Originally posted by racrguy
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You should make a distinction in your arguments. Christianity isn't doing shit. People are.
People carry out actions. People [mis]interpret. People twist and manipulate. People judge and condemn. PEOPLE do awful shit.
Christianity, which is a belief system, has no power beyond the person.
Case in point, from your links above (one quote per article):
Link 1
Some people may feel protective of Christianity, but Christianity is at fault here. The pastors of independent African churches may identify children as witches (for a fee) and are prepared to "cure" them (for a further fee) by exorcising the evil spirits. Such exorcisms are often violent; beating and the use of cold water to cleanse and purify the possessed being is common in many Congolese churches and elsewhere in Africa, too.
"Where little shots become big shots in a short time," promises the Winner's Chapel down the road.
"Pray your way to riches," advises Embassy of Christ a few blocks away.
"Pray your way to riches," advises Embassy of Christ a few blocks away.
That's what Margaret Eyekang did when her 8-year-old daughter Abigail was accused by a "prophet" from the Apostolic Church, because the girl liked to sleep outside on hot nights – interpreted as meaning she might be flying off to join a coven. A series of exorcisms cost Eyekang eight months' wages, or US$270. The payments bankrupted her.
"Religious leaders capitalize on the ignorance of some parents in the villages just to make some money off them," said Lucky Inyang, project coordinator for 'Stepping Stones Nigeria'.
And most pastors charge a fee for deliverance -- anywhere from $300 to $2,000.
And most pastors charge a fee for deliverance -- anywhere from $300 to $2,000.
There's an obvious theme here and it's not that Christianity is ruining villages; it's that people's fucking greed and willingness to fuck over their neighbor is ruining villages. Belief in Jesus is not ruining lives; the douchebags in charge willing to twist and manipulate the message into "pay me to fix them" is ruining children's lives.
Really... you read those articles, especially the excerpted parts, and see a men driven by "christian" values and condemn Christianity? You don't see the disconnect between what those people are doing and the actual values taught by Christianity?
What, exactly, were you taught in these "comparative religion" courses?
I truly hope that you don't honestly believe that the majority of Christians in the world fit this "African missionary, rapist, murderer, burn-em-all-at-the-stake" vision of continuing Crusades.
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