Does Christianity or Religion cause misery, shame, racism,etc?

NothingIsImpossible

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Well due to some christians denomination twisting scripture, those people can have racist or bad views. Such as believing you can only marry your own race. Or in the case of slavery, believing its your God given right to own a slave. And in some cases the OT does have some things that are questionable, however that was at a point early on in human history and its things no one practices anymore because Jesus was not for such things.

Now as for misery, some people say christians live sad lives and believe in a "sky fairy" so they have some sort of hope because they can't deal with life normally. But if anything its the opposite. While life is never easy in general, christians tend to lead happier lives and have less fear BECAUSE we have Jesus. Where as atheists and other groups actually lead the more miserable lives. They believe in nothing, feel life is pointless, only live for themselves and in general turn drugs, drinking and sex into their "hope" to stay happy.
 
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Good questions, but would require lengthy historical research. Simple answers such as this one will do no justice to the topic, because these are each lengthy topics. For instance, in what ways has Christianity or religion caused misery? Persecution of Christians? Religious wars? The pains of restraining sin with godly self-control? First thing I would do is separate Christianity from other religions, to not do so would be engaging in the formal logic fallacy of equivocation. The second thing I would do, after separating them, is to look into the interactions between Judaism/Christianity and non-believers, and where the causes originate, in the end, you might find that nobody is without misery, shame, and even their share of racism. Few like to talk about it, but it all comes down to original sin and the effects of sin on all of mankind.
 
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Albion

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When you say "Christianity OR Religion" we're confronted with two different concepts. Some religions probably can be charged with promoting racism, etc., but in the case of Christianity, it would be more difficult. From its earliest days, Christianity taught that all races and nationalities, rich and poor, intellectuals and ordinary people, males and females, were the same in the eyes of the faith and the believers. That ideal was taught by the founder, Jesus, and the various saints of the church in those early days show us evidence of this diversity.

It is often claimed by historians to have been one of the great strengths of the early Christian church in the multi-national and multi-racial Roman Empire, enabling it to outpace a number of other religions that competed with Christianity in those days (and which most people never hear mentioned anymore, while Christianity went on to be the largest of all the world's religions).

That said, every religion includes humans, so they indeed do terrible things at times. But if we're evaluation religions themselves, not people who happen to belong to those religions, this is what seems to be the answer to your question.
 
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Basil the Great

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Distortions of Christianity has caused much grief for Jews through the centuries. I did some internet research about this subject about 12 years ago and was shocked by what I found. Jews were murdered, forced to flee their homes and move to other countries, banned from certain professions, etc.

Remember Hitler and forcing the Jews to wear arm bands? Take a guess as to the origin of this practice..... It did not begin with Hitler and the Nazis! No, friends, it had it origins centuries before and began as an expression of Christian anti-Semitism.
 
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Halbhh

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No, those are simply human and family based and can be in any family regardless of being religious or nonbelieving. The worst troubled family I met personality were entirely atheists, by chance.

BUT.... Its a powerful lie to just assert its from religion, and since most families do have religion in the past, it's easy to offer examples.

(Note most repeating the idea do not realise it is an illusion, so they aren't aware, thus not really lying themselves)

And many atheists are young adults and feeling glad to become independent, leave home, be in charge of their own lives, so the illusion/ lie works well.

Finally, there are examples of bad, judgemental religion to use also.
 
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com7fy8

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due to some christians denomination twisting scripture, those people can have racist or bad views.
But I have to have the character in me making me able to accept and go along with what is wrong.
 
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dreadnought

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Is there any proof of this in history sinc I have friends say so?
Christianity (and the Bible) causes shame, as it should, for those who don't obey the Lord's law of love. I heard recently of someone suing the publisher of a Bible for, I think, stating that homosexuality is a sin. If God says it's a sin, it's a sin. Are we all going to be thrown in jail for saying that homosexuality is a sin? There are those who would love to see that happen.
 
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SilverBear

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Christianity (and the Bible) causes shame, as it should, for those who don't obey the Lord's law of love. I heard recently of someone suing the publisher of a Bible for, I think, stating that homosexuality is a sin. If God says it's a sin, it's a sin. Are we all going to be thrown in jail for saying that homosexuality is a sin? There are those who would love to see that happen.

