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Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails
In this new anthology critiquing Christianity, John Loftus-a former minister and now a leading atheist-has brought together an outstanding group of respected scholars who focus on the harms caused by the world's leading religion. The contributors begin by dissecting the many problematic aspects of religious faith generally. They repeatedly demonstrate that, with faith as a foundation, almost anything can be believed or denied. And almost any horrific deed can be committed. The authors then take a good hard look at many of the most important political, institutional, scientific, social, and moral harms committed in the name of Christianity. These range from the historical persecutions of the Inquisition and witch hunts to the current health hazards of faith healing.Finally, the authors answer three common Christian retorts to criticisms from (1) that atheists cannot judge a harmful action without an objective moral standard; (2) that atheists need faith to solve the world's problems; and (3) that atheists cannot live a good life without faith.Loftus and the contributors generally conclude that, given both the well-documented historical record and ongoing problems raised by the faith, Christianity decisively fails empirical tests of its usefulness to humanity.
555 pages, Paperback
First published October 21, 2014
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March 23, 2024
This anthology of counter-Apologetic essays merits a place on the bookshelf of every atheist, lay-student of comparative religion or Christian coming to question his belief. (Or just seeking to understand the worldviews of non-Christians.) In cataloguing the harms done by this religion, and the scope for addressing them, it is close to encyclopaedic. Crucially, it is an anthology of specialist and often scholarly contributions from writers addressing a particular field, and thus avoids a trap into which much humanist literature falls: The cult of the individual ego. Finally, the book indicates how atheism and humanism provide a model better suited for ameliorating the harms done by Christian belief.
The book is divided into five major catalogues. These cover the epistemic failure of Christianity in an Enlightened - perhaps increasingly post-Enlightened - world, the political and institutional harm done in a world of divinely-appointed kings and cracking walls of separation, the scientific harms of a religion that pictures the world sitting on pillars, immune to industrial desecration and a clonal, XY-chromosome Eve born of a man, the social and moral harms of a belief system that squashes women, endorses slavery and often enough condemns fertility control, and the ethical questions of how to walk upright as a moral humanist. Each of several subchapters is contributed by an expert and is a manageable read for the morning train-ride or the evening glass of wine.
All are gracefully written and perfectly readable. I found very little with which to take issue in these essays, despite personally being more of an accommodationist, and the essayists generally do not pretend that there is nothing at all positive to be said. Rather, the entire thrust is that the posistive in Christianity is not worth the price. There is one very interesting argument, new to me and which I will not repeat here, that morality is in fact incompatible with a lawgiving deity rather than actively dependent on one, and a neat excoriation of the Kalaam Cosmological Argument, albeit perhaps a philosophical sitting duck with its wild premises and false inferences. The contributions are mainly not polemic, but there are plenty of passages prone to cause one's earwax to vapourise in a puff of enraged grease, such as those dealing with "Biblical" corporal punishment of children, expulsion by families of doubters and the torture of women during the Witch Trials.
John Loftus is a uniquely valuable contributor in his own right, since he has made the transition from fundamentalist preacher to fun-loving, and people-loving, activist ex-Christian. He is able to speak to the harms of Christianity in a way that many atheists could not, as a former insider, and thus forestall certain kinds of creationist evasion such as the appeal to naturalistic bias. He is also a humanist shepherd, able to understand the alienating wrench that losing one's religion can inflict and willing to extend a helping hand to those who scale the same scree-littered slope. Reading this, I am glad not to have to make that climb, as perhaps the most tragic harm of Christianity is the one responsible for its persistence - the gauntlet of pain and opprobrium which seems to await any who question.
Highly recommended.
The book is divided into five major catalogues. These cover the epistemic failure of Christianity in an Enlightened - perhaps increasingly post-Enlightened - world, the political and institutional harm done in a world of divinely-appointed kings and cracking walls of separation, the scientific harms of a religion that pictures the world sitting on pillars, immune to industrial desecration and a clonal, XY-chromosome Eve born of a man, the social and moral harms of a belief system that squashes women, endorses slavery and often enough condemns fertility control, and the ethical questions of how to walk upright as a moral humanist. Each of several subchapters is contributed by an expert and is a manageable read for the morning train-ride or the evening glass of wine.
All are gracefully written and perfectly readable. I found very little with which to take issue in these essays, despite personally being more of an accommodationist, and the essayists generally do not pretend that there is nothing at all positive to be said. Rather, the entire thrust is that the posistive in Christianity is not worth the price. There is one very interesting argument, new to me and which I will not repeat here, that morality is in fact incompatible with a lawgiving deity rather than actively dependent on one, and a neat excoriation of the Kalaam Cosmological Argument, albeit perhaps a philosophical sitting duck with its wild premises and false inferences. The contributions are mainly not polemic, but there are plenty of passages prone to cause one's earwax to vapourise in a puff of enraged grease, such as those dealing with "Biblical" corporal punishment of children, expulsion by families of doubters and the torture of women during the Witch Trials.
