Criticism of Christianity

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Criticism of Christianity has a long history which stretches back to the initial formation of the religion in the Roman Empire. Critics have challenged Christian beliefs and teachings as well as Christian actions, from the Crusades to modern terrorism. The arguments against Christianity include the suppositions that it is a faith of violence, corruption, superstition, polytheism, homophobia, bigotry, pontification, abuses of women's rights and sectarianism.

In the early years of Christianity, the Neoplatonic philosopher Porphyry emerged as one of the major critics with his book Against the Christians, along with other writers like Celsus and Julian. Porphyry argued that Christianity was based on false prophecies that had not yet materialized.[1] Following the adoption of Christianity under the Roman Empire, dissenting religious voices were gradually suppressed by both governments and ecclesiastical authorities [2]—however Christianity did face theological criticisms from other Abrahamic religions like Judaism and Islam in the meantime, such as Maimonides who argued that it was idolatry.[3] A millennium later, the Protestant Reformation led to a fundamental split in European Christianity and rekindled critical voices about the Christian faith, both internally and externally. In the 18th century, Deist philosophers such as Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were critical of Christianity as a revealed religion.[4] With the Age of Enlightenment, Christianity was criticized by major thinkers and philosophers, such as Voltaire, David Hume, Thomas Paine, and the Baron d'Holbach.[5] The central theme of these critiques sought to negate the historical accuracy of the Christian Bible and focused on the perceived corruption of Christian religious authorities.[5] Other thinkers, like Immanuel Kant, offered critiques of traditional arguments for the existence of God, while professing to defend Christian theology on novel grounds.[6]

In modern times, Christianity has faced substantial criticism from a wide array of political movements and ideologies. In the late eighteenth century, the French Revolution saw a number of politicians and philosophers criticizing traditional Christian doctrines, precipitating a wave of secularism in which hundreds of churches were closed down and thousands of priests were deported or killed.[7] Following the French Revolution, prominent philosophers of liberalism and communism, such as John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx, criticized Christian doctrine on the grounds that it was conservative and anti-democratic. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that Christianity fosters a kind of slave morality which suppresses the desires which are contained in the human will.[8] The Russian Revolution, the Chinese Revolution, and several other modern revolutionary movements have also led to the criticism of Christian ideas.

The formal response of Christians to such criticisms is described as Christian apologetics. Philosophers like Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas have been some of the most prominent defenders of the Christian religion since its foundation.

  1. ^ Le Roy Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers , Vol. I, Washington D.C. Review & Herald 1946, p. 328.
  2. ^ Martin 1991, p. 3–4.
  3. ^ Novak, David (1992). "Chapter 3: Maimonides's View of Christianity". Jewish-Christian Dialogue: A Jewish Justification. New York: Oxford Academic. pp. 57–72. ISBN 9780199853410.
  4. ^ Winter, H.R.; Bellows, T.J. (1981). People and Politics: An Introduction to Political Science. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-08153-1. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  5. ^ a b Martin 1991, p. 4.
  6. ^ Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason, pp. 553–69, cf. Kant's May 1793 letter (Ak 11:414) expressing "true respect for the Christian religion [that has] been my guide in this work" aiming at a "union of the Christian religion with the purest practical reason."
  7. ^ Robert R. Palmer and Joel Colton, A History of the Modern World (New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), pp. 388–92.
  8. ^ Robert R. Palmer and Joel Colton, A History of the Modern World (New York: McGraw Hill, 1995), p. 630.