Christianity: A Symptom of a Much Larger Disease

[michaelsherlock]

Christians often ask me, why I hate Christianity. To this charge, I usually respond by saying; I do not hate Christianity at all, just as a doctor does not hate a given symptom of a virus, or disease. She merely attempts to treat it and if possible, cure the disease or virus which has caused it. Christianity, as with Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Communism, Capitalism, Nationalism, Darwinism, is not a virus in and of itself, but rather, it is a symptom of a greater illness. The disease which lies at the core of this symptom and ones like it is fear. Our fear of suffering spawns beliefs, established to appease the psychological pressure we experience as a result of such fear. Religious beliefs often have an inbuilt sedative for the human being’s most primal fear, that being, mortality (see religious beliefs, re: afterlife, re-birth/re-incarnation and immortality).

Yet, this is not the fear I am primarily concerned with. The fear I am attempting to address is the fear inspired by uncertainty, the fear of the unknown, which motivates an individual to produce and maintain a belief, in order to avoid such uncertainty.

In his dialogue entitled ‘The Urgency of Change’, Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti said:

Through experience you hope to touch the truth of your belief, to prove it to yourself, but this belief conditions your experience. It isn't that the experience comes to prove the belief, but rather that the belief begets the experience. Your belief in God will give you the experience of what you call God. You will always experience what you believe and nothing else. And this invalidates your experience. The Christian will see virgins, angels and Christ, and the Hindu will see similar deities in extravagant plurality. The Muslim, the Buddhist, the Jew and the Communist are the same. Belief conditions its own supposed proof. What is important is not what you believe but only why you believe at all. Why do you believe? And what difference does it make to what actually is whether you believe one thing or another? Facts are not influenced by belief or disbelief. So one has to ask why one believes at all in anything; what is the basis of belief? Is it fear, is it the uncertainty of life - the fear of the unknown the lack of security in this ever-changing world? Is it the insecurity of relationship, or is it that faced with the immensity of life, and not understanding it, one encloses oneself in the refuge of belief? So, if I may ask you, if you had no fear at all, would you have any belief? (1)

Unfortunately this false certainty has created and continues to create, more problems for both the individual and society as a whole, than the temporary relief it brings to the lazy and cowardly believer. Some of the problems created by the ill-gotten certainty afforded by the belief include, but are not limited to:

1. War (religious/political/ethnic/nationalistic
2. Genocide
3. Religious persecution
4. Bigotry
5. Racism
6. Social inequality
7. Gender inequality
8. Wilful ignorance
9. Psychological development (see; Neurosis, Paranoia, psychosis, xenophobia, egocentrism, and narcissism for just a few examples)

To illustrate some of the chaos caused by belief induced certainty, in particular, religious certainty, I would like to quote from the work of neuroscientist and philosopher, Sam Harris, who, in his book ‘The End of Faith,’ said:

Indeed, religion is as much a living spring of violence today as it was at any time in the past. The recent conflicts in Palestine (Jews v. Muslims), the Balkans (Orthodox Serbians v. Catholic Croatians; Orthodox Serbians v. Bosnian and Albanian Muslims), Northern Ireland (Protestants v. Catholics), Kashmir (Muslims v. Hindus), Sudan (Muslims v. Christians and animists), Nigeria (Muslims v. Christians), Ethiopia and Eritrea (Muslims v. Christians), Sri Lanka (Sinhalese Buddhists v. Tamil Hindus), Indonesia (Muslims v. Timorese Christians), and the Caucasus (Orthodox Russians v. Chechen Muslims; Muslim Azerbaijanis v. Catholic and Orthodox Armenians) are merely a few cases in point. In these places religion has been the explicit cause of literally millions of deaths in the last ten years. These events should strike us like psychological experiments run amok, for that is what they are.(2)

Moreover, when we believe something, we have arrived at the conclusion of a given thought process and so true unencumbered thought ceases, along with the person’s journey toward individuation and selfhood.

In the words of Robert A. Wilson:

My own opinion is that belief is the death of intelligence. As soon as one believes a doctrine of any sort, or assumes certitude, one stops thinking about that aspect of existence. The more certitude one assumes, the less there is left to think about, and a person sure of everything would never have any need to think about anything and might be considered clinically dead under current medical standards, where the absence of brain activity is taken to mean that life has ended.(3)

We “know” that such and such is “true” and so stop seeking further information, particularly with regards to information that comes into conflict with our belief.

Psychologists refer to the strategy employed by believers to avoid the disconfirmation of a belief, as ‘disconfirmation bias (pertains to negative info.) and confirmation bias (pertains to positive info.).’ This disconfirmation bias seems to be utilized by the believer to avoid cognitive dissonance, which is a kind of mental and emotional suffering, brought about by the holding of two contradictory beliefs and ideas simultaneously. (for a good survey of this subject see; Leon Festinger. Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. Stanford University Press (1957); Festinger, L., Riecken, H. W., & Schachter, S. When Prophecy fails. University of Minnesota Press. (1956); Lorne L. Dawson. When Prophecy Fails and Faith Persists: A theoretical Overview. University of California Press. (1999); and Adam Kowol. The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance. http://works.adamkowol.info)

When dissonance occurs in the mind of the believer, it is usually the pre-established belief that wins the day (further, see; confirmation bias and ‘primacy’), albeit by dubious means. The rationalization process, adaptational strategies and self-delusion that prevents a believer from growing past their beliefs, has underscored some of the most insane thinking and behaviour throughout human history, yet its most tragic consequence has been the protection of those who have gained power of the masses by relying on these psychological defects in those they control. All a leader need do to achieve a desired outcome from a non-thinking/believing public, is push the right emotional buttons and trigger a reaction that would be unavailable to them, if people would only stop believing so much and begin to think. This is where we get into the issue of dependency, or as the brilliant scientist, Wilhelm Reich called it, “chronic dependency.” Our earthly masters who control us via, religion, politics, media, academia, trend manufacturing and various other means, have achieved this control by making us dependent.

Taking a leaf out of the pages of Immanuel Kant’s works:

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance, nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think, so long as I can pay; others will soon enough take the tiresome job over for me. The guardians who have kindly taken upon themselves the work of supervision will soon see to it that by far the largest part of mankind should consider the step forward to maturity not only as difficult but also as highly dangerous. Having first infatuated their domesticated animals, and carefully prevented the docile creatures from daring to take a single step without the leading-strings to which they are tied, they next show them the danger which threatens them if they try to walk unaided. Now this danger is not in fact so very great, for they would certainly learn to walk eventually after a few falls. But an example of this kind is intimidating, and usually frightens them off from further attempts. (4)

So when I attack the religion of Christianity, please do not take it personally, for Christianity is merely the symptom of a greater virus.


1. Jiddu Krishnamurti. The Urgency of Change. Harper and Row. (1977) Pg. 98-99.

2. Sam Harris. The End of Faith. W.W. Norton. (2005). Pg. 26.

3. Robert Anton Wilson. Cosmic Trigger. Vol. 1: Final Secret of the Illuminati.
New Falcon Publications. (1977). Pg. Preface ii.

4. Immanuel Kant: An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? Konigsberg in Prussia, 30th September, (1784). Pg. 1-2.

This work is the intellectual property of Michael Sherlock and may only be used if he is either referenced and or contacted and asked permission.