John Loftus is a uniquely valuable contributor in his own right, since he has made the transition from fundamentalist preacher to fun-loving, and people-loving, activist ex-Christian. He is able to speak to the harms of Christianity in a way that many atheists could not, as a former insider, and thus forestall certain kinds of creationist evasion such as the appeal to naturalistic bias. He is also a humanist shepherd, able to understand the alienating wrench that losing one's religion can inflict and willing to extend a helping hand to those who scale the same scree-littered slope. Reading this, I am glad not to have to make that climb, as perhaps the most tragic harm of Christianity is the one responsible for its persistence - the gauntlet of pain and opprobrium which seems to await any who question.
Highly recommended.
October 30, 2014
Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails by John W. Loftus
“Christianity Is Not Great" is an excellent anthology that addresses the harms of Christian faith on a wide spectrum of issues. Taking a page out of Christopher Hitchen’s bestselling title “God Is Not Great”, accomplished author and former preacher John W. Loftus, assembles a great group of scholars of scientists who focus on the harm that Christianity has caused to our basic human institutions. This comprehensive 555-page book includes twenty-three chapters broken out by the following five parts: 1. How Faith Fails, 2. Political/Institutional Harms, 3. Scientific Harms, 4. Social and Moral Harms, and 5. Morality, Atheism, and a Good Life.
Positives:
1. A proven track record of high-quality work. Well-written, well-researched essays. Accessible to the masses.
2. Twenty-three excellent essays that cover a wide-range of fascinating topics.
3. An excellent list of contributors and I’m happy to see some prominent women involved in this project as well. Covering expertise that ranges the gamut of knowledge.
4. Great format that allows readers to jump from one topic to another.
5. Provocative! A trademark of Loftus’s work. “The Christian faith can be empirically tested by the amount of harm it has done and continues to do in our world. Jesus reportedly said: ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’ (Matthew 7:20). When we evaluate the fruits of Christianity, the result is that it fails miserably.”
6. Historical nuggets worth their weight in gold. “The church was opposed to fire insurance—to life insurance. It denounced insurance in any form as gambling, as immoral. To insure your life was to declare that you had no confidence in God—that you relied on a corporation instead of divine providence. It was declared that God would provide for your widow and your fatherless children. To insure your life was to insult heaven.”
7. A look at how we obtain knowledge. “Epistemology is a branch of philosophy focusing on how one comes to knowledge, which processes of knowing can be relied upon to lead one to truth, and what knowledge is.”
8. A fascinating look at Christian violence. The Crusades and the Inquisition. David Eller’s contributions in this anthology are invaluable.
9. The biblical basis for Christian witch hunts. “In Leviticus 20:27 we read: ‘A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones.’”
10. If there is one issue that the Bible could not afford to get wrong is the issue on slavery. This anthology does a wonderful job of covering the problem of slavery from various angles. “Clearly Christian countries had no qualms with slavery, and the United States had to fight a war against the slave-owning Bible Belt to abolish a ‘peculiar institution’ that violated its Constitution but apparently not its religion.”
11. Debunks the notion that the United States was founded on Christian religion. “Nothing in the Constitution derives from the Bible or Christian religion. Christianity inspired the Constitution in only one terrible sense: by being so horrific something had to be done to stop it. Not by abolishing it, of course.” Also some great insights on what actually inspired the Constitution. “Solon's constitution for Athens was credited by Adams and Paine and many other Founding Fathers as what most inspired the American Constitution, with the equally pagan constitution of the Roman Republic a close second (regarded as an improvement on the flaws in Solon's original experiment). Solon gave us elections and trials by a jury of our peers, two concepts never found in the Bible.”
12. Covers the harm that impeded and continues to impede scientific progress.
13. Lindsay provides one of the most enlightening essays on the “sanctity” of life. “The phenomenon of twinning confirms that the early embryo is not a unified, organized, determinate individual. To insist otherwise is to rely on religious dogma, not science.”
14. Veronica Drantz provides a valuable essay that addresses issues on LGBTI people, yes there is an I in LGBTI. “Intersex people are a glaring refutation of the gender binary because they differ physically from ‘standard’ males or females.” Fascinating!
15. A look at medical harms caused by religion.
16. The impact on the environment. “When it comes to the environment in general, and to global warming in particular, the most pressing environmental problem of our time, Christianity is certainly not great.”
17. A unique look at the treatment of animals. “If God were truly concerned for the welfare of animals he would've said, ‘Thou shalt not mistreat or abuse animals,' repeating it as often as he needed to while giving details about what it means, without giving any conflicting advice. Then Christian people would be unable to justify the ill treatment of animals down through the centuries.”
18. Great essay on hot-button cultural issues, “how the Christian right continues to battle against equality and fairness in several areas of public policy.”
19. A fascinating look at Christian misogyny. “Between the books of Genesis, which begins the Bible, and Revelation, which concludes it, there are approximately three hundred Bible verses or stories that explicitly mandate women's inequality, inferiority, or subservience.”
