“Anti-Christianity” and Who-Hates-Who? “There are people in this world who do not love their fellow human beings,and I hate people like that!” (Tom Lehrer)Copyright © 1999, 2001 c.e., Isaac Bonewits

One conservative Christian minister ended an email of disagreement with my essay on the Real Origins of Halloween by saying, “God bless you and thank you for one of the most well written articles of anti-Christianity, and the topic of Halloween I have ever read.” He said this, of course, because to him any criticism of Christian leaders, organizations or doctrines, whether historical, philosophical, political, or theological, constitutes (demonically inspired) “prejudice” against Christianity. The next usual step is to whine about “Christian bashing” and to claim that pointing out Christian bigotry makes us the bigots (see the Halloween essay for my thoughts on the “bashing” nonsense).

Christian institutions controlled Western media for a thousand years before it became “mass media,” and controlled that until a hundred years ago or so. They don’t anymore, so people in North America, Europe, Japan, and a few other places are free to read and to write what we want, without needing the permission of any Pope, Patriarch, Bishop, Priest, Minister or Council of Elders. That’s been pretty rough for the churches that those people run.

If Christianity can’t survive in a world where customers have free access to competing worldviews, then it will go the way of the Edsel, Woolworths and the Soviet Union. And that’s exactly what’s been happening for the last forty years. In the industrialized world, church attendence and membership are at all-time lows, and the opinions of Christian religious leaders are ignored by the vast majority of citizens.

This is why, all over the globe, conservative churches are rushing frantically to convert impoverished, uneducated, ignorant people who don’t have access to global mass media, the Internet, and all those historical, philosophical and religious views that contradict church dogma.In much the same way, of course, Jewish, Islamic and Marxist Fundamentalists are trying desperately to keep their members from hearing differing opinions, by censoring their access to online and offline media.

Ironically, their efforts to maintain theological purity through isolation pretty much guarantee, like the corresponding efforts of the Fundamentalist Christian home-schooling movement, that their future generations will have less and less political and social power. Ignorance may be bliss, but it won’t help one to compete in a global economy, nor protect one’s offspring from AIDS.How many lifetimes will it take before Fundamentalist monotheists realize that they no longer have the political, military or economic power to forcibly define reality (despite the worst efforts of the Religious Reich) for the rest of the planet? God willing, only a few more.

“Real Christians love everybody, even you Evil Devil Worshippers!” my correspondents keep telling me. Well, leaving aside the issue that one doesn’t insult people one supposedly loves, I have to ask why the “real” Christians — who supposedly don’t approve of hate — so seldomly get around to rebuking their hate-mongering brothers and sisters? I have noticed that many Fundamentalist Christians are self-righteous, prideful, hate-filled bullies; while most other Christians (with a few shining exceptions) are simply too cowardly to challenge them. That’s not too surprising, I suppose, since such bullies are seldom reluctant to commit physical violence or other crimes against their “ungodly” opponents or any who would dare to defend them.

As just one example: in 1997 c.e., there was a lunatic on America Online who posted obscene hate messages and pornographic pictures in the guestbook pages of Neopagan websites — and in the guestbooks of Christian websites she deemed not orthodox enough for her! She tried to organize violent opposition to the first Blessed Be and Meet Me in DC event that Halloween. Did moderate or liberal Christians, on or off AOL, do anything to stop her? Not that we Neopagans could see. Apparently, they couldn’t be bothered, because she was “one of them.” It took literally thousands of complaints from Neopagan AOLers to AOL management before they canceled her membership for her multiple, months-long violations of the AOL “terms of service” — violations that, had she been a member of any other religion, would have gotten her booted from AOL within days.

This is in keeping with 1500 years of Christian history, that (to many Christians and their leaders) no crime is too atrocious, no lie too despicable, no trick too dishonorable, if done in the name of Jesus. If the victims are non-Christians or heretics, so much the better, they “deserve” punishment for daring to be different. The result has been that for every Christian martyr in history, there have been a hundred victims of religiously motivated Christian violence through crusades, inquisitions, pogroms, slavery, deliberate spreading of diseases, slaughter of those refusing to convert, and lynch mobs — all of which have been repeatedly and officially blessed by Christian leaders, and justified by Christian theologians, for fifteen centuries.

In fact, the overwhelming majority of Christians who have been killed for being Christians were the victims, not of Pagans (of any variety), but of their fellow Dualists (Muslims, Nazis, Communists, and members of competing Christian denominations).

