08 - The Influence of Christianity

SECTION VIII. THE INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY. No one, we presume, who has marked the development of religious thought will deny that Christianity has been a potent factor in the history of the world. Its nature, incentive, and general environment would naturally make it so. Nothing influences the theological mind, either for good or for evil, more than its notion of supernaturalism. If a person is induced to have absolute faith in the fatherhood and sovereignty of God, he deems it his first duty to carry out that which he considers to be the will of that God. Hence it is that during intellectual periods men’s notions of Deity have been refined and cultivated, and, as a consequence, oppression and persecution of Skepticism have been more rare; while, on the other hand, when the multitude held rude ideas of divinity, minds pure and chaste were sickened at the scenes of cruelty and bloodshed which were enacted in accordance with what was supposed to be "the will of God." [For important facts bearing upon this point the reader is referred to Earl Russell’s "History of the Christian Religion" and to Buckle’s history of Civilization.] What we desire to consider in this section is: Are the claims put forward by Christian exponents, as to the influence of Christianity upon personal character and natural progress, borne out by individual experience and the records of history? As a rule, man is supposed to know himself better than others know him; but there are instances in which other people can estimate a person more correctly than he can estimate himself. They will take a more dispassionate view of his character. They will be in a better position to compare him with others, and thus judge more accurately of his relations and comparative place in the scale of humanity. As with individuals, so it is with systems of religions. The devotees of a certain faith are wont to regard it as being spotless, and as containing the panacea for all the imperfections of society. This is particularly the case with Christian advocates, who not only ignore all that is evil and defective in the world as belonging to their system, but credit Christianity with all the progress that has taken place in modern times. This we believe to be a theological assumption which is utterly opposed to the true history of all human improvement. The progress of a nation cannot be attributed to any one thing or to any one age, but rather to a combination of circumstances which have been in operation during many ages. For instance, had it not been for the scientific discoveries in the last century of a Watt, a Dalton, and others, the sciences with which their names are associated would not have been so easy of application to human utility as they are at the present time. It is equally true that for the freedom from religious intolerance which we now enjoy we are as much indebted to Franklin, Paine, Carlile, Hetherington, Watson, and other Freethought heroes of the past, as to any of their representatives of this generation. To judge fairly of the influence of Christianity, the following facts should be kept in view: -- (1) That it is not an original system of harmonious teachings and of uniform history. This fact we have already abundantly proved. No one who has carefully and impartially read the histories of the ancient religions and ethical systems can truly allege that the principal doctrines and moral teachings of the New Testament were known for the first time in their connection with Christianity. The able American writer, Charles B. Waite, M.A., in his "History of the Christian Religion," observes: "Many of the more prominent doctrines of the Christian religion prevailed among nations of antiquity hundreds -- and in some instances thousands -- of years before Christ." Judge Strange, in his work, "The Sources and Development Of Christianity," shows that nearly all the Christian doctrines -- the Atonement, Trinity, Incarnation, judgment of the Dead, Immortality, Sacrifice -- were of Egyptian origin, and therefore, existed long before the time of Christ. The same writer, on page 100 of the work mentioned, says: "Christianity, it is thus apparent, was not the result of a special revelation from above, but the growth of circumstances, and developed out of the materials, working in a natural manner in the human mind in the place and at the time that the movement occurred." "To the truths already uttered in the Athenian prison," remarks Mackay, "Christianity added little or nothing, except a few symbols, which, though well calculated for popular acceptance, are more likely to perplex than to instruct, and offer the best opportunity for priestly mystification." Sir William Jones, in his tenth discourse before the Asiatic Society, says: "Christianity has no need of such aids as many are willing to give it, by asserting that the wisest men of the world were ignorant of the great maxim, that we should act in respect to others as we would wish them to act in respect of ourselves, as the rule is implied in a speech of Lysias, expressed in distinct phrases by Thales and Pittacus, and I have seen it word for word in the original of Confucius." And the Rev. Dr. George Matheson, in his lecture on "The Religions of China," page 84, frankly states "The glory of Christian morality is that it is not original."