20. Psychological and abuses discussed.
21. A look at morality. “To conclude, it seems apparent that the moral value derived from the actions of God has its basis in the consequences of those actions and not in their intrinsic morality. Either the objective morality claimed by theists does not exist or it is consistently trumped by the consequences of the actions.”
22. Much more…
23. Links to notes!
Negatives:
1. At over 500 pages it does require an investment of your time.
2. Happy to see some women in this project but I would also like to see more minority issues addressed. As an example. Atheism in the Latino community.
3. Lack of visual material to complement the excellent narratives.
4. No formal bibliography.
In summary, I really enjoyed this anthology. The essays are provocative and cover a wide-variety of fascinating topics. The book will serve as an excellent reference as you can jump to any topic of interest. Most importantly, the essays are well written and provide interesting angles of view. I highly recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity", "The End of Christianity”, and “The Christian Delusion” by John W. Loftus, “"The End of Biblical Studies" by Hector Avalos, "Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History" and “Natural Atheism” by Dr. David Eller, "Man Made God: A Collection of Essays" by Barbara G. Walker, “Why I’m Not a Christian” by Richard Carrier, “The Dark Side of Christian History” by Helen Ellerbe, “Atheism for Dummies” by Dale McGowan, “The Atheist Universe” by David Mills, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, “The Portable Atheist” and “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “The God Argument” by A.C. Grayling, “50 popular beliefs that people think are true” by Guy P. Harrison, “Godless” by Dan Barker, “Moral Combat” by Sikivu Hutchinson, and “Society Without God” by Phil Zuckerman.
“Christianity Is Not Great" is an excellent anthology that addresses the harms of Christian faith on a wide spectrum of issues. Taking a page out of Christopher Hitchen’s bestselling title “God Is Not Great”, accomplished author and former preacher John W. Loftus, assembles a great group of scholars of scientists who focus on the harm that Christianity has caused to our basic human institutions. This comprehensive 555-page book includes twenty-three chapters broken out by the following five parts: 1. How Faith Fails, 2. Political/Institutional Harms, 3. Scientific Harms, 4. Social and Moral Harms, and 5. Morality, Atheism, and a Good Life.
Positives:
1. A proven track record of high-quality work. Well-written, well-researched essays. Accessible to the masses.
2. Twenty-three excellent essays that cover a wide-range of fascinating topics.
3. An excellent list of contributors and I’m happy to see some prominent women involved in this project as well. Covering expertise that ranges the gamut of knowledge.
4. Great format that allows readers to jump from one topic to another.
5. Provocative! A trademark of Loftus’s work. “The Christian faith can be empirically tested by the amount of harm it has done and continues to do in our world. Jesus reportedly said: ‘By their fruits ye shall know them’ (Matthew 7:20). When we evaluate the fruits of Christianity, the result is that it fails miserably.”
6. Historical nuggets worth their weight in gold. “The church was opposed to fire insurance—to life insurance. It denounced insurance in any form as gambling, as immoral. To insure your life was to declare that you had no confidence in God—that you relied on a corporation instead of divine providence. It was declared that God would provide for your widow and your fatherless children. To insure your life was to insult heaven.”
7. A look at how we obtain knowledge. “Epistemology is a branch of philosophy focusing on how one comes to knowledge, which processes of knowing can be relied upon to lead one to truth, and what knowledge is.”
8. A fascinating look at Christian violence. The Crusades and the Inquisition. David Eller’s contributions in this anthology are invaluable.
9. The biblical basis for Christian witch hunts. “In Leviticus 20:27 we read: ‘A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones.’”
10. If there is one issue that the Bible could not afford to get wrong is the issue on slavery. This anthology does a wonderful job of covering the problem of slavery from various angles. “Clearly Christian countries had no qualms with slavery, and the United States had to fight a war against the slave-owning Bible Belt to abolish a ‘peculiar institution’ that violated its Constitution but apparently not its religion.”
11. Debunks the notion that the United States was founded on Christian religion. “Nothing in the Constitution derives from the Bible or Christian religion. Christianity inspired the Constitution in only one terrible sense: by being so horrific something had to be done to stop it. Not by abolishing it, of course.” Also some great insights on what actually inspired the Constitution. “Solon's constitution for Athens was credited by Adams and Paine and many other Founding Fathers as what most inspired the American Constitution, with the equally pagan constitution of the Roman Republic a close second (regarded as an improvement on the flaws in Solon's original experiment). Solon gave us elections and trials by a jury of our peers, two concepts never found in the Bible.”
12. Covers the harm that impeded and continues to impede scientific progress.
13. Lindsay provides one of the most enlightening essays on the “sanctity” of life. “The phenomenon of twinning confirms that the early embryo is not a unified, organized, determinate individual. To insist otherwise is to rely on religious dogma, not science.”
14. Veronica Drantz provides a valuable essay that addresses issues on LGBTI people, yes there is an I in LGBTI. “Intersex people are a glaring refutation of the gender binary because they differ physically from ‘standard’ males or females.” Fascinating!
