Social Expectations of Christians and Their Fallacies Christianity, the monotheistic religion based on the work of Jesus of Nazareth,

boasts the title of world s largest religion. Accordingly, it has much influence over the behavior and morals of its adherents as well as society in general. These morals have been derived from the lives and practices of much-revered saints through teachings of humility (humbleness), unconditional love for fellow mankind, generosity, the rejecting of one s sexuality and lust, and faith that an omnipotent being is watching over one s life and will determine one s fate. While the morals and lifestyles of Christians, namely devote idealistic Christians, appear to provide a superior model for behavior of humans, it is not an ideal standard for members of a scientific, industrial, competitive environment an

environment inhabited by nearly everyone. Such an environment demands definite answers, questioning of the status quo, and a competitive (inherently neither absolutely generous nor loving) attitude among people for the betterment of society as a whole. Christianity fails to provide any of the necessities for this environment creating a substandard state. The costs of adhering to Christianity,

or theology in general, far outweigh the benefits. Following Christianity does not provide its adherents any significant advantage over nonbelievers since there has yet to be much proof of the existence of a heaven as an eternal utopia for believers after death. Therefore, the only utopia that makes logical sense to strive for is one crafted by humanity itself for each individual person through their own labor and the combined labor of others in a lively, competitive, questioning atmosphere.

2 The question of life s purpose has been pondered for ages, yet has never received a satisfactory answer nor does any definite evidence conclude of one. Men have revealed the purpose and intention of their lives through their behavior: to attain happiness based on the satisfaction of needs and desires. The source of religion comes about as a theory for the attainment of happiness. Religion pursues happiness by trying to recreate the world, to build up in its stead another world in which its most unbearable features are eliminated and replaced by others that are in conformity with one s own wishes.
1

This is manifested in a series of doctrines and

promises that explain to the common man of all the world s unknowns as well as assuring him that his good deeds and misfortunes will be compensated by future existence in a utopian world most commonly called heaven. In order to obtain the benefits (happiness) of religion, one must undergo a process of conversion. A.D. Nock described this conversion process as the reorientation of the soul of an individual, his deliberate turning from indifference or from an earlier form of piety to another, a turning which implies a consciousness that a great change is involved, that the old was wrong and the new is right.
2

Alan Segal offered an alternative view

on the process of conversion, in that a convert is usually someone who identifies, at least retrospectively, a lack in the world, finding a remedy in the reality promulgated by the new group.
3

While Nock places emphasis on the individual in

the conversion process and Segal places his emphasis on the group or community, the motive for the conversion process itself is an individual s perceived lack of

Freud, 1961, p. 31 Nock, p. 7 3 Segal, p. 75

2

3 meaning and purpose in the world, and therefore his lack of happiness. Both views on conversion also imply that a set of morals, principles, and beliefs is involved in the religious method for happiness. For example, Christianity says, in effect, to potential proselytes that they must turn to Christianity, stake everything on Jesus Christ being your savior, and God will give to you the privilege of making a new start as a new being and will bestow upon you grace which will enable you so to live here as to obtain a share in the life of the world to come.
4

The grace Nock speaks of is

inherited in these morals, principles, and beliefs that are apparent through the work of many revered religious figures, most of them called saints. In The Acts of the Apostles, the apostles Peter and Paul travel throughout the present day Middle East in attempts to convert the masses to Christianity through the work of miracles that they accredited to Jesus Christ. In doing so, they established an expectation of Christians to forfeit their earnings and property to the Church for the public use as well as the expansion of the Church itself. While in the city of Jerusalem, Peter instructed those desiring to be Christians to sell all their property and turn over the proceeds to the apostles for disbursement. However, a man named Ananias kept some of the proceeds from his property instead. Peter instantly discovered this and scolded the man before he (Ananias) fell to the ground and died.5 Furthermore, it is even inscribed in a Gospel passage as Jesus Christ instructing a rich man that, if thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast, and give it to the poor; and come, follow me and thou shalt have treasure in Heaven.
6

