Christian apologists make some daring claims on behalf of their
religion. The truth of Christianity is proved, they say, by its
endurance and by its power; the beneficence of its results testifies to
the divinity of its origin.
These claims command wide acceptance, for the simple reason that those
who deny them cannot get a hearing.
The Christians have virtual command of all the churches, universities,
and schools. They have the countenance and support of the Thrones,
Parliaments, Cabinets, and aristocracies of the world, and they have the
nominal support of the World's Newspaper Press. They have behind them
the traditions of eighteen centuries. They have formidable allies in the
shape of whole schools of philosophy and whole libraries of eloquence
and learning. They have the zealous service and unswerving credence of
millions of honest and worthy citizens: and they are defended by solid
ramparts of prejudice, and sentiment, and obstinate old custom.
The odds against the Rationalists are tremendous. To challenge the
claims of Christianity is easy: to get the challenge accepted is very
hard. Rationalists' books and papers are boycotted. The Christians will
not listen, will not reason, will not, if they can prevent it, allow
a hostile voice to be heard. Thus, from sheer lack of knowledge, the
public accept the Christian apologist's assertions as demonstrated
truth.
And the Christians claim this immunity from attack as a triumph of their
arms, and a further proof of the truth of their religion. Religion has
been attacked before, they cry, and where now are its assailants? And
the answer must be, that many of its assailants are in their graves, but
that some of them are yet alive, and there are more to follow. But the
combat is very unequal. If the Rationalists could for only a few
years have the support of the Crowns, Parliaments, Aristocracies,
Universities, Schools, and Newspapers of the world; if they could preach
Science and Reason twice every Sunday from a hundred thousand pulpits,
perhaps the Christians would have less cause for boasting.
But as things are, we "Infidels" must cease to sigh for whirlwinds, and
do the best we can with the bellows.
So: the Christians claim that their religion has done wonders for the
world; a claim disputed by the Rationalists.
Now, when we consider what Christianity has done, we should take account
of the evil as well as the good. But this the Christians are unwilling
to allow.
Christians declare that the divine origin and truth of their religion
are proved by its beneficent results.
But Christianity has done evil as well as good. Mr. G. K. Chesterton,
while defending Christianity in the _Daily News_, said:
Christianity has committed crimes so monstrous that the sun might
sicken at them in heaven.
And no one can refute that statement.
But Christians evade the dilemma. When the evil works of their
religion are cited, they reply that those evils were wrought by false
Christianity, that they were contrary to the teachings of Christ, and so
were not the deeds of Christians at all.
_The Christian Commonwealth_, in advancing the above plea as to real
and false Christianity, instances the difference between Astrology and
Astronomy, and said:
We fear Mr. Blatchford, if he has any sense of consistency,
must, when he has finished his tirade against Christianity,
turn his artillery on Greenwich Observatory, and proclaim the
Astronomer Royal a scientific quack, on account of the follies
of star-gazers in the past.
But that parallel is not a true one. Let us suppose that the follies of
astrology and the discoveries of astronomy were bound up in one book,
and called the Word of God. Let us suppose we were told that the whole
book--facts, reason, folly, and falsehoods--was divinely inspired and
literally true. Let us suppose that any one who denied the old crude
errors of astrology was persecuted as a heretic. Let us suppose that any
one denying the theory of Laplace or the theory of Copernicus would
be reviled as an "Infidel." Let us suppose that the Astronomer Royal
claimed infallibility, not only in matters astronomical, but also
in politics and morals. Let us suppose that for a thousand years the
astrological-astronomical holy government had whipped, imprisoned,
tortured, burnt, hanged, and damned for everlasting every man, woman, or
child who dared to tell it any new truth, and that some of the noblest
men of genius of all ages had been roasted or impaled alive for being
rude to the equator. Let us suppose that millions of pounds were still
annually spent on casting nativities, and that thousands of expensive
observatories were still maintained at the public cost for astrological
rites. Let us suppose all this, and then I should say it would be quite
consistent and quite logical for me to turn my verbal artillery on
Greenwich Observatory.
Would the Christians listen to such a plea in any other case? Had
Socialists been guilty of tyranny, or war, of massacre, or torture, of
blind opposition to the truth of science, of cruel persecution of the
finest human spirits for fifteen centuries, can anyone believe for
a moment that Christians would heed the excuse that the founders of
Socialism had not preached the atrocious policy which the established
Socialist bodies and the recognised Socialist leaders had put in force
persistently during all those hundreds of cruel years?
Would the Christian hearken to such a defence from a Socialist, or
from a Mohammedan? Would a Liberal accept it from a Tory? Would a Roman
Catholic admit it from a Jew?
Neither is it right to claim credit for the good deeds, and to avoid
responsibility for the evil deeds of the divine religion.
And the fact must be insisted upon, that _all_ religion, in its very
nature, makes for persecution and oppression. It is the assumption that
it is wicked to doubt the accepted faith and the presumption that one
religion ought to revenge or justify its God upon another religion, that
leads to all the pious crimes the world groans and bleeds for.
This is seen in the Russian outrages on the Jews, and in the Moslem
outrages upon the Macedonians to-day. It is religious fanaticism that
lights and fans and feeds the fire. Were all the people in the world
of one, or of no, religion to-day, there would be no Jews murdered by
Christians and no Christians murdered by Moslems in the East. The cause
of the atrocities would be gone. The cause is religion.
Why is religious intolerance so much more fierce and bitter than
political intolerance? Just because it _is_ religious. It is the
supernatural element that breeds the fury. It is the feeling that their
religion is divine and all other religions wicked: it is the belief that
it is a holy thing to be "jealous for the Lord," that drives men into
blind rage and ruthless savagery.
We have to regard two things at once, then: the good influences of
Christ's ethics, and the evil deeds of those who profess to be His
followers.
As to what some Christians call "the Christianity of Christ," I suggest
that the teachings of Christ were imperfect and inadequate. That they
contain some moral lessons I admit. But some of the finest and most
generally admired of those lessons do not appear to have been spoken
by Christ, and for the rest there is nothing in His ethics that had
not been taught by men before, and little that has not been extended or
improved by men since His era.
The New Testament, considered as a moral and spiritual guide for
mankind, is unsatisfactory. For it is based upon an erroneous estimate
of human nature and of God.
I am sure that it would be easy to compile a book more suitable to
the needs of Man. I think it is a gross blunder to assume that all the
genius, all the experience, all the discovery and research; all the
poetry, morality, and science of the entire human race during the past
eighteen hundred years have failed to add to or improve the knowledge
and morality of the first century.
Mixed with much that is questionable or erroneous, the New Testament
contains some truth and beauty. Amid the perpetration of much bloodshed
and tyranny, Christianity has certainly achieved some good. I should not
like to say of any religion that all its works were evil. But Christ's
message, as we have it in the Gospels, is neither clear nor sufficing,
and has been obscured, and, at times almost obliterated, by the pomps
and casuistries of the schools and churches. And just as it is difficult
to discover the actual Jesus among the conflicting Gospel stories of
His works and words, so it is almost impossible to discover the genuine
authentic Christian religion amid the swarm of more or less antagonistic
sects who confound the general ear with their discordant testimonies.