(2) That to say professed Christians have performed noble and useful actions is not sufficient to make good the orthodox claims; it must be shown that such actions accord with the teachings of the New Testament. It does not follow that, because Christianity and civilization coexist, therefore the former is the cause of the latter. Skepticism now obtains more than at any previous period; but Christians will not grant that modern progress is the result of unbelief. Civilization is not an invention, but a growth; a process from low animal conditions to higher physical, moral, and intellectual attainments. The real value of civilization consists in its being the means whereby the community can enjoy personal comfort and general happiness. History teaches that the progress of a people depends upon their knowledge of, and their obedience to, organic laws. The principal causes of modern civilization are: The development of the intellect -- this rules the world to-day; the expansion of mechanical genius -- this provides for the increased needs of the people; the extension of national commerce -- this causes an interchange of ideas; the invention of printing -- this provides for the circulation of newly-discovered facts; the beneficial influence of climate -- this affects the condition both of body and mind; the knowledge and the application of science -- these reveal the value and the power of natural resources; the spread of skepticism -- this provides for the vindication of the right of mental freedom; the practical recognition of political justice -- this forms the basis of all just governments; and, finally, the establishment of the social equality of women with men -- this secures the emancipation of women from that state of domestic servitude and general inferiority in which theology had for centuries kept them. Now, these civilizing elements are not to be found in the teachings of the New Testament; but, on the contrary, as we have shown in previous sections of this pamphlet, much that is taught therein discourages a progressive spirit (see Matthew 6:25-34; Matthew 19:21, Matthew 19:29; Luke 14:26; John 6:27, John 12:25; 1 Corinthians 7:20; Romans 13:1-2; Ephesians 5:22-24; and 2 Peter 2:13-18).

(3) The personal results of Christianity have depended upon the nature and characteristics of those who accepted it as a belief. Hence persons of the most contrary dispositions and the most opposite natures have been its illustrators, expounders, and living representatives. It has found room for all temperaments -- the ascetic and luxurious enjoyer of life; the man of action and the man of contemplation; the monk and the king; the philanthropist, and the destroyer of his race; the iconoclastic hater of all ceremonies and the superstitious devotee. It has been, in the words of St. Paul, "all things to all men." This heterogeneous influence upon the human character, however, is by no means the result of any all-embracing comprehensiveness in Christianity, but is rather the effect of a system characterized alike by its indefinite, incomplete, and indecisive principles. This fact explains why some men have been good in spite of their being believers in the orthodox faith, while other believers have been destitute of the nobler qualities of our nature. The power that "makes for righteousness" came not from Christianity, but from the natural proclivities of its professors. If this were not so, we might justly expect that all the recipients of the faith would have been influenced for good. That they were not thus influenced we learn from the New Testament and Christian history. "Contentions," "strife," "indignation," "fraud," and lying were indulged in by St. Paul and his contemporaries (see Acts 15:39; Luke 22:24; Matthew 20:24; 1 Corinthians 6:8 and 1 Corinthians 5:1; Matthew 26:70-72; 2 Corinthians 11:8 and 2 Corinthians 12:16). Mosheim admits that in the fourth century "the Church was contaminated with shoals of profligate Christians ... It cannot be affirmed that even true Christians were entirely innocent and irreproachable in this matter" (see Mosheim’s "Ecclesiastical History," vol. i., pp. 55, 77, 102, Salvian, an eminent pious clergyman of the fifth century writes: "With the exception of a very few who flee from vice, what is almost every Christian congregation but a sink of vices? For you will find in the Church scarcely one who is not either a drunkard, a glutton, or an adulterer ... or a robber, or a man-slayer, and, what is worse than all, almost all these without limit" (Miall’s "Memorials of Early Christianity," p. 366). Dr. Cave, in his "Primitive Christianity" (p. 2), observes: "If a modest and honest heathen were to estimate Christianity by the lives of its professors, he would certainly proscribe it as the vilest religion in the world." Dr. Dicks, in his "Philosophy of Religion" (pp. 366-7), also states: "There is nothing which so strikingly marks the character of the Christian world in general as the want of candor [and the existence of] the spirit of jealousy ... Slander, dishonesty, falsehood, and cheating are far from being uncommon among those who profess to be united in the bonds of a common Christianity." Wesley, after stating that "Bible-reading England" was guilty of every species of vice, even those that nature itself abhors, thus concludes: "Such a complication of villainies of every kind, considered with all their aggravations; such a scorn of whatever bears the face of virtue; such injustice, fraud, and falsehood; above all, such perjury and such a method of law, we may defy the whole world to produce ("Sermons," vol. xii., P. 223).

