Exposing Myths About Christianity: A Guide to Answering 145 Viral Lies and Legends
Jeffrey Burton Russell
“Currently there are two billion Christians—two thousand million—in the world, and the number is growing. At the same time, myths about Christianity are widespread among Chrisians, non-Chrisians and atheists. The result is that it has become difficult to discuss Christianity openly, knowledgeably and fairly. Because Christianity is an important worldwide phenomenon, it needs to be understood and engaged intelligently rather than either defended or attacked on the basis of prejudice or disinformation. This book is a guide to what is true and what is not. It presents what we think we know about Christianity, what really is so, and what is open to question, so that you will be able to choose what to accept or discard. I hope you will find this book relevant as a practical resource for sorting facts from fallacies. It presents a wide range of myths along with their origins and history from early Christianity to the present.” —“Introduction”
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments Introduction Chronology CHRISTIANITY IS DYING OUT 1. Christianity is uncool and old-fashioned 2. Christianity is outdated and dying out 3. Christianity is boring 4. Christianity is a fairy tale 5. Christianity is confusing 6. Christianity is a superstition 7. Christianity is a myth 8. Christianity is magic 9. Christianity is antiscientific CHRISTIANITY IS DESTRUCTIVE 10. Hitler was a Christian 11. The Inquisition executed millions of heretics and witches 12. Christians are intolerant fanatics 13. Religion causes more war and suffering than atheism does 14. Corrupt clergy show that Christians are hypocrites who do more harm than good 15. Christianity supported black slavery 16. Christianity consists of “thou shalt nots” 17. Christianity stunts self-development and personal happiness 18. Christianity is insensitive to other beliefs 19. Christianity is mainly about sin 20. Christianity impedes progress 21. Christianity supports war and the death penalty 22. Christianity favors the rich 23. Christianity is anti-environment 24. Christianity is anti-sex 25. Christianity is anti-choice 26. Christianity is sexist 27. Christianity is homophobic 28. Christianity is antisemitic 29. Christianity is racist 30. Christianity is antidemocratic 31. Christianity is a religion of reward and punishment 32. Christians believe in Christ because they are afraid of death 33. Christians need a crutch 34. Christianity is immoral 35. Christianity warps children 36. The Christian community has repented for its sins against others 37. Kings, popes, and other leaders used Christianity to justify their power 38. Christianity is Eurocentric and colonialist 39. The crusades were imperialist aggression 40. Christian missionaries degraded indigenous cultures 41. The great cathedrals were built with slave labor 42. Christians burned down the Great Library at Alexandria 43. Christianity has nothing to do with law and justice CHRISTIANITY IS STUPID 44. Bright people don’t believe in God 45. Scientific evidence has shown that there is no God 46. Christians persecuted Galileo for saying that Earth revolves around the sun 47. Christianity differs from atheism in being faith-based 48. Most leading atheists are scientists 49. Medieval Christians believed Earth was flat 50. Christianity represses free thought 51. Christianity is irrational and unreasonable 52. Belief in Christianity is incompatible with science 53. Science did not originate in Christianity 54. The evidence of evolution points away from Christianity 55. Christians are creationists who deny evolution 56. Christians object to evolution on the basis of literal reading of the Bible 57. The legal system and the media understand the relationship of Christianity to evolution 58. There is no evidence for theistic evolution 59. Science is about facts, religion about values 60. There is no evidence in nature for intelligent purpose in the cosmos 61. There is so much Christian art because the church paid for it 62. The Renaissance prevented Christianity from stamping out the classics JESUS AND THE BIBLE HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE FALSE 63. The original Bible exists 64. Christians worship the Bible 65. Christians take the Bible literally 66. The text of the Old Testament (Hebrew Bible) is uncertain 67. The New Testament can be understood without the Old Testament. 