Please check your facts and your persecution complex.
Ignoring the fact that no one would be able to pursue such a lawsuit because you have to have a concrete and particularized personal injury for a law suit in federal court and not just a generalized complaint.
The story of someone suing a bible publisher was put out by Truth Uncensored a website with a history of playing fast and loose with what is and is not "truth"
 
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dreadnought

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Please check your facts and your persecution complex.
Ignoring the fact that no one would be able to pursue such a lawsuit because you have to have a concrete and particularized personal injury for a law suit in federal court and not just a generalized complaint.
The story of someone suing a bible publisher was put out by Truth Uncensored a website with a history of playing fast and loose with what is and is not "truth"
Well, I found these, just now:

Gay Man Files $70M Suit Against Bible Publishers Over 'Homosexual' Verses

Gay Man Sues Bible Publishers Over “Homosexual” Reference
 
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SilverBear

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Yep, a decade ago a man with a long history of mental illness filed a hand written suit claiming personal injury from a publisher he apparently had no dealings with of malicious negligence, strict liability, malice, libel, and civil rights violation.

What happened?


One can't help but notice that in the rush to defend the use of a translation of an unknown word into a word and concept that didn't exist 2000 years ago that the author of this didn't include any evidence supporting the actual translation
 
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Uber Genius

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Is there any proof of this in history sinc I have friends say so?
Do the research.

These claims rely two tactics (tricks). One is anachronism, where you judge and idea or culture from the past by what is sway in one's own culture in the present.

Slavery is a good example.
Slavery is found throughout the bible. But it was in 100% of human culture. The fact that God, of Jesus, or the desciples didnt decry slavery is misrepresented that they condone it (either or fallacy).

Second trick is to diliberately try and misrepresent non-Christians as Christians. The power hungry Catholic Church worked with the monarch in Europe to torture and drive out the Jews who had achieved notable wealth by setting up a financial system in Europe (at the request of the various Kings). Once they had completed their take he kings sought rob them (the Jewish financiers), and enlisted the help of the Catholic Church. The Spanish Inquisition was not the product of Christianity but those abandoning the pillars of Christian doctrine to enrich and empower themselves.

But they called themselves "Christians" and if we are to ignorant tondo the research then we can be conned by movies like, "Zeightgeist,," or people like Richard Dawkins who continue to make these idiotic false claims knowing their atheistic audience is uneducated.
 
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SilverBear

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Do the research.

These claims rely two tactics (tricks). One is anachronism, where you judge and idea or culture from the past by what is sway in one's own culture in the present.

Slavery is a good example.
Slavery is found throughout the bible. But it was in 100% of human culture. The fact that God, of Jesus, or the desciples didnt decry slavery is misrepresented that they condone it (either or fallacy).
not quite. Far more often it is the existence of the many biblical rules for the buying and selling of slaves, the capture of foreigners as slaves, the breeding of slaves, and for keeping an individual and his/her descendants as slaves in perpetuity that is used to show biblical support for the institution of slavery.

That said those bringing up the complete lack of condemnation of slavery from God do have a point. God placed over 600 laws in the first five books of the Bible alone, how hard would it have been to add one more?

Second trick is to diliberately try and misrepresent non-Christians as Christians. The power hungry Catholic Church worked with the monarch in Europe to torture and drive out the Jews who had achieved notable wealth by setting up a financial system in Europe (at the request of the various Kings). Once they had completed their take he kings sought rob them (the Jewish financiers), and enlisted the help of the Catholic Church. The Spanish Inquisition was not the product of Christianity but those abandoning the pillars of Christian doctrine to enrich and empower themselves.
you may want to do a little research into your claims here....just saying.

The Protestants of the era participated vigorously in the inquisition and witch hunts and ended up killing far more individuals than the Catholics.
 
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salt-n-light

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Is there any proof of this in history sinc I have friends say so?

Those things ,racism, misery, shame are not direct results of christianity/ religion nor are they dependent on the existence of christianity/ religion.

We have to keep in mind throughout Biblical history, that christianity/judaism weren't the only belief system kept around, Gods people were enslave and oppressed under alot of places where the king would introduce worshipping idols and other gods, doing astrology and sorcery, or were godless, basically beliefs outside the realms of judaism/christianity. There are also times where because they have been indoctrinated and influenced by such cultures they started to adopt those practices out of disobedience.

If you truly want to see indications that a type of environment would drive misery and racism, look at the political structures in the bible. Compare the times when the king regarded God, and the time where the king disregard God.
 
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