Hats off to Greg Jerrett (Friday, Oct. 23) for pointing out some of the more horrendous sins of Christianity.

It would be easy to add a few atrocities that he didn’t mention that have been done in the name of the Christian God.

But I think the point has been made. I have found responses to his article to be really interesting too. John Ramynke (Monday, Oct. 26) asks for proof that Christianity was involved in the genocide of Indians. “Proof” is hard to come by, but there certainly is plenty of evidence to be looked at.

He apparently doesn’t realize that the most commonly used excuse for the rape of the colonized world in the 16th-19th centuries was the “pagan” nature of the heathens that Europeans encountered.

Christian ideology stated that these people were damned to hell for their lack of belief in Christ. This ideology served as an excellent conscience-soothing mechanism. Europeans could exploit, kill and enslave these people all in the name of “SAVING” them!

A more convenient belief system is hard to imagine. John also seems to have forgotten that every one of the nations that were major colonial powers were led by Christian regimes. Proof enough that Christianity had something to do with genocide, John?

Another letter from Ryan Larson (Tuesday, Oct. 27) comes from a more informed point of view. Larson recognizes the atrocities committed in the name of Christianity. He argues that we cannot condemn all Christians for these acts. This is a reasonable point of view.

It is not my opinion (nor do I think it is the opinion of Greg Jerrett) that all or even most Christians are murderers, thieves, hypocrites and scoundrels.

Larson also argues that there is no reason to condemn the Christian faith as a whole for such atrocities. Here is where I must disagree.

The real issue is whether the tenets of Christian ideology create the conditions under which hate and violence may thrive.

For me, the answer here is a clear “yes.” In this argument, history is not a friend of the Christian faith.

The real problem that we non-Christians have with the Christian faith is its ability to divide people into those that have been saved and those that haven’t.

This is the “… loamy fertilizer-rich soil from which hate springs” all too often in the annals of history and in our modern times.

It is this belief system that has generated that “God hates fags” lunatic and his hateful band of miscreants that protested here at Iowa State last May.

Examples of groups with hateful agendas that mantle themselves in Christian ideology are not hard to come by.

It must be recognized that Christianity has also done a lot of good in a lot of places. Charity and goodwill are a part of Christian ideology, and many Christians hold those values dear. For many of us, however, the net effect of the Christian faith in this world looks to be pretty bad. And those Christians who live in today’s world inherit the legacy of Christianity.

In short, I would say that the Christian faith is not in any moral position to “save” anyone.

If the rest of us sneer at you Christians when you try to “enlighten” us, it is not because we think you individually are bad people or murderers.

It is simply because in our eyes the belief system you come from has been a source of far more horror and destruction than good.

Furthermore, we do not recognize your monopoly on the truth which allows you to arrogantly presume to “save” us.

---

Jake Fox

Graduate Student

Anthropology