15. A look at medical harms caused by religion.
16. The impact on the environment. “When it comes to the environment in general, and to global warming in particular, the most pressing environmental problem of our time, Christianity is certainly not great.”
17. A unique look at the treatment of animals. “If God were truly concerned for the welfare of animals he would've said, ‘Thou shalt not mistreat or abuse animals,' repeating it as often as he needed to while giving details about what it means, without giving any conflicting advice. Then Christian people would be unable to justify the ill treatment of animals down through the centuries.”
18. Great essay on hot-button cultural issues, “how the Christian right continues to battle against equality and fairness in several areas of public policy.”
19. A fascinating look at Christian misogyny. “Between the books of Genesis, which begins the Bible, and Revelation, which concludes it, there are approximately three hundred Bible verses or stories that explicitly mandate women's inequality, inferiority, or subservience.”
20. Psychological and abuses discussed.
21. A look at morality. “To conclude, it seems apparent that the moral value derived from the actions of God has its basis in the consequences of those actions and not in their intrinsic morality. Either the objective morality claimed by theists does not exist or it is consistently trumped by the consequences of the actions.”
22. Much more…
23. Links to notes!
Negatives:
1. At over 500 pages it does require an investment of your time.
2. Happy to see some women in this project but I would also like to see more minority issues addressed. As an example. Atheism in the Latino community.
3. Lack of visual material to complement the excellent narratives.
4. No formal bibliography.
In summary, I really enjoyed this anthology. The essays are provocative and cover a wide-variety of fascinating topics. The book will serve as an excellent reference as you can jump to any topic of interest. Most importantly, the essays are well written and provide interesting angles of view. I highly recommend it!
Further recommendations: “Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity", "The End of Christianity”, and “The Christian Delusion” by John W. Loftus, “"The End of Biblical Studies" by Hector Avalos, "Cruel Creeds, Virtuous Violence: Religious Violence Across Culture and History" and “Natural Atheism” by Dr. David Eller, "Man Made God: A Collection of Essays" by Barbara G. Walker, “Why I’m Not a Christian” by Richard Carrier, “The Dark Side of Christian History” by Helen Ellerbe, “Atheism for Dummies” by Dale McGowan, “The Atheist Universe” by David Mills, “Nailed” by David Fitzgerald, “The Portable Atheist” and “God is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens, “The God Argument” by A.C. Grayling, “50 popular beliefs that people think are true” by Guy P. Harrison, “Godless” by Dan Barker, “Moral Combat” by Sikivu Hutchinson, and “Society Without God” by Phil Zuckerman.
January 11, 2015
Some of the essays are great; a handful are good, and a few are bad. Most pieces are clearly argued, well-written, and convincing.
I don't think this will convince the unconverted because it takes some basic normative, epistemological, and ethical assumptions for granted -- and these are the same assumptions Christians will fight to the death over. But it's a convincing reminder to those of us who oppose the encroachment of religion of why exactly we embrace such opposition.
I don't think this will convince the unconverted because it takes some basic normative, epistemological, and ethical assumptions for granted -- and these are the same assumptions Christians will fight to the death over. But it's a convincing reminder to those of us who oppose the encroachment of religion of why exactly we embrace such opposition.
June 11, 2017
The book is an anthology that details how Christianity has harmed and still does harm to both society and individuals. After an introductory chapter by the editor, John W. Loftus, the book goes into part one of five. This shows how faith fails against reason, science, and knowledge. Part two covers the political harms both in the past (e.g. crusades, inquisitions, witch hunts, and slavery) and the present. This part also looks at the secular nature of the United States Constitution, and the attempts to amend it by the Christian right. Part three explores scientific harms. Among these are the Dark Ages, LGBTI individuals, and the myths and ills perpetrated on them by some groups of Christians, health care, the environment, and animal cruelty. Part four looks at social and moral harms. These include significant cultural effects, women rights, sexuality, psychological, and abuse. Finally part five explores how to live morally without god.
Unfortunately, all my notes that I had taken with my Kindle disappeared when I went to write this review some while back. So, I have no comments on the text itself.
One thing I do remember questioning is what evidence is there that more people have died from religious wars than any other kind. This may well be true, but the several authors that mention it provide no evidence for this claim. This seems odd since most atheists are skeptical and will demand evidence for believing something to be so.
I cannot remember if there were any eye openers that I had not been aware of before. I will say that there was a good deal of historical harms discussed in various chapters, especially in the beginning sections. While history is important, my major concern is with modern religious harm, which the book provided plenty of in the Christian context.
I thought the book was very good overall, and Loftus did a commendable job in assembling the authors for the book. As with most anthologies some chapters were better than others. I was in agreement with almost all the authors in their main points, but I found numerous small critiques, which I can not give, seeing how my notes are lost, apparently forever. Amazon did try to figure out what happen to my notes, but ultimately failed.