68. The Apocrypha are not part of the Bible 69. Modern scholarship debunks the Bible 70. Jesus is _______ (fill in the blank) 71. The Jesus of history is different from the Christ of faith 72. The Apostle Saint Paul invented Christianity 73. The earliest followers of Jesus did not believe him to be divine 74. Early Christians suppressed the true religion of Jesus, and the truth about Christianity is found in secret codes and documents 75. Gnostics are Christians 76. Little or nothing is known about Jesus 77. Jesus was illiterate 78. The New Testament was composed long after the death of Jesus 79. The Gospels contradict one another 80. Christianity is a remodeled pagan mystery cult 81. Christmas is the main Christian holiday 82. Christians believe that the book of Revelation predicts the future 83. The canon of the Bible precedes the creeds CHRISTIAN BELIEFS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE WRONG 84. The church changed the Bible to fit its doctrines 85. The creeds are irrelevant to modern Christianity 86. Christians believe that God is found only in church 87. Christians believe in three gods 88. Christians are dualists 89. Christians believe that Jesus is a son of God just as we are all sons and daughters of God 90. The Christian God killed his own son 91. Christianity is about dogma 92. Christianity is about rules and rituals 93. Christianity is based on feelings 94. Fundamentalism is ancient Christian teaching 95. Christians believe in the immortality of the soul 96. Evil doesn’t exist, and the existence of evil disproves Christianity 97. Christians believe in evil 98. Christians believe that everything that happens is God’s will 99. Christians believe in hell 100. Christians believe in the Devil 101. Christians believe in original sin 102. Christians believe in predestination 103. The diversity and number of denominations disprove Christianity 104. Eastern Orthodox Christians are a fringe group 105. Catholics are not Christians 106. Protestants are heretics 107. Orthodox and Catholics worship idols 108. Orthodox and Catholics worship Mary 109. Orthodox and Catholics belittle the Bible 110. The Catholic church discourages reading the Bible 111. The Catholic church is monolithic 112. Purgatory is an early Christian idea 113. Catholics invented the sign of the cross 114. Protestants had no reason to divide the church 115. Protestantism is puritanical 116. Rome’s claim to be central to Christianity is a power play 117. Pentecostals, evangelicals, fundamentalists, and creationists are all the same 118. Christianity has no spiritual tradition as Eastern religions do 119. Christians believe that they eat the body of Jesus 120. Christians believe that Jesus created the world 121. Christianity adopted pagan practices MIRACLES ARE IMPOSSIBLE 122. Miracles are explained away by science 123. Christianity is false because miracles can’t occur 124. The resurrection of Jesus has been disproved 125. The resurrection of Jesus was a “resurrection experience” rather than a physical resurrection WORLDVIEWS CAN’T BE EVALUATED 126. Few people believe in God anymore 127. God is the product of structural and chemical arrangements in the brain 128. If there is a God, he has a lot of explaining to do about suffering 129. Atheists oppose Christianity mainly on intellectual grounds 130. Christ couldn’t have had any impact, since things haven’t got better since his time 131. “I don’t know” is the most defensible position 132. Christians believe that Christianity is one of a number of equally valid paths to God 133. What we believe about Jesus and God affects who Jesus and God are 134. Extraterrestrials are more probable than angels WHAT’S NEW IS TRUE 135. The latest religious theories are the best 136. New Age and Christianity are compatible 137. Reincarnation is compatible with Christianity 138. Christianity leads to wealth 139. The Da Vinci Code is fact-based fiction 140. The real founder of Christianity was Constantine the Great 141. Christians believe in the Holy Grail 142. Archeologists found the family tomb of Jesus 143. Religion needs to be removed from the Public Square 144. Christianity is different from what it is 145. Nothing is true Bibliography Persons Index Subject Index
Item Number: BKIV671 Publication Data: Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2012 Format: softcover Number of Pages: 361 Dimensions (l × w × h): 22.9 cm × 15.2 cm × 2.5 cm ISBN-10: 0‒8308‒3466‒4 ISBN-13: 978‒0‒8308‒3466‒2
