outside of the context of marriage.

But the Bible says that God loves all sinners, which certainly includes gay people, fornicators, and all those that commit other types of sins as well.

God loves sinners so much, that He doesn't want them chained to the bondage of sin. Click To Tweet

 

is religion evil sin bondage

 

Westboro Baptist is a perfect example that illustrates this problem of people taking Bible verses out of context, and speaking wrongfully on behalf of God.

One day those people will be judged, and they won’t have a happy ending unless they repent.

3. People Do Things in the Name of Christianity that God Hates

What about evil events in history like the Crusades?

Well, you can be sure that there’s nothing in the Bible that supports one nation conquering another, so that it can change that country’s religion.

That time when the Crusades occurred was a dark time in history, and unfortunately, people did some evil things in the name of God.

This is a case of not only people taking verses out of context to justify their agenda, it’s also a case of adding scriptures that aren’t found in the Bible.

4. God isn’t Evil Because He Doesn’t Feed Starving Kids in Africa

This objection is quite popular with some atheists.

They say that if God really existed, then surely He would help starving kids in Africa, amputees, and other helpless children.

Since the Christian God doesn’t help out these types of helpless people, some atheists conclude that God is an evil God. That’s why they don’t want to believe in Him.

The problem with this objection is a matter of having a wrong perspective about God.

is religion evil adam and eve

The entire human race has been sinning ever since Adam and Eve first sinned in the Garden.

God created a perfect world in which there was no sin.

But when Adam and Eve fell in the garden of Eden, sin entered the world.

If you don’t believe in the whole Adam and Eve story, then how would you answer the following questions:

  • How do you explain all the evil and suffering in the world?
  • Why are people sinners rather than saints?
  • Why are people inherently bad rather than being inherently good?

God says that one day, He’ll take away all the sin that entered the world, and will judge everybody for the things that they did here on earth.

In the meantime, all the suffering that we see today is a result of original sin that’s been multiplied through time.

Additionally, God doesn’t promise a suffering-free life to believers.

The book of Job is a perfect example of this.

Job suffered the loss of His kids, his finances, and his spouse.

God allowed Job to experience these things for God’s own reasons. And at the end, God restored everything that Job had, and much more.

God promises His children that all things will work together for good for those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose.

5. God isn’t into Genocide

Some people have a problem with the God of the Bible because they say that He ordered genocide.

If you’re not familiar with what genocide is, it’s the killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

Atheists use this objection to say that God is a murderer because He ordered the killing of innocent women, children, and animals in the Bible.

The Bible does record that God ordered the killing of the Ammonites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and several other nations.

But here is what people fail to see when it comes to this objection:

None of these people were innocent. In fact, they were excessively wicked.

Imagine mothers who burned their own children in order to sacrifice them as offerings to fake idols. What does such a mother deserve?

This is just one thing on a list of hideous crimes that these wicked nations committed.

God, in His mercy, gave these nations many chances to repent. When they didn’t, God executed His judgment on them by using the nation of Israel to destroy them.

If there were as few as ten people who weren’t guilty of practicing such terrible things, then God would have probably spared the entire nation.

Just read the story of Lot, and how God would have spared the entire city from destruction if Abraham found as few as ten people who were innocent.

Furthermore, we know that the Bible says this about God:

He is the Rock, His work is perfect;

For all His ways are justice,

A God of truth and without injustice;

Righteous and upright is He.

-Deuteronomy 32:4

I could talk about this last point in a separate blog post of it’s own, but I decided to keep it short.

Any questions, please feel to post them in the comments.

Here’s My View on Religion That Might Surprise You

So after you read this article, you might be surprised to learn that I actually do think that religion is evil.

I’ve established in point number one above, that Christianity is not a religion, but a relationship with God.

With that in mind, I believe that any religion that keeps you away from coming into a relationship with the true and living God is evil.

That’s because…

The best thing that can ever happen to you is to put your faith in Jesus

Anything that stands in your way of your relationship with God is in my opinion, evil.

All religions that preach that there is some other way to heaven other than through Jesus, is wrong.

So that’s my two cents, or actually more than just two, about this whole topic of religion being evil, and Christianity being evil.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to share in the comments about whether you think religion or Christianity is good or evil.

PDF Version:  If you’d like a PDF version of this blog post for free, then please click here.

