The End of Christianity (53 page)

14
. One difference between the arguments for Scientology, of course, and those for Christianity is that Christian apologists are more sophisticated philosophically than the apologists for Scientology. But the reason why Christians have more philosophical sophistication is because they've been around a lot longer. Through the years they have been able to progressively change what they believe as the centuries droned on, from the tribal God of the Bible to the “perfect being” theology of Anselm and beyond (just see my survey in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 17–20 and David Eller's
chapter 2
in this book). As their world got bigger and bigger, so did their conception of God. Just give Scientologists enough time, and they, too, will change what they believe through philosophical analysis, as they, too, will claim a progressive revelation like Christians have done. And they, too, will develop elaborate, sophisticated, scholarly sounding arguments packed with footnotes and symbolic logic, striving with consummate skill to look exactly like mainstream scholarship. The problem is that they both started on the same superstitious, unscientific footing (despite claims to the contrary).

15
. On these pre-Christian “resurrected savior” cults, see references provided in Richard Carrier's chapter “Christianity's Success Was Not Incredible.”

16
. Several books make these absurd claims: R. C. Sproul,
If There's A God, Why Are There Atheists: Why Atheists Believe in Unbelief
(Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1988); Paul C. Vitz,
Faith of the Fatherless: The Psychology of Atheism
(Dallas: Spence

Publishing, 1999); and James S. Spiegel,
The Making of an Atheist
(Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2010).

17
. Nevertheless, Christians try raising many desperate objections to it: see my discussion (and defense of this perfectly reasonable principle) here in
chapter 1
and in “Outsider Test for Faith,” The
Christian Delusion
, 81–106.

18
. Some may try to dispute this relationship (the more science explains, the less probable is God), but they cannot-because, as Richard Carrier points out in personal correspondence, “for any cause or explanation discovered by science, the
alternative
discovery that that cause or explanation was instead
God
would obviously count as evidence for God, and thus would (as such) raise the probability he exists; which entails that
not
having that be what is discovered must reduce the probability that god exists, by exactly as much as such a discovery would have raised it.”

19
. To read what I wrote about this, see Loftus,
Why I Became an Atheist
, 94 (and note 66, pp. 104–105). In fact, much of what I write in this section can be found in that book.

20
. On this little puzzle, see Evan Fales,
Divine Intervention: Metaphysical and EpistemologicalPuzzles
(New York: Routledge, 2009).

21
. This argument is made in the first few chapters of
The Christian Delusion.
I also make this argument in several posts on my blog,
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com
. Do a search there for the words “believe what we prefer to be true,” and you'll find them.

22
. Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman,
Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior
(New York: Broadway, 2008), 175.

23
. “Modernizing the Case for God,”
Time
, April 5,1980.

24
. Alvin Plantinga,
Warranted Christian Belief
(Oxford University Press, 2000), 145.

25
. See Daniel Dennett,
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
(2006); Pascal Boyer,
Religion Explained: The Human Instincts That Fashion Gods, Spirits and Ancestors
(2001); Eugene D'Aquili and Andrew Newberg,
Why God Won't Go Away: Brain Science and the Biology of Belief
(2001); Paul Bloom,
Descartes’ Baby: How the Science of Child Development Explains What Makes Us Human
(2004); B. M. Hood,
Supersense: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable
(2009). The neuroscientific evidence is also discussed in Sam Harris,
The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values
(New York: Free Press, 2010).

26
. This is one of the main points in my book
Why I Became an Atheist
and in my defense of the “Outsider Test for Faith” in
The Christian Delusion.

27
. William Lane Craig, “Politically Incorrect Salvation,” in
Christian Apologetics in the Post-Modern World
, ed. T. P. Phillips and D. Ockholm (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 75–97; found online at
http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/docs/politically.html
.

28
. William Lane Craig, “Middle Knowledge: A Calvinist-Arminian Rapprochement,” in
The Grace of God, The Will of Man
, ed. Clark H. Pinnock (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1989), 141–64.

29
. Richard G. Swinburne,
Revelation: From Metaphor to Analogy
, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

30
. Richard G. Swinburne,
The Existence of God
, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).

31
. Alonzo Fyfe, “A Purpose to Life,” July 24, 2009,
http://atheistethicist.blogspot.com/2009/07/purpose-to-life.html
.

32
. See, for example, the theory described by Richard Carrier in
Sense and Goodness without God
(Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse: 2005), 253–54 (which is actually far more probable than the Christian God).

33
. To see this argued, see John Loftus, “Based on This Argument Alone the Best Any Believer Can Claim Is Agnosticism,” January 3, 2010,
http://debunkingchristianity.blogspot.com/2010/based-on-this-argument-alone-best-any.html
.

34
. Loftus,
Why I Became an Atheist
, 192–95. Richard Carrier provides his own examples in
Sense and Goodness
, 256–57, 273–82; in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 307–9; and in all his chapters in this book.

35
. Loftus,
Why I Became an Atheist
, 228–62.

36
. Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 237–70.

37
. See Ken Pulliam in
chapter 7
, “The Absurdity of the Atonement.”

38
. Documentation for most of what follows can be found in this series:
Why I Became an Atheist, The Christian Delusion
, and the present book,
The End of Christianity.

39
. John Loftus, “What We've Got Here Is a Failure to Communicate,” in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 181–206.

40
. Hector Avalos, “Yahweh Is a Moral Monster,” in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 220–21.

41
. John Loftus, “At Best Jesus Was a Failed Apocalyptic Prophet,” in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 316–43.

42
. Personal correspondence. See Richard Carrier in
chapter 2
, “Christianity's Success Was Not Incredible,” for some examples of this; likewise see Edward T. Babinski, “The Cosmology of the Bible,” in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 109–47; and Avalos, “Yahweh Is a Moral Monster,” ibid., 209–36, for examples from the Old Testament.

