Is Christianity oppressive?

[Michie]

Unfortunately, there are overly zealous people out there who oppress others in the name of Christianity — though thankfully it’s not the norm. Sadly, people like that often leave a bad taste in the mouths of nonbelievers, giving them one more reason to criticize Christianity. However, people who spew hatred and judgment in the name of Christianity should never be held up as the measure for authentic Christian faith; rather, they are the antithesis of it.

Critics of Christianity often point out the ways in which Christians have oppressed others through the ages: the Crusades; the Spanish Inquisition; the Salem witch trials; the slave trade; or, in our own day, the denigration of women, African Americans, or the LGBTQ community. Though no Christian with the slightest awareness of church history could deny that the Church has seen its share of oppressors throughout the ages, neither can we fail to acknowledge the abundance of good done in the name of Jesus.

Consider the following brief examples: The first orphanages were run by churches. Various churches and individual Christians founded many of the great American universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, to ensure that people would be given a proper education. The Church was pivotal in leading society to abolish slavery, with leaders such as the British parliamentarian William Wilberforce. George Williams founded the YMCA to protect youth from the hazardous conditions on the streets. Likewise, William Booth founded the Salvation Army to care for the poor and disadvantaged. In our day, Millard and Linda Fuller started Habitat for Humanity to provide housing for the poor on an international level.

Continued below.

Is Christianity Oppressive?

By Bobby Conway

worldviewbulletin.substack.com

 

[JustaPewFiller]

Maybe my view is too simplistic.

But, I look at it as similar to the way police are viewed.
Most police officers do good, uphold the law, help people etc. Admittedly, some officer do better at this than others.
However, there are rare occasions when a police office does something bad. This may be accidental on the part of the office, or worse, the officer may have purposefully committed some type of crime.

Which one gets the press? The many officers that do good every day or the very few that do bad? We all know its the very few that do bad that get most of the press and a segment of population tends to cast all officers as bad because of the actions of a few.

I think the same kind of thing happens with Christians / Christianity. The bad gets more press than the good and influences public opinion.

 

[FireDragon76]

If it were simply a matter of disagreement, nobody would find Christianity oppressive. The issue is that many Christians have felt it is their right to impose their values on others, with very little room for dialog with the surrounding culture, and to engage in acrimonious and divisive politics to accomplish their ends.

 

[Ignatius the Kiwi]

If it were simply a matter of disagreement, nobody would find Christianity oppressive. The issue is that many Christians have felt it is their right to impose their values on others, with very little room for dialog with the surrounding culture, and to engage in acrimonious and divisive politics to accomplish their ends.

Some Christians don't want to live in a society where they get no say. If you expect Christians to not impose their values on others, why do you tolerate non Christian values being imposed on you Dragon?

 

[BNR32FAN]

Unfortunately, there are overly zealous people out there who oppress others in the name of Christianity — though thankfully it’s not the norm. Sadly, people like that often leave a bad taste in the mouths of nonbelievers, giving them one more reason to criticize Christianity. However, people who spew hatred and judgment in the name of Christianity should never be held up as the measure for authentic Christian faith; rather, they are the antithesis of it.

Critics of Christianity often point out the ways in which Christians have oppressed others through the ages: the Crusades; the Spanish Inquisition; the Salem witch trials; the slave trade; or, in our own day, the denigration of women, African Americans, or the LGBTQ community. Though no Christian with the slightest awareness of church history could deny that the Church has seen its share of oppressors throughout the ages, neither can we fail to acknowledge the abundance of good done in the name of Jesus.

Consider the following brief examples: The first orphanages were run by churches. Various churches and individual Christians founded many of the great American universities, such as Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, to ensure that people would be given a proper education. The Church was pivotal in leading society to abolish slavery, with leaders such as the British parliamentarian William Wilberforce. George Williams founded the YMCA to protect youth from the hazardous conditions on the streets. Likewise, William Booth founded the Salvation Army to care for the poor and disadvantaged. In our day, Millard and Linda Fuller started Habitat for Humanity to provide housing for the poor on an international level.

Continued below.

Is Christianity Oppressive?

By Bobby Conway

worldviewbulletin.substack.com

Is Christianity oppressive? Well that depends on your definition of oppressive. If refusing to condone sinful actions is considered oppressive then yes I would say it is if that’s your definition of oppressive. But if your definition of oppressive is actual persecution then I would say no, absolutely not. There’s really a lot to unpack here in this OP because a lot of the examples given of “Christian oppression” isn’t actually sanctioned by the scriptures and some cases are based on interpretations of certain passages but not taking into account the full message of the scriptures.