 

Comments 39

  1. Thank you for this post. Im getting the pdf file. Ive been confronted with by questions like these before and its refreshing for me. God bless

  2. Great post Peter. Religion is evil I agree. Religion is a preconceived set of notions added on to the Bible by man. Many like the Catholic church because they enjoy the pomp and ceremony, that is religion. All the added on requirements of the Jews through the Pharisees, that is religion. Any denomination’s ways of doing things that do not strictly follow the Word, that is religion. Religion is man’s rules and traditions added onto the Word of God.

    Jesus said come to Me and I will give you peace, He did not say come to my church and through them will I give you peace.

      1. This brings to mind a quote from a friend of mine that has always stuck with me: “I’m not religious, I’m just a Believer”. Love that!

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words Evan, you are so gracious and so kind. I am familiar with the video that you shared, it’s gotten quite a number of million views on YouTube. It’s a great video.

      Thanks for sharing it with the Not Ashamed of the Gospel community, I’m sure many people will find it to be a blessing. God bless you Evan 🙂

  5. Christian apologetics and pressuposition are major failures here. People don’t ask you those kinds of questions because they don’t know the answers. They ask the rhetorical questions to make a point. You failed to see that you are trapped into a relationship with an imaginary being that resembles a form of stockholm syndrome. Where you don’t know your deity is evil (totally imaginary too and you’ll spend your life imagining it all and finding patterns that point to your God loving you, you’ll likely make excuses for your behavior saying it’s what God wants also) Now back to the Invisible Monster Yahweh being evil (and imaginary) the very idea of “the blood of the lamb” comes from previous religions which we now regard as evil and immoral. Blood sacrifice is primitive and superstitious. Why is “the blood of jesus” not recognized as also primitive and superstitious? Oh yes your culture raised you to accept it… And you’ve been trained to fear hell and death if you question or rebel. Obviously questions aren’t right for you because you don’t respect the honest process that brings us to the truth. Those questions are rhetorical though. Only an evil God would create hell for the majority of people including those who suffered in poverty most of their lives. A permanent hell for a temporary trespass in life… You can make all kinds of excuses for your imagined captor. But you just can’t open your eyes enough to see that it’s imaginary and evil. It’s a fun game to be part of the club and masterbate your egos together. Christianity is extremely egocentric and paranoid. Thinking everything is a test in credulity and God love you and cares about everything you do. It’s not remotely balanced and it involves blocking out the majority of suffering in the world so that you can be in bliss. The main reason “God allows suffering” is because your specific variety of God is fake just like all others. You have to come up with answers to obvious questions like this rather than even addressing the obvious and overwhelmingly most likely answer because you undermine the honest process that brings us to the truth. I don’t think you were an atheist even if you called yourself that. I’m not sure you could properly define it now. Your God is evil and fake and if you can’t define morality without that God you don’t really have a leg to stand on anyways.

  6. One of the questions that I have asked since I was a child because it has NEVER made sense and not one single person has ever effectively answered is this….. If the Adam and Eve story were true, then where did the rest of mankind come from? They apparently had two sons (Cane and Able) but that does not genetically add up. If it were a case of incest in whereas the sons fornicated with their mother, it would result in 1) a cardinal sin, 2)most likely birth defects and 3) still no explanation as to where other ethnicities arose from. For the life of me I cannot understand how any sane person could accept this story. Even as a child of 9 years old, I was struck by the insanity of the story.
    Do you have a rational explanation of this story? please share.

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  7. I’ve read a couple of ur articles and I’m still not convinced, still respect ur opinion though (no hate intended)

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  8. I am glad I came across this site. It will better help me with my spouse who is either an atheist or satanist. Either way, it has really helped me. Thank you

  9. Lol if God is real,
    He plays too much…

    He was bored out of His mind, and decided to create humanity

    No wonder the gnostics considered the Yahweh to be evil…

    Because it is inconceivable to think that a God who supposedly knows all things (pls don’t try to different between foreknowledge and predestination as a line of defence) would put Adam and Eve to a test that He knew they would fail…

    Dude it just sounds so selfish… it’s like telling a baby to walk just to watch him fall (poor example I know…lol cos it means he allowed sin so we’ll be purer? Neeh, I doubt that)

    Then you walk up to him “sacrificing” your time (symbolic of Jesus leaving His heavenly glory as stated by Paul in Philipians sians) to help him walk…for all have sinned….for all have fallen