The

Nock, p. 13 Paul the Apostle, p. 193 6 Saint Anthanasius, p. 114

5

4 Christian expectation that people are to surrender their assets to a higher authority immediately brings into question the incentive to earn such assets in the first place. Without an incentive to earn assets for one s private use and enjoyment, people would exhibit no desire to earn said assets at all. Moreover, while donating to the poor may help their situation in the short run, it does nothing to help their state in the long run as it diminishes their incentive to earn their possessions in their own right. Therefore, not only would the Church eventually lack the resources it desires its adherents to provide, but also the adherents themselves. In terms of happiness then since it has already been determined that the purpose of life as well as the

existence of religion is to attain happiness the Church does not provide happiness for anyone through this measure because nobody will have anything that they desire even though are able to obtain through their own labor, except if the assumption of the existence of heaven is true.7 During the third century of the current era, Georgia was converted to Christianity largely due to the supernatural healing abilities of Christ presented by St. Nino. As custom in Georgia during this time, if a child became ill he would be brought to each household in search of a workable remedy. While Nino was a captive slave, a certain woman who had no success in finding a cure for her child approached her. Nino asserted she knew of no human remedy, but assured the mother that her God Christ, whom she worshipped, could grant the child that deliverance of which men lost hope.
8

Allegedly, the child was cured after Nino

This lack of evidence for God and heaven, as well as the justification for religion itself, will be discussed later within this dissertation as the motives for religiosity are brought into question. 8 Rufinus, 1976, p. 16

5 prayed to God and the miracle was reported to many sparking interest in Christianity. When the queen of Georgia, Nana, fell ill, she was brought to Nino. Nino prayed for the queen and immediately she recovered and got up in perfect health.
9

The healing of the queen even led King Mirian to consider and finally adopt

Christianity in Georgia. One should question the validity of miracle healing claims, as they are within stories meant for use in conversion. Russell Stannard, a wellknown British religious physicist, conducted a double blind study testing the proposition that praying for sick patients improves their health. The results, reported in the American Heart Journal of April 2006, found there was no difference between those patients who were prayed for and those who were not. In fact, those who knew they were prayed for suffered significantly more complications than those who did not know they were prayed for.10 While the stories of St. Nino cannot be proven false, their results cannot be replicated and scientific evidence shows the use of prayer in the healing of the sick is ineffective. It has even been shown that praying can be counterproductive. Accordingly, the effectiveness of prayer in other realms should also be questioned. Instead of putting emphasis on the superficial healing powers of prayer, which give a false sense of protection, people should put faith in the authentic healing powers of medical procedures and physicians. In the fourth century of the current era, Saint Antony established a life of asceticism as the life of the most devote Christians. Antony, following the teachings of the Gospel to sell off his assets and distribute the proceeds to the poor, broke away from his cultural past and lived in the Egyptian desert, while devoting all his
9

10

Rufinus, 1976, p. 28 Dawkins, 2006, p. 63

6 efforts to realizing in himself the virtues of all.

11

Throughout his life in the desert,

he successfully endured temptations as well as physical assaults by numerous beasts sent by Satan. Because of his monastic lifestyle, he was well respected and loved by all.12 From a religious perspective, it is easy to perceive Antony s life as a model for the lives of the posterity. However, it is just as easy to question the pragmatism in living such a life from a neutral or scientific perspective; again, being that there is no credible proof of heaven or God himself, it is a great wager to devote one s life entirely to God s will. In his Confessions, Saint Augustine confesses the sins of his life to God, explaining his disobedience to his superiors during his youth, his lustful teenage years, and his desire to steal simply from the satisfaction of doing the forbidden. Within his confessions, he recognizes that Christian law requires the rejection of one s sexuality and forbids lust.13 Christianity preaches to live a life abstaining from sex. However, sexual love gives the most intense experience of an overwhelming sensation filled with pleasure and thus instills great happiness in man.14 Thus, quite the paradox emerges: while Christianity aims to provide happiness for its adherents, it prohibits the single most pleasure stimulating natural act of humans. Moreover, the sexual function is essential for the success and continuance of the human species. Without any reproductive action, the human species would become extinct within a single generation. By contradicting the need for the survival of the human

Athanasius, pp. 114-115 Athanasius, p. 115 13 Saint Augustine, p. 44 14 Freud, 1961, p. 33

12

11

7 species, the prohibition of sex by religion is unfeasible. Furthermore, it cannot be expected of humans as it runs counter to the single most powerful instinct of man. The Christian morals explained in St. Augustine s Confessions are not limited to just a prohibition on sexuality and lust; it also includes a code of behavior toward others. Saint Augustine also asserts it is never wrong at any time or in any place for a man to love God with his whole heart and his whole soul and his whole mind and to love his neighbor as himself.
15

Love for one s neighbors should not be universal.