It is not true that, as orthodox believers allege, Christianity is a universal religion. Christ states that he was "not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew xv. 24). And when he sent his disciples forth to preach he commanded them to "go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not (Matthew x. 5). Besides, the very nature of the faith precludes it from being suitable to all the nations of the world. Hence it has always been subject to human conditions and national environments, and when those factors were unfavorable to its advancement it either made comparatively no progress, or its exponents altered its form that it might be adapted to the conditions by which it was surrounded. Of this fact there is abundant testimony. Tennent, in his "Christianity in Ceylon," says: "Neither history nor more recent experience can furnish any example of the long retention of pure Christianity by a people themselves rude and unenlightened. In all the nations of Europe, embracing every period since the second century, Christianity must be regarded as having taken the hue and complexion of the social state with which it was incorporated, presenting itself unsullied, contaminated, or corrupted, in sympathy with the enlightenment, or ignorance, or debasement of those by whom it had been originally embraced. The rapid and universal degeneracy of the early Asiatic Churches is associated with the decline of education and the intellectual decay of the communities among whom they were established." Dean Milman, in his "History of Civilization," observes: "Its [Christianity’s] specific character will almost entirely depend upon the character of the people who are its votaries ... it will darken with the darkness and brighten with the light of each succeeding century." Lord Macaulay says, with no less truth than brilliancy: "Christianity conquered Paganism, but Paganism infected Christianity. The rites of the Pantheon passed into her worship, and the subtleties of the Academy into her creed." Francis William Newman, in his "Phases of Faith," also remarks; "I at length saw how untenable is the argument drawn from the inward history of Christianity in favor of its superhuman origin. In fact, this religion cannot pretend to self-sustaining power. Hardly was it started on its course when it began to be polluted by the heathenism and false philosophy around it. With the decline of national genius and civil culture it became more and more debased. So far from being able to uphold the existing morality of the best Pagan teachers, it became barbarized itself, and sank into deep superstition and manifold moral corruption. From ferocious men it learned ferocity. When civil society began to coalesce into order, Christianity also turned for the better, and presently learned to use the wisdom, first of Romans, then of Greeks; such studies opened men’s eyes to new apprehensions of the Scripture and of its doctrine. By gradual and human means, Europe, like ancient Greece, grew up towards better political institutions, and Christianity improved with them." With these historical facts at their command, it is strange that Christian writers should put forward, as they do, such extravagant and groundless claims on behalf of their faith. Professor Stewart has the temerity to claim, in his "Handbook of Christian Evidences," the following as achievements of Christianity: (1) The introduction of the spirit of humanity and the doctrine of brotherhood of man; (2) the modern elevation of woman; (3) the abolition of slavery; (4) the extinction of the gladiatorial combats in Rome; (5) the establishment of hospitals; and (6) the fostering of art and general culture. These are some of the advantages for which it is said we are indebted to the influence of Christianity. A greater perversion of facts we have seldom encountered, as we purpose now showing.

(1) The great principle of love, humanity, and the brotherhood of man was understood and practiced long before Christianity existed. "Love," says the great teacher of the Academy, "is peace and goodwill among men, calm upon the waters, repose and stillness in the storm, and balm of sleep in sadness." "Independently of Christian revelation," says Merivale, "the heathen world was gravitating, through natural causes, towards the acknowledgment of the cardinal doctrines of humanity" ("Conversion of the Roman Empire," p. 118). In Mencius we have the noble statement that "Humanity is the heart of man." Lecky writes: "The duty of humanity to slaves had been at all times one of those which the philosophers had most ardently inculcated ... But these exhortations [on the duty of abstaining from cruelty to slaves], in which some have imagined that they have discovered the influence of Christianity, were, in fact, simply an echo of the teaching of ancient Greece, and especially of Zeno, the founder of the sect who had laid down, long before the dawn of Christianity the broad principle that all men are by nature equal, and that virtue alone establishes a difference between them ("History of European Morals," vol. i., pp. 324-5; see also "The Sacred Anthology," by Moncure D. Conway, pp. 10 and 354). Lecky also states that "the doctrine of the brotherhood of mankind" was an active factor in Rome, and that "Cicero asserted it as emphatically as Seneca" (ibid, p. 361). Christ’s idea of brotherhood was an exceedingly limited one, inasmuch as it was confined to those who believed in him. Even at the "judgment day " mankind are to be divided, "as a shepherd divideth his sheep from his goats" (see Luke 12:9; Matthew 25:32).

