I think the dominant religion in a particular country or region always, or almost always, does the most harm in that region/country. So Christianity (really, certain varieties of Christianity) does the most harm in the US of any religions; certain varieties of Islam do the most harm in majority Muslim countries; certain varieties of Judaism do the most harm in Israel; etc.
I voted “negatively” but that’s only because it’s the religion I’m most familiar with and the most likely to affect me.
Of the major world religions, traditional Christianity has the most convoluted and least plausible story to me. God loved the world so much that he sacrificed his only son so that any one who believes in him will be saved from the sin inherited from Adam and Eve, who gave into temptation and disobeyed god by eating a stupid apple that a snake convinced them was okay? People seriously are supposed to accept this as true and beautiful, and not sheer madness? Being pressured for a long time to believe the unbelievable does make me view Christianity negatively.
I think Christianity is fine, as far as its teachings, and on a par with other religions. However, I think that Christians tend to be more self-righteous, particularly this need to save everybody else.
I’m an atheist and voted that I perceive them equally.
There are obviously good and bad on all sides, but lately it seems up here in Canada our government has been siding more with the Muslim faith at the expense of Christianity. It’s probably all to do with courting the Muslim/refugee vote.
A few years ago a friend of mine from Michigan was visiting. He’s a devote Catholic and on the topic of religion he stated that Catholicism is the only true religion, and that Islam was bound to die out. I just about fell off my chair.
I am not familiar with what the Canadian government is doing right now, but what are they doing to “side with” Islam that is at the expense of Christianity? It is not a zero-sum game.
I’m very glad I don’t live in Saudi Arabia or North Korea and if I did live there, I imagine I would hate the local ideology. But I live in the United States and the local equivalent ideology here is Christianity.
My ancestors in Russia who had to deal with the oh-so-Christian Cossacks might have disagreed with you.
Christianity robbed of much of its power in secular societies is much more benign than when it was dominant. But I’ll take most Eastern religions any day.
In theory there are four reason why Christianity should be the best religion on this planet. They are:
Love your neighbour
Don’t throw the first stone
Turn the other cheek
Turn water into wine.
In practice, it is a heinious intolerant cult. For me it is the worst religion (and Islam is just a schism or a plagiarism, whichever you prefer - Christianity has hab plenty of schisms before and after 622 AD, I lump them all together) made worse by its might.
In practice, there are so many different branches, varieties, manifestations, and subgroups of Christianity that it’s practically impossible to say anything about Christianity as a whole (at least without no-true-Scotsmanning out large exclusions).
Which is why I haven’t voted in the poll: I’d want to vote for both #1 and #3.
To take just one example: There’s a current thread on “Why did we free the slaves?” And one of the responses in that thread is:
And I think that’s largely correct: much of the impetus for abolition (and, much later, the Civil Rights Movement) came from Christianity, and from Christians acting on their Christianity.
But much of the defense of slavery (and inequality, and segregation) also came from Christianity.
Meh, you’ve got to take Der Trihs’ comments with a grain of salt. That’s how he feels about most of mankind in general.
No-true-Scotsmanning would apply to Christians, but I am speaking about Christianity. I could have voted #1, #2 or #3 if I had based my argument on individual persons, but I understood the question to be about the cult itself (which, as I wrote, in my view includes Islam). Then, for me, #3 wins hands down. I was raised in Catholic Spain, I believe I know for a change (see my signature) what I am talking about.
If there are, as you write, “so many different branches, varieties, manifestations, and subgroups of Christianity that it’s practically impossible to say anything about Christianity as a whole”, then the concept becomes meaningless and this discussion has no sense. It is a valid argument, but it kills the conversation. Perhaps you feel offended by my statement and want to negate it with this no-true-Scottsmanning that seems to me to be the other side of the coin of whataboutism? Sorry, I did not want to offend you, but I truly belive Christianity is inherently evil. Even if Jesus Christ is portrayed as a nice man, which I am ready to grant he was, and even if some or even most of the people who call themselves Christians are good persons, the resulting cult is a travesty of his ideals.
So yes, I voted #3. And I stand by it.
[QUOTE=Omar Little]
Meh, you’ve got to take Der Trihs’ comments with a grain of salt. That’s how he feels about most of mankind in general.
[/Quote]
Der Trihs and I resolved our conflicts about religion by never speaking directly to each other about it. Right, old buddy? 
In practice, some groups have twisted Christianity to form heinous, ignorant cults.
Thank you.
There are assessments of christianity that apply to most or all variants thereof - mine, for instance. There is something deeply, deeply wrong with any religion that celebrates deities that accept human sacrifice.
But what if the scriptures tell us that the sacrifice will assure that our crops will flourish? Why would you deny us a plentiful harvest?
Having been psychologically tortured as a child at the mercy of sadistic Roman Catholic nuns, I have a particularly negative view of Christianity.
Every religion is a product of the culture(s) it originates and grows within. Cultural fables, rules and morals get woven into the story along the way, just as Christianity in America has been warped and twisted by multiple ideologies (on both sides, but right now moreso on the right) over the years.
Why? Because priests have power and money, their followers need rules and order, and cultures need stability to endure.
As much as many people would like to claim the similarity is “be kind to one another”, this is clearly NOT true with many mythologies and religions.
And unfortunately, some versions of Christianity are very busy jettisoning that whole ‘love one another’ thing, however little many versions still retained.
On the other hand, you can also say that some groups have twisted Christianity to form reasonably progressive and tolerant factions. Mainstream Christianity of 1,000 years ago was worse than all but the most extreme cults today.
The radical fundies of any religion are the problem.
There is something deeply, deeply wrong with any religion that celebrates deities that accept animal sacrifice.
Robespierre was a believer. In fact, he despised atheism.