Before accusing we Neopagans of being “biased,” perhaps Fundamentalist Christians should clean up their own house first, to provide outside observers with no “justified scandals” to note. If they want to fight “practitioners of evil,” they can start with Scribes and Pharisees in the 700 Club, election law violators in the Christian Coalition, and all those self-proclaimed Christians in the many white racist movements.

It seems to me, that if Fundamentalist Christians in America were to take one-tenth of the money and energy that they put into trying to eradicate competing spiritual worldviews and put it instead into feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, visiting the sick, and fighting for social justice — just like that rabbi from Nazareth supposedly suggested — our nation and our world could be genuinely transformed into a decent place to live for everyone, instead of just the wealthy and powerful. It might even make them look like good people and their ideas seem worth investigating.

Instead, many people who consider themselves Fundamentalist Christians (and therefore — not too surprisingly — who feel personally powerless) focus all their energy on attacking easy targets: people who believe differently from them. Hate sells, and for 1,500 years it has made ultra-conservative Christian organizations and leaders wealthy and powerful — which is what they they have repeatedly shown, century after century, they are really after.I’ll refrain from quoting the line about beams and motes, I’m sure most Christians know it well. Instead, I’ll quote the Magical Law of Positive Attraction: “That which is sent, returns.” As long as more Christian hate is sent into the world than Christian love, non-Fundamentalist Christians can expect to receive a lot of suspicion from the non-Christian targets of their Fundamentalist brethren.

As one Fundamentalist Christian put it:Christians that spread lies and falsehoods about anything, including the facts behind Halloween, should be corrected. If approached with the truth, they should admit it and stop spreading falsehoods. We are directed by God to not bear false witness. If they refuse to stop spreading lies and we believe it to be due to ignorance (sometimes people are so set on an idea that they can not give it up even with overwhelming proof), we should pray for them to see the truth and repent. If they continue to lie knowingly, they should be put out.I couldn’t agree more.

To all you devote Christians who keep sending me email explaining the error of my ways, please read the following carefully: I understand both your theology and the evidence with which you claim to support it — I just don’t happen to accept either of them, period. Both have relied on tyranny, censorship, and the bloody silencing of all opposing views for too long to retain any credibility or moral high ground. In solidarity with all the slaughtered “heretics” of Christian history, I choose (the root of the word “heresy”) to think for myself. You cannot stop me from doing so, no matter how hard you try.

Ironic, isn’t it, that all modern democracies owe our freedoms to thousands of heretics who chose not to believe the doctrines and practices of the dominant churches of their times. Even the dominant religions within the Religious Reich, a movement that actively seeks to suppress all religious and moral dissent, were denounced as heresies when they were founded.Yes, I’ve met plenty of “real” Christians, thank you, from a hundred denominations and all the major categories. The nice ones turned out to be heretics, as far as their denominational leaders were concerned.

So stop assuming that if I only met a “true” member of your faith or studied your favorite translation of the Bible— that I would agree with you and immediately dump my faith for yours. It ain’t gonna happen. Not with me, not with 99% of the million Neopagans now alive, or of the billions of Paleopagans and Mesopagans.We have our own beliefs and our own spiritual experiences, and a fairly hefty number of what others would call “miracles” to back them. Stop trying to bully us verbally through hate-mail, or spiritually through prayer, with or without sugar-coated language; none of it will work.

In fact, the words of Fundamentalist ministers Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, giving aid and comfort to their fellow Fundamentalists who attacked America on September 11, 2001, have led me to make A Call to Arms to all the world’s non-Fundamentalists to consciously fight back against the forces of hatred, ignorance and fear incarnated in Fundamentalist movements.Am I anti-Christian? No. Am I anti-Fundamentalist? Most definitely. And so is every other sane, decent and loving adult.

-- (@@@@@I love you .com), September 04, 2002

Answers

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-- (@@@@.@@), September 04, 2002.

@@@@, when you cut and paste like this, please follow the directions posted clearly on the site you lifted it from. http://www.neopagan.net/Anti-Christianity.html

Also, it's easier to respond to someone who posts their own ideas, as opposed to people who "shotgun" large numbers of cut-n-pastes in the hope that something will stick.

-- Troy (gund0965@kettering.edu), September 04, 2002.

OK, Neopagan Genius,
In those other threads you maintained at least the appearance of civility. Now the mask is off, and your spite makes you less attractive. Your monologue is unmistakably juvenile. Are you a teenager?