Love has intrinsic value granted to individuals one is extremely fond of: it should not be distributed without reflection. Moreover, love is valued by one s family and spouse as a sign of preference toward them, and it is an injustice to them to place a stranger/neighbor as their equal. Only if a stranger is willing to show consideration for his fellow man is he worthy of the same treatment, but this by no means constitutes love. It should also be noted that men are not naturally inclined to seek love, but rather they are instinctually aggressive.16 While this aggression is mostly dormant, it can be triggered by some provocation or unfavorable circumstances. It is because of this instinct that man s relations with his neighbor are unavoidably disturbed, since he naturally serves as a temptation to satisfy aggression on.17 Thus, the commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself is justified only to counter the original nature of man. However, this love is unnecessary. Aggression is naturally suppressed by the individual s dependence on others, the fear of lost love, and the fear of an established external authority (government) inflicting

St. Augustine, pp. 64-65 Freud, 1961, p. 68 17 Freud, 1961, p. 69

16

15

8 punishment or an internal authority the super-ego releasing emotions of guilt

and bad conscience.18 In guiding human interactions between strangers, acquaintances, and casual friends, love has no place. It is reserved only for intimacy. Aside from being irrational and unreasonable, some morals of certain religions have had adverse effects on the world. Religious fundamentalists are adamant in their belief that their holy book is the truth and contrary evidence must be thrown out. Some fundamentalists even assert that a scientist s belief in evidence is itself a matter of fundamentalist faith. On the contrary, scientists are willing to adopt or abandon their conclusions if new science disproves it. Book on science are believed not because scientists consider them holy, but because they present vast quantities of mutually supported evidence.19 Religious teachings place a strict punishment on blasphemy, which have been interpreted into capital punishment for blasphemy or converting from Islam.20 Because of these religious teachings, the freedoms of expression and religion, even those based on scientific evidence, have been denied in many Muslim nations. Because of other religious morals, the natural right to privacy has also been undermined: Christianity forbids homosexuality although it is a private act.21 Historically, United States law has followed this moral by denying homosexuals the right to marry22 and even criminalizing acts of sodomy, even though they are acts conducted in private with

Freud, 1961, pp. 85-90 Dawkins. 2006, pp. 282-283 20 Dawkins. 2006, pp. 286-287 21 Dawkins. 2006, pp. 289-290 22 Federal Defense of Marriage Act, 2008. DOMA watch. < http://www.domawatch.org/about/federaldoma.html> (accessed December 4, 2010)
19

18

9 no detrimental effects to society.23 Religious faith is even powerful enough to motivate people to kill in the name of their God. Extremist Muslims take literally the words in the Koran and enact jihad in search for paradise.24 Contrary to popular belief, terrorists are not motivated by evil, but rather by what they perceive to be righteousness based on their religion and faithfully pursue it. In a world without religion, perhaps the freedom of expression would be more universally protected, discrimination against homosexuals would not be morally justifiable, and terrorism would not exist. Despite the illogicality of the aforementioned morals and standards of Christianity, they remain valid and beneficial only if the assumptions of God s existence and heaven are true. Thomas Aquinas, an Italian philosopher and theologian, provided several proofs for the existence of God, most of which rely on the idea of a regress of events and put God at their front.25 However, they make the faulty assumption that God is immune to the regress. These proofs argue that nothing is caused or created without a prior cause, but if God exists then something must have created him. Also, there is no evidence to suggest that God is the natural terminator to Aquinas regresses. Aside from Aquinas regression orientated proofs, he also released a proof based on design. He believed that things in the world look as if they have been designed; according to him, there must have been a designer, which is God.26

23 Lawrence v. Texas (2003), n.d. Cornell University Law School. < http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html> (accessed December 4, 2010) 24 Dawkins. 2006, p. 304 25 Dawkins. 2006, p. 77 26 Dawkins. 2006, p. 79