This book would be good for those Christians willing and able to accept certain critiques on the harm their religion caused and still causes. However, I hold out little hope that the fundamentalist, the ones that would need their eyes opened the most, will read it. For the already committed atheist there is enough to chew on for it to be a worthwhile read.
Unfortunately, all my notes that I had taken with my Kindle disappeared when I went to write this review some while back. So, I have no comments on the text itself.
One thing I do remember questioning is what evidence is there that more people have died from religious wars than any other kind. This may well be true, but the several authors that mention it provide no evidence for this claim. This seems odd since most atheists are skeptical and will demand evidence for believing something to be so.
I cannot remember if there were any eye openers that I had not been aware of before. I will say that there was a good deal of historical harms discussed in various chapters, especially in the beginning sections. While history is important, my major concern is with modern religious harm, which the book provided plenty of in the Christian context.
I thought the book was very good overall, and Loftus did a commendable job in assembling the authors for the book. As with most anthologies some chapters were better than others. I was in agreement with almost all the authors in their main points, but I found numerous small critiques, which I can not give, seeing how my notes are lost, apparently forever. Amazon did try to figure out what happen to my notes, but ultimately failed.
This book would be good for those Christians willing and able to accept certain critiques on the harm their religion caused and still causes. However, I hold out little hope that the fundamentalist, the ones that would need their eyes opened the most, will read it. For the already committed atheist there is enough to chew on for it to be a worthwhile read.
July 27, 2015
Very good collection of research articles that details and argues the problems of religion and faith claims. Though many of the articles are scholarly, the writing is not dry, and Loftus did a good job arranging the chapters. I particularly liked Annie Laurie Gaylor's “Women, What Have I To Do With Thee?: Christianity Against Women” in which she includes many misogynist scriptures from the Bible and how they are being used even today. Lotus's provides similar articles about slavery and animal cruelty in the Bible. I also will be rereading Veronica's Drantz's “The Gender Binary In LGBT People: Religious Myths And Medical Malpractice,” because she explains the biological basis of homosexuality and transgender sexuality – in that we don't learn our gender, we discover it.
This book will be of great use to atheist activists seeking to sharpen their arguments to expose religion and delusional faith claims for what they are.
This book will be of great use to atheist activists seeking to sharpen their arguments to expose religion and delusional faith claims for what they are.
June 25, 2020
I once heard a Christian apologist say that Christianity has been the greatest force for good known to man. There’s a common misconception even among many non-Christians that the church is overwhelmingly beneficial for society. This book debunks that notion. “Christianity Is Not Great: How Faith Fails” is an anthology edited by John W. Loftus. It was written in honor of “God Is Not Great” by Christopher Hitchens. Here’s the format of the book:
Forward
Hector Avalos has contributed to previous Loftus anthologies. He was unable to in this one. It was good to have him write the forward. I recommend readers check his work out.
Introduction
Loftus never fails when he introduces a book. He does a great job of summarizing what the authors of each chapter will be covering!
Chapter 1: Religious Violence and the Harms of Christianity
Loftus writes this chapter to answer seven questions related to religion and violence. This is an eye opening chapter and it shows how religious violence is unique from any other form of violence. He also mentions the good things that Christianity has done for society and gives a great response for critics who bring that up.
Part One: How Faith Fails
Chapter 2: The Failure of the Church and the Triumph of Reason
This chapter was taken from Robert Ingersoll (19th century). In it he compares what the worldly have done vs the church to make the world a better place to live in.
Chapter 3. The Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Christianity
The late Victor Stenger shows here how science and Christianity don’t mix. Those who claim they do need to refer to this chapter. It all comes down to the epistemologies used.
Chapter 4: Faith, Epistemology, and Answering Socrates’ Question by Translation
Peter Boghossian is the author of “A Manual for Creating Atheists” which has inspired many people to engage in street epistemology (YouTube “Anthony Magnabosco”). In this chapter he addresses three facts regarding faith: its use as an epistemology, when faith is used, and how people use faith to make decisions in their life.
Part Two: Political/Institutional Harms
Chapter 5. Love Your Enemy, Kill Your Enemy: Crusades, Inquisitions, and Centuries of Christian Violence
This is a good chapter by David Eller on the Christian Crusades and Inquisitions.
Chapter 6. Thou Shalt not Suffer a Witch to Live: The Wicked Christian Witch Hunts
Loftus writes another good chapter here on the witch hunts and how the Bible was used to justify them. If a good God exists then he should have condemned witch killing. He commanded it instead (Exodus 22:18).
Chapter 7. They Will Make Good Slaves and Christians: Christianity, Colonialism, and the Destruction of Indigenous People
David Eller’s second contribution to the book shows the harm that Christianity did to indigenous people in South America, North America, Africa, and Australia.
Chapter 8. The Slave is the Owner’s Property: Christianity and the Savagery of Slavery
This is my favorite chapter in the book. In it Loftus discusses the topic of slavery in the Bible. I recommend referring Christians to this chapter if they try to say that the slavery in the Bible wasn’t that bad. Loftus goes through the Bible passages and debunks the common apologetics used to defend biblical slavery. He also shows how the Bible was interpreted to justify slavery in the United States.