    And please do not say the lamb was slain from the foundation of the world…
    It makes Yaweh look worse…
    It means he knew that as babes they would fall…yet he played along…

    He plays too much I tell ya…

    Jesus was not just a moral teacher coughs… please look into the writing of the Gospel of John… and you would realise that all claims of Jesus been God sound really gnostic…(compare the writings therein to the gnostic Book of Thomas)

    Thing is Christianity has too many loopholes that’s why people keep leaving… and it is through jaw-dropping “miracles” that people are kept in this so-called “relationship” with God…
    People are scared of pain, suffering and this relationship with “God” claims to have a catholicon…and even proves it a lotta times… but please
    The same scripture says that the “devil” can disguise himself as a messenger of light…healing the sick and all that

    One loophole that seems to make the Bible’s “wholeness” sag is this: why did Jude in chaper 1 verse 14 quote from the Book of Enoch, and yet the Book of Enoch is not considered canonical by most factions of Christianity…?

    Verily, is this not a loophole in the infallibility of the supposed perfect “Word of God”?

    See I believe the historicity of Jesus, I believe the historicity of “some” Biblical narratives…

    But to lay claim to being the only path to salvation is Christianity’s greatest ill

    It is passive terrorism…it is a double-edged sword slicing through the soul of humanity because in so doing:
    1. You invite a lot of Bar-Jesuses into the church who are merely interested in the power you displayed when destroying their shrines

    You make people of other religious affliations feel uneasy, and at times this leads to religious violence

    By the way…what happens to people who haven’t heard the gospel…(of course, I know Jesus said he’ll not come till the gospel is preached to the whole world)
    The days of ignorance God winks at, please does that apply to people deep in the heart of Africa who are still absorbed in the traditions of their fathers and know nothing of the Mosaic law or even the dead ones? (Born and bred in Africa so I know what i’m saying)

    Hell is not just a concept…coughs
    Please, I need to ask you this,
    Does God really love us agape-wise?

    Because the Christian idea of hell baffles me,
    It proclaims that God gave His only begotten Son, but it seems His unconditional love is not so unconditional afterall…

    Because refusing his offer is eternity in hell…
    We are like toys, and having spent so much energy upon our salvation, he wants to reap the fruits (afterall the branch which bears no fruit shall be cut off as said in the Johnannine Gospel)

    This freewill is not freewill afterall, if the other choice is something we wouldn’t like…

    It is like holding a piece of candy in one hand and a piece of rock in a another, and then telling a child to pick…
    Obviously the child will be prompted to pick the piece of candy diligently manufactured on the cross… it is not freewill, it is manipulation
    Narcissistic people do that a lot…and I mean serious Narcissistic Personality Disorder patients

    Don’t get me wrong…Christianity has its beautiful concepts
    Like loving your neighbour and all that

    But if loving my neighbour is because I want to please another Being; because it is in accordance with guidelines that will get me into heaven…

    Then I fear it is selfish righteousness,
    A deeply rooted unholy piety…

    Shalom…

    Lovely article though. Keep up the faith.

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      1. Peter, love is my spiritual belief
        It is the embodiment of all there is to this Christian anomaly

        Cause, if Christians really “lived” their scriptures, and not spend so much of a fuss trying to prove their ideas or “revelations”

        Believe me,
        They would “win” more souls for this Jesus Christ than you can imagine…

        If they actually, gave to the poor
        Atheists wouldn’t really have a ground to stand on

        If they weren’t so frightful of the punishment
        Of their Beloved, the Bridegroom
        Declaring Hell on every “un-Jesus receiving soul”
        They wouldn’t be under so much criticism…

        The reason Christianity is waning is simple, the reason the love of the “elect” is waxing cold is simple:

        Y’all have prioritised this grace, to an extent that James called it hypocritical…

        don’t preach God loves me, and Christianity being the largest religion in the world is full of a lot of non-loving christians (despite accounting for the whole idea of wolves in sheep’s clothing)

        See Jesus was quite practical about His ministry on earth,
        He fed people, He went into the house of sinners
        He supposedly came for the sick

        God cannot genuinely win any soul, if His children are merely interested in “praying for me, when what I obviously need is food” as James put it

        Even “demons” have a belief in the existence of a Supreme Entity…

        Christianity talks a lot, but barely works
        Christianity is the very thing it fights, it is worse than the church of whom it was said to be neither hot nor cold