10 Intelligent design is not a valid explanation for the existence of life: the designer himself immediately raises the bigger problem of his own origin. Charles Darwin s theory of evolution provides a scientific explanation for the creation and design of organisms. Darwin asserted that things apparently designed are really the end product of a long sequence of purely natural causes intended to improve the organism s survival functions.27 Natural selection is a cumulative process, which breaks down survival problems into smaller advancements by organisms to overcome said problems. Each of these advancements is the cause of adaptation by the organism or the gradual development of bodily functions. Darwin himself even said, if it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find no such case. has been found to the present day. Darwin s theory of evolution does not, however, the factors that allow for life to exist in the first place. The laws and constants of physics allow for the existence of life in the universe, but science has yet to explain the causes of physics.29 Creationists eagerly seek these gaps in present-day knowledge or understanding; if an apparent gap is found, it is assumed that God, by default, must fill it. Therefore, theists have been able to grant credit to God by saying that he tuned the fundamental constants of the universe so that each allows for the production of life. However, this still leaves the existence and creation of God himself left unexplained.
28

Indeed, no such case

Dawkins. 2006, p. 116 Dawkins. 2006, p.116 29 Dawkins. 2006, p. 143

28

27

11 Also, God is only given credit because of a lack of scientific understanding. Science seeks out areas of ignorance to target research, while intelligent design and theism seeks out areas of ignorance in order to claim victory by default. As science advances, potentially discovering the underlying causes of physics and the factors that allow for life to exist, gaps in knowledge shrink and eventually nothing will have to be explained by God. God, therefore, is not an explanation, but rather a failure to explain. The morals and principles of Christianity, while providing a very attractive model for human behavior, are not ideal standards or expectations for human interaction and treatment of others. The socialistic expectation to donate all of one s earnings to the Church for redistribution and for the advancement of the Church entirely diminishes the incentives of labor to obtain objects that assist humans in achieving happiness. Faith in God for curing illnesses undermines the achievements and successes of medical technology, and leaves the adherent with a false sense of protection. Rejecting one s sexuality implies giving up the single most pleasure inducing natural human act, and ignores the need for reproduction in carrying on the human species. It is neither expectable nor practical. Love for one s neighbors undercuts the value of love and only serves as a commandment because it runs so counter to human instinct. However, it is unnecessary because this instinct is suppressed by the super-ego. Religious teachings have also had detrimental effects on society and the world because of intolerance for alternative opinions and lifestyles. It is a great burden for religious adherents to practice their faith ideally because of the strict expectations their religion places on them, and given the

12 absence of evidence for God and the existence of heaven as an external utopia for eternity, it does not make sense to strive for this utopia by giving up a utopia in the natural world. Utopia is not universal. Human beings must craft their own personal utopia through labor and the fulfillment of personal happiness. Instead of subsidizing happiness, religion makes its attainment more difficult by interfering with the means of pursuing it. The practice of Christian morals, given an analysis deeper than their surface value, should be avoided.

13 Bibliography Dawkins, Richard. The God Delusion. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2006. "Federal Defense of Marriage Act." DOMA Watch. Alliance Defense Fund, 2008. Web. 4 Dec. 2010. <http://www.domawatch.org/about/federaldoma.html>. Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1961. "Lawrence v. Texas." Cornell University Law School. Legal Information Institute, 2003. Web. 4 Dec. 2010. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/02-102.ZS.html>. Nock, A.D. Conversion: The Old and the New in Religion from Alexander the Great to Augustine of Hippo, Chapter 1: The Idea of Conversion (pp. 1-16) Paul the Apostle. The New Oxford Annotated Bible. The Acts of the Apostles. (pp. 183-239) Rufinus. Historia Ecclesiastica, Book I, Chapter 10. Tr. And ed. David Marshall Lang. New York: St. Vladimir s Seminary Press, 1976 (pp. 13-43) Saint Athanasius. The Life of Saint Anthony. Westminster: Newman Press, 1950. (pp. 17-23, 26-30, 32-33, 60-64, 77-79, 86-87, 90-91, 93-97) Saint Augustine. Confessions. Penguin Classics, 1961. (pp. 21-70) Segal, Alan F. Paul the Convert. Chapter 3: Conversion in Paul s Society (pp. 72-114)