Chapter 9: Christianity and the Rise of American Democracy
In this chapter Richard Carrier debunks the claim that Christianity is responsible for American Democracy.
Part Three: Scientific Harms
Chapter 10: The Dark Ages
Richard Carrier’s second chapter shows how Christianity was responsible for the Dark Ages which set back scientific progress for a thousand years. Imagine where we would be today if this wasn’t the case?
Chapter 11: The Christian Abuse of the Sanctity of Life
Ronald A. Lindsay shows how the Christian view that the sanctity of life is a moral absolute leads to problems. Some of the things mentioned are physician-assisted dying and abortion. I recommend this chapter for people interested in a nuanced view of these controversial issues.
Chapter 12. The Gender Binary and LGBTI People: Religious Myth and Medical Malpractice
Veronica Drantz’s chapter is one of those that’s worth the price of the book. She shows how the Adam and Eve myth has led to medical malpractice and other forms of discrimination against LGBTI people. Her sections on sex, gender, and sexual attraction are educational and everyone should be informed on these issues.
Chapter 13: Christianity can be Hazardous to your Health
Harriet Hall goes through the many ways that Christianity is unhealthy. Topics covered are faith healing, vaccine exemptions, medical harms, and much more. This isn’t just a few fringe examples. Hall shows multiple examples from different denominations.
Chapter 14: Christianity and the Environment
William R. Patterson writes this chapter to show how Christianity is harmful to the environment. Many evangelicals and other types of Christians deny climate change on the view that God has given humans dominion over the earth. This has led to a large bloc of people voting for politicians who aren’t trying to solve the problem. Climate change poses many threats to mankind. It may very well be our greatest threat. Christianity certainly isn’t helping us solve this global problem.
Chapter 15. Doth God Take Care for Oxen?: Christianity’s Acrimony against Animals
Loftus’s final chapter shows how the Bible doesn’t care much about animals. As a result this has led to more harm done on them by Christians in Western Civilization. I think this issue is often overlooked and I’m glad Loftus chose to defend those without a voice.
Part Four: Social and Moral Harms
Chapter 16: The Christian Right and the Culture Wars
Here Ed Brayton focuses on the social harms caused by the Christian Right in the United States. Examples covered are reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and several other issues. Another chapter worth the price of the book.
Chapter 17. Woman, What have I to do with thee?: Christianity’s War against Women
Loftus claims that Annie Laurie Gaylor’s chapter is one of the best on this subject and I have to agree! The detail she goes into proves that the Bible is anti-women. There are too many examples to argue otherwise.
Chapter 18. Secular Sexuality: A Direct Challenge to Christianity
Darrel Ray has an entire book on this topic. I’ve listened to him online before and his perspective on how religion harms your sex life has helped me get out of the religious mindset I used to have. The sexual guilt brought about by Christianity and other religions is dealt with in this chapter. If this is your first time hearing about Darrel Ray you will be in for a treat.
Chapter 19. The Crazy-Making in Christianity: A Look at Real Psychological Harm
Marlene Winell and Valerico Tarico both contributed to this chapter. Chapter 13 showed how Christianity can be harmful to your health, more specifically, physical. This chapter shows the psychological harms. I don’t want to give too much away but there’s a lot of information in here and many ex-Christians could attest to having some of these issues while being a believer. I know some of these things plagued my mind for a time too. It’s a real eye opener to see things as an outsider.
Chapter 20: Abusive Pastors and Churches
Nathan Phelps is the son of Fred Phelps. Fred Phelps was the pastor of the Wesboro Baptist Church (“God Hates Fags”). In this chapter, Phelps discusses issues related to his father and how religious exemptions gave him a justification to continue being abusive (Fred would quote from the Bible). The other section of the chapter is about the Catholic Church and it’s scandal of covering up child-molesting priests. Can bad things happen without religion? Yes, but it’s important to understand from this chapter how religion’s influence has made things worse in many instances.
Part Five: Morality, Atheism, and a Good Life
Chapter 21: “Tu Quoque, Atheism?”- Our Right to Judge
Jonathan Pearce’s chapter is different than all of the previous ones. The previous 20 chapters made arguments showing the harms of Christianity. However, many Christians might say that atheists can’t judge because their standard is not an objective one. This chapter is a great rebuttal to that misconception.
Chapter 22: Only Humans can Solve the Problems of the World
James Lindsay’s chapters is one of those chapters that gets better for me every time I read it. He splits it up into two major parts. First, he argues that God does not exist. Second, since that’s the case we humans are the only ones who can solve the problems going on in the world.
Chapter 23: Living Without God
The final chapter is written by Russell Blackford who argues that atheists can live a meaningful life without God. This chapter is good for both the christian who thinks atheists can’t live a meaningful life and the atheists who may have the same concern.
This is one of my favorite books. It’s the go to book regarding the pragmatism of Christianity. I think atheists, christians, and those of other world-views can learn a lot from these writers. Give it a shot!
