Problems with Christian Church

[Redbeard The Pink]

I have a few questions regarding your perspectives on the church and Christianity..

**What are the big problems/issues you see in the Christian church today?

**Is your perspective of the former question from the inside (ie, your background was in church) or that of an outsider looking in? What took you away from church, if your background was church?

**What do you think about the person Jesus Christ? Is he real, historical person? Faked?

**What is the point or purpose in your life? What do you live for?

I'm especially interested in your responses to the first question!!

1) I think my main beef is the indoctrination of young children into a belief system that scoffs at logic and critical thinking and encourages people to accept claims on faith and be universally suspicious of real-world evidence. Once you neuter a kid's reasoning skills like that, you really don't know what kind of fucked up adult you're going to end up with, or how long it could take to reverse that process (assuming that it ever gets reversed at all). There's also the backward morality that fights equality and scientific progress at every turn, not to mention the fact that churches don't pay taxes even though they use public services I pay for.

Oh, and don't even get me started on what they've done to music and film.

2) I was raised in the church. I fell out of regular church attendance some years ago because I just didn't feel like I needed it in order to remain pious. Some years later my critical thinking skills finally turned on my faith (and I finally let them), and that's when it all came crashing down. I used to use the full force of my intellect on mental gymnastics to justify my spiritual beliefs, so now that my beliefs are mainly rooted in evidence my religious arguments feel like they're on permanent easy mode. Atheism is far more defensible, which to me is a good indicator of whether a position has any merit.

3) Jesus of Nazareth, as written in the Bible, most certainly did not exist. There is some debate (even among the atheists on this forum) as to whether the character is based on one historical person, several historical people, or a pre-existing fictional character. I lean toward that last one, but I also don't think there's enough evidence to provide a definite answer to that question. Even if he was based on one historical person (as mainstream scholars claim), though, he probably didn't grow up in Nazareth, and he most certainly did not have supernatural powers of any kind, especially not the ability to rise from the dead.

4) It really depends on the day. Over all, I'd say my goal is to minimize suffering in myself and others while maximizing enjoyment of life in myself and others. I do this in various ways, and I don't always do a great job, but my life is far from empty and meaningless.