The Crusades were Christians attempting to take back Jerusalem and a few other Christian cities that were attacked and conquered by Muslims. That’s not what I would call oppression, it’s retaliation. I’m sure that these people who use the Crusades as an example of Christian oppression wouldn’t see it that way if their state was attacked and conquered by another faction or government who killed countless innocent people in the process and the US government went back to retake that state.

The Inquisitions were sanctioned only by the Roman Catholic Church after its excommunication from the Catholic church who never participated in nor condoned such activities.

Now the Salem Witch trials I don’t know much about so I can’t comment on that event.

The denigration of women is not supported by the scriptures and therefore cannot be considered to be oppression based on Christianity.

The denigration of African Americans is the same scenario, you had some people claiming to be Christians who were taking passages from the Old Testament and using them as an excuse to justify their sinful greed and blatant lack of compassion to which there are numerous passages condemning such behavior.

The denigration of LGBTQ is a tough subject because that kind of behavior is condemned in the scriptures both the OT and the NT. We are not called to seek out and confront sinful people who are outside the church but at the same time we cannot condone sinful actions. Often people accuse Christians of oppressing LGBTQ because of our unwillingness to accept it as acceptable behavior but according to the scriptures we’re not supposed to. So if disapproval is what you consider to be oppression then I would say we’re guilty as charged, and I have no problems with that because Jesus said that the world would hate us because we testify to Him. Now what we’re not called to do is to promote hate which is a completely different situation. I don’t think we should be going out of our way to seek out people who are sinning and tell them that they are evil or anything like that, but I do think that we should be spreading the gospel which does include voicing God’s expectations given in the scriptures.

For the most part what I’ve witnessed is a lot of people stereotyping Christians based on the actions of a few who claim to be Christians and I think that’s the biggest part of the problem. Like the title to this OP for example, “Is Christianity Oppressive”. No Christianity isn’t oppressive, but some Christians are and some who claim to be Christians are. It’s like saying are Muslims murderers? Yeah some do, some want to, but millions aren’t. Anytime we’re judging people we need to judge each individual according to his or her actions, not according to whatever demographic they may fit into.

 

[RileyG]

It depends how you define oppressive.

 

[BNR32FAN]

It depends how you define oppressive.

Typically it seems to mean if your not supportive of sinful behavior.

 

[Tuur]

It depends how you define oppressive.

And who does the defining.

 

[Grip Docility]

If it were simply a matter of disagreement, nobody would find Christianity oppressive. The issue is that many Christians have felt it is their right to impose their values on others, with very little room for dialog with the surrounding culture, and to engage in acrimonious and divisive politics to accomplish their ends.

People rapidly forget a man that "became all things to all men".

 

[RileyG]

And who does the defining.

People from the outside world.

 

[Tuur]

Critics of Christianity often point out the ways in which Christians have oppressed others through the ages: the Crusades; the Spanish Inquisition; the Salem witch trials; the slave trade; or, in our own day, the denigration of women, African Americans, or the LGBTQ community. Though no Christian with the slightest awareness of church history could deny that the Church has seen its share of oppressors throughout the ages, neither can we fail to acknowledge the abundance of good done in the name of Jesus.

In phrasing the claims in this manner, the writer of the article is exercising argument by assertion and accept the claims as a given. The writer also frames it in such a way as to imply such things were exclusively Christian. The Seljuk weren't exactly friendly toward Christians or Byzantium, and from that we had the start of the Crusades. The Salem Witch Trials were an exercise in civil law at a time when Europeans took the idea of witches seriously. Nor was this exclusively a facet of Christiandom. There was an African ruler, a non-Christian, who had an entire village killed on the accusation of witchcraft, and archeologists in the US Southwest have found evidence of an Indian settlement wiped out by other Indians apparently because they considered them witches. All sorts of cultures have treated women in less that kind ways. At one point or the other, every people has practiced slavery, nor has it been exclusively African Americans who have been enslaved (just ask St. Patrick or Northern European Thralls or those sold into slavery to Muslim countries, or the Spaniard enslaved by Indians in what's now Florida, and so forth and so on). The "LGBTQ community" claim hinges on a particular issue that's verboten to discuss here: apparently defining such and such things as sins is considered oppression now. Odd that the writer doesn't make the same charge about adultery.

I knew a man who was stationed at a supply base for the Burma Hump In WWII, and he had photos of a Roman Catholic orphanage that raised girls. The area had the practice of infanticide by abandoning or throwing infants, usually girls, into the river. The Roman Catholics paid 1 rupee for infants left to them, and in doing so saved countless lives. I suppose that is called oppression, too.

The only one on the list that I agree should be there is the Spanish Inquisition. I'm sure they were expected to be there.

 

[Adventist Dissident]

Depends on which version you get, if it's liberal or conservative it doesn't matter if Jesus isn't there then you're going to be miserable.