The Problem of Injustice

How can you expect me to believe in Christianity when the church has abused, enslaved, and killed so many people throughout history in the name of God?

Truth Claims are Dangerous

“Truth is a thing of this world: it is produced only by virtue of multiple forms of constraint. And it induces regular effects of power.”

-Michel Foucault

Matthew 10:16-1716 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,

John 15:2020 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

Matthew 23:13-1413 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Matthew 23:1515 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.

Why Religion Goes Bad

1. If you have "the truth", you tend to feel superior.

2. It is easy to caricature and stereotype others.

3. It can lead to marginalization, oppression, abuse, and even violence.

“Fundamentalists on the whole believe in some common things:

women are second class citizens, gays are evil, violence is ok of my side does it since I speak for God. Sex is generally bad. Other religions are inferior and my religion is victimized.”

- Rosie O’Donnell

Secular Fundamentalism

More people killed in the name of godlessness during the 20th

century than in the name of God in 20 centuries.

• Moa – 78 million• Stalin – 23 million• Hitler – 17 million

Matthew 5:11-1211 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Matthew 5:43-4443 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Romans 5:1010 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.