43
. Hector Avalos claims that someone “could easily argue that the denial of religious freedom is at the ‘moral heart’ of the Old Testament.” See ibid., 220–21.

44
. For twenty-four examples of evil things said by God, see Richard Carrier, “The Will of God,” on
The Christian Delusions
companion website,
http://sites.google.com/site/thechristiandelusion/Home/the-will-of-god
.

PART 2

CHAPTER 4

1
. This chapter was excerpted by the editor from Hector Avalos's book
The End of Biblical Studies
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2007), with only minor editing and additional footnoting by the editor. Used with permission of the author.

2
. Michael Coogan, “The Great Gulf between Scholars and the Pew,” in
Biblical Studies Alternatively: An Introductory Reader
, ed. Susanne Scholz (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2003), 7. For twenty-four biblical passages proving his point, see “The Will of God” collection at this series’ companion site:
http://sites.google.com/site/thechristiandelusion/Home/the-will-of-god
.

3
. And that the earth is flat and the sky is solid and held up by pillars: see Ed Babinski, “The Cosmology of the Bible,” in
The Christian Delusion
, ed. John Loftus (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2010): 109–47.

4
. See, for example: Israel Finkelstein and Neil Asher Silberman,
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts
(New York: Basic, 2001); Thomas Thompson,
The Historicity of the Patriarchal Narratives: The Questfor the Historical Abraham
(Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 2002); and summary and sources in Paul Tobin, “The Bible and Modern Scholarship,” in Loftus,
The Christian Delusion
, 148–80.

5
. See, for example: Bart Ehrman,
Jesus Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible (and Why We Don't Know about Them)
(New York: HarperOne, 2009); Gerd Ludemann,
Jesus After 2000 Years
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2001); Gerd Theissen and Annette Merz,
The Historical Jesus: A Comprehensive Guide
(Minneapolis: Fortress, 1996); Robert Funk and Roy Hoover,
The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus
(New York: Maxwell Macmillan, 1993).

6
. For example: Genesis 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14:33–35; 1 Timothy 2:8–15.

7
. Daniel J. Estes, “Audience Analysis and Validity in Application,”
Bibliotheca Sacra
150 (April-June 1993): 219–29.

8
. Ibid., 224.

9
. Ibid.

10
. John Bright,
The Authority of the Old Testament
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1967), 152. For a thoroughly unsatisfactory and desperate attempt to argue that Old Testament laws are still relevant, see Joe M. Sprinkle,
Biblical Law and Its Relevance: A Christian Understanding and Ethical Application for Today of the Mosaic Regulations
(Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2006).

11
. We refrain from saying “100 percent” because there are a small number of Christian scholars who do realize that modern Bibles are constructs that may bear little similarity to “the original.”

12
. Philip C. Stine,
Let the Words Be Written: The Lasting Influence of Eugene Nida
(Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2004), 182.

13
. Quoted in Leland Ryken,
The Word of God in English: Criteria for Excellence in Bible Translation
(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2002), 73.

14
. For more demonstrations and discussion of this point than are here to follow, see Hector Avalos,
End of Biblical Studies
, 37–64.

15
. Sissela Bok,
Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life
(New York: Vintage Books, 1999), 15.

16
. Coogan, “The Great Gulf between Scholars and the Pew,” 8.

17
. For the violent aspect of the Bible, see Hector Avalos,
Fighting Words: The Origins of Religious Violence
(Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2005).

18
. For a complete discussion of the evidence and scholarship on this point, see Avalos,
End of Biblical Studies
, 43–44.

19
. For the general techniques used by ancient Greek versions, see John A. Beck,
Translators as Storytellers: A Study in Septuagint Translation Technique
(New York: Peter Lang, 2000).

20
. The story is found in Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History
, trans. J. E. L. Oulton (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1980), 6.8.1–3. Eusebius attributes Origen's actions to an immature and youthful mind, but he also says another Christian named Demetrius approved of Origen's sincere act. On castration in early Christianity, see Mathew Kuefler,
The Manly Eunuch: Masculinity, Gender Ambiguity, and Christian Ideology in Late Antiquity
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2001).

21
. See Bible Gateway, “Contemporary English Version,”
http://www.bibkgateway.com/versions/?action=getVersionInfo&vid=46
.

22
. Stanley Porter, “The Contemporary English Version,” in
Translating the Bible: Problems and Prospects
, ed. Stanley Porter and Richard Hess (London: T&T Clark, 1999), 39.

23
. Some of the classic works on this issue include Charlotte Klein,
Anti-Judaism in Christian Theology
, trans. Edward Quinn (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978); John G. Gager,
The Origins of Anti-Semitism: Attitudes towardJudaism in Paganism and Christian Antiquity
(New York: Oxford, 1983); Rosemary R. Ruether,
Faith and Fratricide: The Theological Roots of Anti-Semitism
(New York: Seabury, 1979).

24
. Howard Clark Kee and Irvin J. Borowsky,
Removing the Anti-Judaism from the New Testament
(Philadelphia: American Interfaith Institute/World Alliance, 2000); Norman A. Beck,
Mature Christianity in the 21st Century: The Recognition and Repudiation of the Anti-Jewish Polemic in the New Testament
(New York: Crossroad, 1994); Tikva Frymer-Kensky et al.,
Christianity in Jewish Terms
(Boulder, CO: West-view, 2000).

25
. Kee and Borowsky,
Removing the Anti-Judaism
, 18.

26
. Ibid., 20.

27
. Beck,
Mature Christianity in the 21st Century
, 323, grants that “the defamatory anti-Jewish polemic of the New Testament must be repudiated,” but Beck's proposals are more akin to keeping the parts of
Mein Kampf
that are not objectionable.