The Devil Made Me Do It; The Most Dangerous Ideas Behind Fundamentalist Christianity

I am not a religious person. I am, in fact, an atheist. That being said, it should not surprise you to hear that I disagree with all religious beliefs, at least those that pertain to the supernatural. My reason for disagreeing is quite simple. I do not find these beliefs to be truthful or factually correct. At the very least, no evidence has been presented to me that would suggest otherwise. I judge statements of a religious nature by the same standard by which I would judge any other statement, “Is it supported by the evidence or not?”

Let’s put the question of truthfulness and accuracy aside for a moment. When we look at religion, we must always consider that religious dogma is believed to be true by the followers of that religion. This belief is often quite strong and usually unquestioned. Therefore, it is not always the case that a statement has to be true in order to be important. There are certain religious ideas that are important to people, regardless of whether or not they are factually correct. No one has a perfect view of what is true and what is false. All of us act on our perception of what is true. We do not always perceive objective reality. We live in the realm of the subjective, we act on what we believe to be true.

There are certain concepts expounded by conservative Christians (evangelicals or fundamentalists if you prefer) that are inherently dangerous. These ideas are dangerous because they are believed to be true. Belief shapes the way we view the world. If a certain Muslim believes that the United States is an enemy of god, then that same Muslim will likely also believe that terrorism against the US is justified. It does not matter if we share this belief or reject it. The belief itself is important to us because the belief can lead to attitudes and actions that are dangerous to our well being. It is from this perspective that we will look at the beliefs that shared by many Christians in the United States and around the world. It does not matter if we share these beliefs or not, that are important to us because they can lead to attitudes and actions that are dangerous.

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