Forward
Hector Avalos has contributed to previous Loftus anthologies. He was unable to in this one. It was good to have him write the forward. I recommend readers check his work out.
Introduction
Loftus never fails when he introduces a book. He does a great job of summarizing what the authors of each chapter will be covering!
Chapter 1: Religious Violence and the Harms of Christianity
Loftus writes this chapter to answer seven questions related to religion and violence. This is an eye opening chapter and it shows how religious violence is unique from any other form of violence. He also mentions the good things that Christianity has done for society and gives a great response for critics who bring that up.
Part One: How Faith Fails
Chapter 2: The Failure of the Church and the Triumph of Reason
This chapter was taken from Robert Ingersoll (19th century). In it he compares what the worldly have done vs the church to make the world a better place to live in.
Chapter 3. The Folly of Faith: The Incompatibility of Science and Christianity
The late Victor Stenger shows here how science and Christianity don’t mix. Those who claim they do need to refer to this chapter. It all comes down to the epistemologies used.
Chapter 4: Faith, Epistemology, and Answering Socrates’ Question by Translation
Peter Boghossian is the author of “A Manual for Creating Atheists” which has inspired many people to engage in street epistemology (YouTube “Anthony Magnabosco”). In this chapter he addresses three facts regarding faith: its use as an epistemology, when faith is used, and how people use faith to make decisions in their life.
Part Two: Political/Institutional Harms
Chapter 5. Love Your Enemy, Kill Your Enemy: Crusades, Inquisitions, and Centuries of Christian Violence
This is a good chapter by David Eller on the Christian Crusades and Inquisitions.
Chapter 6. Thou Shalt not Suffer a Witch to Live: The Wicked Christian Witch Hunts
Loftus writes another good chapter here on the witch hunts and how the Bible was used to justify them. If a good God exists then he should have condemned witch killing. He commanded it instead (Exodus 22:18).
Chapter 7. They Will Make Good Slaves and Christians: Christianity, Colonialism, and the Destruction of Indigenous People
David Eller’s second contribution to the book shows the harm that Christianity did to indigenous people in South America, North America, Africa, and Australia.
Chapter 8. The Slave is the Owner’s Property: Christianity and the Savagery of Slavery
This is my favorite chapter in the book. In it Loftus discusses the topic of slavery in the Bible. I recommend referring Christians to this chapter if they try to say that the slavery in the Bible wasn’t that bad. Loftus goes through the Bible passages and debunks the common apologetics used to defend biblical slavery. He also shows how the Bible was interpreted to justify slavery in the United States.
Chapter 9: Christianity and the Rise of American Democracy
In this chapter Richard Carrier debunks the claim that Christianity is responsible for American Democracy.
Part Three: Scientific Harms
Chapter 10: The Dark Ages
Richard Carrier’s second chapter shows how Christianity was responsible for the Dark Ages which set back scientific progress for a thousand years. Imagine where we would be today if this wasn’t the case?
Chapter 11: The Christian Abuse of the Sanctity of Life
Ronald A. Lindsay shows how the Christian view that the sanctity of life is a moral absolute leads to problems. Some of the things mentioned are physician-assisted dying and abortion. I recommend this chapter for people interested in a nuanced view of these controversial issues.
Chapter 12. The Gender Binary and LGBTI People: Religious Myth and Medical Malpractice
Veronica Drantz’s chapter is one of those that’s worth the price of the book. She shows how the Adam and Eve myth has led to medical malpractice and other forms of discrimination against LGBTI people. Her sections on sex, gender, and sexual attraction are educational and everyone should be informed on these issues.
Chapter 13: Christianity can be Hazardous to your Health
Harriet Hall goes through the many ways that Christianity is unhealthy. Topics covered are faith healing, vaccine exemptions, medical harms, and much more. This isn’t just a few fringe examples. Hall shows multiple examples from different denominations.
Chapter 14: Christianity and the Environment
William R. Patterson writes this chapter to show how Christianity is harmful to the environment. Many evangelicals and other types of Christians deny climate change on the view that God has given humans dominion over the earth. This has led to a large bloc of people voting for politicians who aren’t trying to solve the problem. Climate change poses many threats to mankind. It may very well be our greatest threat. Christianity certainly isn’t helping us solve this global problem.
Chapter 15. Doth God Take Care for Oxen?: Christianity’s Acrimony against Animals
Loftus’s final chapter shows how the Bible doesn’t care much about animals. As a result this has led to more harm done on them by Christians in Western Civilization. I think this issue is often overlooked and I’m glad Loftus chose to defend those without a voice.
Part Four: Social and Moral Harms
Chapter 16: The Christian Right and the Culture Wars
Here Ed Brayton focuses on the social harms caused by the Christian Right in the United States. Examples covered are reproductive rights, LGBT rights, and several other issues. Another chapter worth the price of the book.
