Not All Christians Are Bigots?

Religious people in many parts of the world feel they are being persecuted by agnostics and atheists, because they are becoming more and more prone to express their beliefs (or lack thereof) through mass media outlets. It does seem shocking to see a sign that says "religion is a scam", or "all religions are fairy tales".

To understand this reaction, we should take a look at the previous status quo. It was considered a shame to be an agnostic or an atheist, because moral life was deeply embedded with religion. If one didn't believe in God, heaven or hell, why be moral? Deep down, many Christians still think "we, the faithful, are the good guys, and evil exists because the unfaithful atheists are making god angry." It is definitely unusual to hear people openly saying that religion is the cause of immorality, and that it is all a nasty hoax (hence taking a way all justification for moral life).

Several prominent atheists, such as Richard Dawkins and David Silverman, paint a picture of religious people being delusional, and standing in the way of scientific progress. Such statements had a mixed effect on the faithful, causing some to openly challenge solid scientific theories (Kent Hovind), and some to try to reconcile science with religion (Allister McGrath). On the moral arena, Christians have also been accused of being bigoted, and this, in turn, caused similar reactions, with some Christians clinging to some of the most bigoted claims of Christianity (Pat Robertson, William Donahue) and some arguing that "not all Christians are bigots" (McGrath).

So, does Christianity lead to bigotry? To answer this question, one must first think about what it means to be a Christian. At worst, being a Christian means believing literally everything the Bible says, Old Testament and outrageous scientific claims included. At best, it means to only follow the "nice" part of the Bible, embodied in the life and teachings of Jesus, thinking he changed (or better, abolished) Mosaic Law, and gave moral life a whole new meaning (depending on how we interpret Matthew 5:17).

In my opinion, the core motivations that fueled Jesus are not all that different from those that fueled Moses. The justification for moral behaviour is still the promise of eternal joyful life in heaven and/or the threat of ever-lasting punishment in hell. Through his teachings, Jesus often appealed to the "kingdom of heaven" (Mat. 5:19; 6:1; Rev. 21:1-5) and the "lake of fire" (Mat. 13:42, 25:41; Rev. 20:15) to convince his disciples. The moral teachings of Jesus ratify the ten commandments of the Old Testament (Mark 10:17-19; Luke 18:17-20), the first one being "you shall not have strange gods before me" (Exodus 20:3; Deut. 5:7). The belief in God (more specifically, the Judeochristian God) appears to be right on top of the list of Christian values. Moreover, what commandment was Christ's favorite? According to Matthew 22:36-37: "Teacher, what is the great commandment in the law? Jesus replied to him: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind."

So, what does that make someone who doesn't believe in him? A sinner. As John 3:18 gently puts it, "whoever believes in him is not judged. But whoever does not believe is already judged, because he does not believe in the name of the only-begotten Son of God."

I've heard some Christians say that, if you follow the Golden Rule of Matthew 22:39 ("you shall love your neighbor as yourself"), you can be saved while being an unbeliever. This interpretation puts Jesus out of context. Immediately after telling us his two golden rules (love God above all things, and love your neighbor as yourself), Jesus clarifies on Matthew 22:40: "On these two commandments the entire law depends, and also the prophets.", and further explains his point on John 14:6-7 "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, except through me. If you have known me, certainly you would also had known my Father. And from now on, you shall know him, and you have seen him", and Luke 12:8-9 "But I say to you: everyone who will have confessed me before men, the Son of man will also confess him before the Angels of God. But everyone who have denied me before men, he will be denied before the Angels of God."

Summarizing, you need to comply with both rules to be saved, not just the nice one, and you need to believe everything Jesus told you through the Gospels. Jesus doesn't only care that you love your neighbor, but he also cares that you do it because he told you so, as God told him.

Under my definition of bigot, provided by Wordreference, a bigot is "a person who is prejudiced in their views and intolerant of the opinions of others". Any true Christian whom, in the best of cases, is only concerned about the teachings and life of Jesus, would have to adopt his views on other non-Judeochristian religions (and on atheism and agnosticism), therefore, a Christian must think all those who reject him will go to hell, having broken his favorite commandment.

In conclusion, I believe that those who accept all of the teachings of Jesus are bigots, and those who only accept them partially aren't really Christians. The "love your neighbor as yourself" rule wasn't invented by Jesus, it was invented by Confucius 550 years before him, so calling oneself a Christian just because of that rule is also a fallacy. There isn't a problem with Christian fundamentalists, there is a problem with Christian fundamentals.