One of the major reasons that I’m not a Christian is that I don’t consider myself an evil and worthless wretch who has no ability to change himself or the world around him.
A basic belief of Christianity is that human beings are completely evil and totally worthless wretches who can’t achieve anything good or constructive without “God.” Christianity teaches us that the nature of humanity is evil and that people can only overcome evil through “God.” It also teaches us that there is no way that human beings can overcome things like violence, ignorance, poverty, cruelty and brutality without “God’s” help.
Under Christianity, people have no hope, no reason to go on, and no reason to have any faith in the future. There’s no reason to improve society or the world because human beings are worthless and vicious creatures who will destroy whatever is good or decent. Instead, all people can do is pray to God and hope for a better life after death.
The believing Christian has no reason to work to end poverty, improve the world, clean up the environment, oppose tyranny, or try to reform the world to make it a better place. Instead, the Christian has a perfect excuse not to do anything because all human efforts are worthless.
Worse, some Christians take it even further, withdrawing from society and waiting for “Christ” to return and fix all the world’s problems. They sit around waiting for Judgement Day rather than getting involved in our world.
History has proven Christianity wrong; things have gotten better for much of the human race. For the first time in history, much of the world’s population has enough food to eat and hope for the future. Diseases have been cured, the human life span is getting longer–even terrible plagues have disappeared. Most of the world’s tyrannical regimes are history, and slavery has all but disappeared. Even war is not as destructive or deadly as it was just a generation ago. These things have happened through human efforts, not through God. If things continue to get better it will be through humanity’s own efforts not through God.
Therefore I’m not a Christian because I believe in hope and humanity. I believe that human beings can improve themselves and overcome their problems through their own efforts, not through “God.” I believe that a better future is possible but that we have to create it ourselves–without God’s help.
Editor’s note: This is the second of two related articles. Interested readers should also see I Am Not a Christian Because I Am a Moral Person