Is Christianity Evil?

In the Multiculturalism thread, Tangle and I had a brief discussion about religion's relationship to evil. It was his position that:

quote:

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Tangle in Message 1018 in Multiculturalism:

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Left to their own devices, religions would be as primitive and destructive as extreem Islam is today.

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In objection to this I raised the point that Christianity began as a very pacific religion that only became 'primitive and destructive' when it entwined itself with the secular components of governing an empire (i.e., the religion became used as a tool to pursue secular goals inconsistent with traditional Christian belief and teachings).I'd like to discuss this further with a focus on Christianity.It is my position that there is no basis whatsoever for Tangle's blanket claim that religions are all inherently evil, secularism inherently good, and the former only pacified by exposure to the latter.

Though this thread was promoted to a rather soft forum, I still hope we can have an intelligent, evidence-based discussion.I know there can be disagreement on the finer points of what constitutes Christianity and what it means for something to be evil. But I really don't want this thread to devolve into a bunch of emotional drivel about what people feel in their souls or other such nonsense.

That's not the first question, that's the question.This thread is specifically for exploring whether Christianity was a benign religion usurped by secular evil or whether it was always evil and only pacified recently through contact with Enlightenment secularism.My position is pretty clear: there is nothing to convince me that early Christianity was an evil religion and plenty to suggest that its vices arose as the result of its earthly (= secular) involvement in running an empire. My position is that Christianity offers an example that fully contradicts Tangle's claim.

The context adds nothing. Your claim is still that:You also made the claim that (Message 1025):Now's your chance to present that evidence. Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

Again, where's your evidence?It's not even remotely evil for people to disagree or feel right.What's more, the 'superimposed' evil (which you readily admit to) was largely from secularat the very least non-Christiansociety, such as the concerns of running an empire, building wealth, etc. All sorts of stuff that had nothing to do with Christianity before Constantine got it wrapped up in Rome.Right now your claim that "[l]eft to their own devices, religions would be as primitive and destructive as extreem Islam is today" is looking like a pretty good load of nonsense.

Of course not.But luckily I never said that it does.Now instead of stalling, how about you present some evidence?Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

I mostly started this thread to see your evidence that "[l]eft to their own devices, religions would be as primitive and destructive as extreem Islam is today".Remember you said there was evidence? In fact, you said that "there's actually a lot of it" (Message 1025).So where is it, Tangle?Where's your evidence?

But is it evil?

My best classes were typically taught by more than one teacher.Perhaps with the exception of my New Testament class taught by the Rev. Dr. Michael Wyatt which I believe stands above all my courses as the best classroom experience I've had in my adult life.