Conservative Christians are inspired by hatred, as many of us have discovered. This does not mean that all Christians are so inspired, of course, but the existence of Christians who truly love their fellowmen does not disprove the overall truth of my statement. I am not saying Jesus would have done anything I describe below.
A few years ago, I posted a video of scientist Glen Kuban explaining, calmly and with evidence, that the fossilized footprints in the bed of the Paluxy River in Texas are dinosaur prints, not human prints as claimed by fringe religious groups. One YouTube comment posted to the video said, “There are dino human prints the uploader is a liar and a moron.” They simply and viscerally hate Glen and myself (I was the uploader). But this happens so often, so regularly, that we almost do not notice. I had forgotten all about it.
Glen is so calm and nice. I would, myself, have been snarky. The creationist woman said to him, “That footprint has to be human! My foot fit exactly into it!” My response would have been, “Then it must be your print. These prints are 110 million years old. I wouldn’t have put you at a day over 70 million.” I think Glen is glad that he, not I, engaged the woman in conversation.
It gets worse. Conservative Christians are at the forefront of claiming that everyone should have unlimited access to firearms. Jesus said, “Put your sword away, Peter; those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.” Many modern Christians would say, “Yeah! Bring it on! You just try to kill me with your sword, and I will shoot you with my assault weapon.” The final argument for many modern Christians, in defending their doctrinal beliefs, is “our beliefs are true, and we have a thousand assault weapons to prove it.”
I was a biology professor at a university in Oklahoma where most of the students were Christians. But a few of them (mostly, as it turned out, mine) were Freethinkers. They formed a club and had meetings. They posted signs announcing the time and place of their meetings. The signs got torn down so that, like the secret Christian meetings of the Roman Empire, information spread by word of mouth.
If you have your own examples of Christian violence that you have experienced, feel free to post a comment.