        Come to Africa…
        Stop reading stories

        You will see that Christianity even in an attempt to “spread” her gospel, has dumped chaos in my motherland

        Churches are where people are being duped the most,
        People are so judgemental, not loving

        And as earlier stated, it is a religion of open-air crusades, healing and closed door money sharing of the “offering” afterall the labourer is worthy of his “reward” (lol…i smell my personal bias)

        But truth be told… even Jesus said that He performed miracles so the people might believe…

        Christianity is sorcery stripped of its pagan underpinnings…

        Because it stands on miracles, on prophecies, on sacrifice of a pure male, on infallibility of God’s Word…

        We know how much of old records of pagans are being unearthed, does that not correspond directly with “the bible can never be destroyed, it will survive all conditions”

        I could go on and on and on….
        But it comes down to this

        Don’t justify the suffering of other people
        Simply because God’s children are not “doing” what should be done

        My belief?
        Now love is the fulfilling of the law…

        James said it
        Paul said it
        Jesus said it…

        I’m cool with love, it’s realistic like the historical Jesus…

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  11. There is no historical Jesus. If there ever was a man named Jesus and called the Christ, nobody noticed enough to write a single word about him while he was allegedly alive. And the bible is said to be “his word” yet he never wrote a single word of the bible while he was allegedly walking the earth. The oldest writing about Jesus is from Paul, who never met a flesh and blood Jesus, just a voice in his head on the road to Damascus. Likewise, anyone who speaks of having a relationship with Jesus is actually just dealing with the voice in their own head. All humans have an inner voice, a guide. It’s just that some people mistake this inner voice for some mythical man who allegedly walked the earth 2,000 years ago, an undead godman who they ask to come live in their blood pump, what the heart actually is; the bible got that wrong like many other basic facts. The bible got the whole universe wrong, as Galileo and science since, has shown beyond any doubt. The bible’s unmoving earth resting on pillars and with hell being below the earth while the dome of the firmament protected the earth from the waters above, with the sun and moon both being lights orbiting the earth…. There are hundreds of bible verses showing the entire work is a flat earth, geocentric tiny universe with no planets.. all pure mythology. Even the common creation myth of a paradise on earth until a talking animal ruined everything until the godman came to earth, the child of a god and woman, to do miracles. But nothing changed after he did his dying and rising routine, so common for godmen. Jesus was last seen flying off a mountain, but we were left with a promise he will return on a flying horse.

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        1. Jesus did exist historically (just look him up on Wikipedia). Scholars just argue about the whole divinity thing.

          1. Also, the Earth being held up by pillars is most likely a metaphor for God’s Love! As far as I know, the Bible never states that the Sun and Moon orbit the Earth or that planets do not exist.

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      Sorry Vince, when I said that Job suffered the loss of his wife, I wasn’t referring to her dying. But I was referring to her departing. It does seem that Job was all by himself without his wife after the second chapter.

  12. As someone who has spent a lifetime in the company of deeply religious people, I must, with no small measure of surprise, say that this bizarre Christian superstition, for all its manifest absurdity, does actually manage to bring some sort of comfort to certain people. At least this is what its believers claim, oh, so forcefully. This, to me, is made even stranger by the fact that this putative comfort is always correlated with a certain quantity of anguish. The chief evil of this ideology lies in its conception of sin. The depraved minds who have devised this clever trap knew all too well how to inculcate a sense of eternal guilt in the hearts of its wretched victims. Sin is everywhere, apparently. So much so that no believer, however devout and pious, could ever hope to escape the supposed danger of sin. Guilt is the natural companion of sin. Guilt is the perpetual companion of the Christian. To be human is to be sinful, for the Christian. This is a profoundly anti-human religion. It fosters a perpetual self-loathing accompanied by an incessant groveling before its celestial despot. And this brainwashing is always followed- oh, how it pains me to say this- by unending saccharine mewling over Love, Salvation and other false promises. In fact, this is the punchline to the whole joke, the essence of the deception. It’s the carrot and the stick routine. You induce needless suffering, and then you mercifully offer a palliative. The victim is so grateful that he/she sinks ever deeper into the mire.

  13. Also that you assume he could be a satanist just shows your arrogance as a christian, and confirms what many of us atheist think of you, are selfish people who think you are moral and non christians are evil.

    The more you speak, the more you show us of your ignorance and why religion is bad

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