Chapter 17. Woman, What have I to do with thee?: Christianity’s War against Women
Loftus claims that Annie Laurie Gaylor’s chapter is one of the best on this subject and I have to agree! The detail she goes into proves that the Bible is anti-women. There are too many examples to argue otherwise.
Chapter 18. Secular Sexuality: A Direct Challenge to Christianity
Darrel Ray has an entire book on this topic. I’ve listened to him online before and his perspective on how religion harms your sex life has helped me get out of the religious mindset I used to have. The sexual guilt brought about by Christianity and other religions is dealt with in this chapter. If this is your first time hearing about Darrel Ray you will be in for a treat.
Chapter 19. The Crazy-Making in Christianity: A Look at Real Psychological Harm
Marlene Winell and Valerico Tarico both contributed to this chapter. Chapter 13 showed how Christianity can be harmful to your health, more specifically, physical. This chapter shows the psychological harms. I don’t want to give too much away but there’s a lot of information in here and many ex-Christians could attest to having some of these issues while being a believer. I know some of these things plagued my mind for a time too. It’s a real eye opener to see things as an outsider.
Chapter 20: Abusive Pastors and Churches
Nathan Phelps is the son of Fred Phelps. Fred Phelps was the pastor of the Wesboro Baptist Church (“God Hates Fags”). In this chapter, Phelps discusses issues related to his father and how religious exemptions gave him a justification to continue being abusive (Fred would quote from the Bible). The other section of the chapter is about the Catholic Church and it’s scandal of covering up child-molesting priests. Can bad things happen without religion? Yes, but it’s important to understand from this chapter how religion’s influence has made things worse in many instances.
Part Five: Morality, Atheism, and a Good Life
Chapter 21: “Tu Quoque, Atheism?”- Our Right to Judge
Jonathan Pearce’s chapter is different than all of the previous ones. The previous 20 chapters made arguments showing the harms of Christianity. However, many Christians might say that atheists can’t judge because their standard is not an objective one. This chapter is a great rebuttal to that misconception.
Chapter 22: Only Humans can Solve the Problems of the World
James Lindsay’s chapters is one of those chapters that gets better for me every time I read it. He splits it up into two major parts. First, he argues that God does not exist. Second, since that’s the case we humans are the only ones who can solve the problems going on in the world.
Chapter 23: Living Without God
The final chapter is written by Russell Blackford who argues that atheists can live a meaningful life without God. This chapter is good for both the christian who thinks atheists can’t live a meaningful life and the atheists who may have the same concern.
This is one of my favorite books. It’s the go to book regarding the pragmatism of Christianity. I think atheists, christians, and those of other world-views can learn a lot from these writers. Give it a shot!
February 8, 2015
Some of the best writing today, collected in one book, one could ever find regarding the irrefutable harm and failure of the Christian mythology. Although some will say that the book focuses too much on these harms and failures (and they would be correct!), they are too significant a chunk of the history of the Christian mythology and its impact on all aspects of society to be ignored by apologists, etc. when stating any claims of greatness or whether it deserves sanctity from criticism or accusation. The entire John W. Loftus series is mind-blowing and amazing.
April 9, 2017
I got discouraged early on, but persevered. Sadly, it's mostly a rehash of standard complaints about Christians which are hardly unique to Christians, rather than an analysis of Christianity itself. Loftus has a good enough education he should know better than to use an argument that is really about all human behavior against one particular set of humans.
It's a book guaranteed to appeal to the intellectually lazy, because it is itself intellectually lazy.
It's a book guaranteed to appeal to the intellectually lazy, because it is itself intellectually lazy.
November 20, 2014
Awesome collection of works--notables are Ingersoll's "The Failure of the Church and the Triumph of Reason", Boghossian's "Faith, Epistemology, and Answering Socrates' Question by Tranlation", Loftus' "Thou Shalt not Suffer a Witch to Live", and Carrier's "The Dark Ages" :)
November 18, 2015
Wow...so many things I have thought about and now have references to support my questions. It's a long, tough read, but well worth it.
August 4, 2019
Very well presented
I struggled at times to grasp everything said in these essays but that was more due to my poor high school education then to the authors. I got a lot out of this book and highly recommend this book.
I struggled at times to grasp everything said in these essays but that was more due to my poor high school education then to the authors. I got a lot out of this book and highly recommend this book.
December 24, 2014
The third edition in John Loftus's series (trilogy?) making the case that religion (in this case Christianity) has been and is a net negative influence on human society. All three books should be read to get the complete idea. Here the stand-out chapters are 5,7,9,12,21 and of course Ray's chapter 18--really a summary of his excellent book on the subject of religion's bizarre anti-sex obsessions, that I reviewed before on GoodReads. Somewhat weaker is Carrier's chapter on the legitimacy of the label "Dark Ages" placed on the early medieval era; not because he is wrong (I agree with his conclusion based on all my other history reading) but just because the argument really needs a more extensive (book-length) examination to be fully convincing.
March 9, 2015
Excellent Anthology!
August 2, 2016
I learned a lot from this collection of essays. The article on gender roles identities was especially enlightening to me.
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