Yes, or could be the typical whiz- kid wunderkind, palming off factoids and trivia, and looking down your nose at us, the simpletons. So brave; yet you have to hide behind the monogram with its deceptive e-mail addy.

You came to the right place, Kid. Are you seriously ''In solidarity with all the slaughtered “heretics” of Christian history,--[So that] you choose (the root of the word “heresy”) to think for my [your]self. You cannot stop me from doing so, no matter how hard you try.''--???

Oh? and who wants you to stop ''thinking for yourself''--? Ask me who cares.

Remember; you came to the right place, NP. This is the forum where your windshield gets washed. We'll scrub the flies off you. How have you been managing to stay on the road, with all that muck???

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), September 04, 2002.

Sir you are on the verge of change, that much is clear, keep searching friend.

-- (@@@@I love you.com), September 05, 2002.

Not all who wander are lost.

Eugene is safely within the fold. Are you?

"Do not believe that our 'professional unbelievers' are not without periods of clear perception in which they take account of the fact that they are deceiving themselves" --St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), September 05, 2002.

Well, I made it to here:

As just one example: in 1997 c.e., there was a lunatic on America Online who posted obscene hate messages and pornographic pictures in the guestbook pages of Neopagan websites — and in the guestbooks of Christian websites she deemed not orthodox enough for her!

We get people posting their hate speech here every WEEK! If all they can say about Christians is that over the whole World Wide Web some nut in 97 was posting garbage that is the most resounding accolade this poster could have given. Thank you poster for letting me know we're on the right track as far as living up to our values.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), September 05, 2002.

I just stumbled across your writings. Why are you so angry? What happened?

-- Kurt (kkz45@adelphia.net), September 06, 2002.

Kurt,

The situation is, this forum is supposed to be a place where Catholics can discuss their faith. However, this being the internet, there is always an element who wishes to do nothing but disrupt others' goals. Actually, it's something that is irritating more so than something that angers one, but like a Chinese water torture, it never stops. As soon as one of these guys gives up, another shows up to take their place. It's a cross to bear, I suppose, and these people do deserve our prayers, especially the fallen away Catholics who have embraced worldliness and bitterness instead of Christ's teachings.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), September 06, 2002.

Our friend the pagan made several false statements ''speaking out'' on Christianity. But these are just the same stock accusations Catholics have heard since the days of Nero. Ask him better, if the pagan spends his life for love of neighbor; does love mitigate the sorrows of this world for him?

I don't recall a hospital being built for the aged and abandoned from any pagan's sense of altruism. How many saintly individuals have sprung from his lofty position of importance?

For all our faults, (we all are sinful) the love of God and neighbor has been that distinguishing mark of the followers of Jesus Christ these two millennia. Before that, the Hebrew Covenant with Yahweh commanded charity toward the poor and abandoned; billions of Paleopagans and Mesopagans did nothing for humanity. I guess he's proud of the statues and pyramids of ancient paganism, the ancient worms at the bottom of the stack. They're the ones who once lit their bacchannaliae by the burning of human flesh.

This ''neopagan'' can come here and finally learn the great secret of life; that we follow LOVE incarnate to the end of our days. Jesus Christ gave Himself up to death for LOVE, Neopagan; not for a superior position in this life. You're welcome to see in our Catholic faith, if you will --how faith, hope and love make this a better world. --

As, for one instance, Mother Theresa of Calcutta, just one of our most recent saints, didn't live in competition with hedonist and pagan philosophers like yourself. She lived for the poorest of the poor, and finally went over to eternal life as her reward. We have that FAITH; that this life is more than a worm-pile. More than a stage to strut on for a few score of years, as you choose to do. We are ruled by LOVE, even WE, the lesser souls who can acknowledge our own sinfulness. God calls us to follow His divine Son and be brought to salvation.

Who is bringing you to salvation, when your brief life is over, NP??? Ask yourself that question.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), September 06, 2002.

Frank,

Please forgive me for the misunderstanding. My remarks were meant for @@@@@I love you.com. not you. I'm to new to this forum and need to get a handle on the proper etiquette. I'll ask my question again. @@@@@I love you.com, why are you so angry? What happened?

Kurt

-- Kurt (kkz45@adelphia.net), September 06, 2002.

@@@@@I love you.com,

WHY did you come to a CATHOLIC forum if you don't agree with any of our beliefs??? Because as you stated, NOTHING you say can change our minds either to fall for your views! So, no offense, give it up and go preach someplace you might be appreciated.

God Bless, MLB

-- MLB (jmjinga@hotmail.com), September 13, 2002.