(2) The position of woman, according to the Bible, is low and humiliating in the extreme. It teaches that "Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee" (Genesis 3:16). It enjoins that, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything (Ephesians 5:22-24). Women are not to speak in public, but to be under obedience, as also saith the law; they are not permitted to teach, but to learn in silence with all subjection, for the reason that "Adam was first formed, then Eve, and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression (1 Timothy 2:11-15). These notions are not, when accepted, calculated to elevate the character or better the condition of woman. Herbert Spencer says: "In England, as late as the seventeenth century, husbands of decent station were not ashamed to beat their wives, Gentlemen arranged parties of pleasure for the purpose of seeing wretched women whipped at Bridewell. It was not until 1817 that the public whipping of women was abolished in England. Wives in England were bought from the fifth to the seventeenth century." Contrast this with the treatment of woman before the advent of Christianity. Lecky says: "The Roman religion was essentially domestic, and it was the main object of the legislator to surround marriage with every circumstance of dignity and solemnity. Monogamy was, from the earliest times, strictly enjoined, and it was one of the great benefits that have resulted from the expansion of the Roman power that it made this type dominant in Europe. In the legends of early Rome we have ample evidence of the high moral estimate of women, and of their prominence in Roman life. The tragedies of Lucretia and of Virginia display a delicacy of honor, a sense of supreme excellence, of unsullied purity, which no Christian nation could surpass" ("European’ Morals," vol. ii., p. 316). "The legal position of the wife had become one of complete independence, while her social position was one of great dignity (ibid, p. 323). Sir Henry Maine, in his "Ancient Law," says: "No society which preserves any tincture of Christian institutions is likely to restore to married women the personal liberty conferred on them by the middle Roman law ... The later Roman law having assumed, on the theory of natural law, the equality of the sexes, control of the person of the woman was quite obsolete when Christianity was born. Her situation had become one of great personal liberty and proprietary independence, even when married, and the arbitrary power over her of her male relatives, or her guardian, was reduced to a nullity; while the form of marriage conferred on the husband no superiority ... But Christianity tended from the first to narrow this remarkable liberty." [For ample evidence, showing the unjust laws which Christian Councils passed, that were degrading to Woman, and also the treatment she received from the Christian Fathers, the reader is referred to a very able book, "Woman, Church, and State" (chapters vii. and ix.), by Matilda J. Gage; also to "Men, Women, and Gods," by Helen H. Gardener. In these two works ample evidence is given to disprove the allegation that woman owes her improved condition to Christianity.]

(3) No one questions that slavery is taught in the Bible. But the damaging fact to the Professor’s contention is that, while at the time when Christ is supposed to have lived the horrors of slavery existed on every hand, yet he was silent upon this great evil. In fact, slavery is endorsed in the New Testament, for we read: "Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters as worthy of all honor." "Exhort servants to be obedient unto their own masters.", "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling." "Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear: not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward "(1 Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:9; Ephesians 6:5; 1 Peter 2:8). While the humanity of many professed Christians prompted them to oppose slavery, among the most persistent upholders of slavery and the most determined opponents to its abolition were Christians, not only of this country, but also of nearly all the American denominations. It is stated in "The Life and Times of Garrison" that, at an American convention held in May, 1841, he proposed: "That, among the responsible classes in the non-slaveholding States, in regard to the existence of slavery the religious professors, and especially the clergy, stand wickedly preeminent, and ought to be unsparingly exposed and reproved before all the people." Theodore Parker said that, if the whole American Church had "dropped through the Continent and disappeared altogether, the anti-slavery cause would have been further on" ("Works," vol. vi., p. 333). He pointed out that no Church ever issued a single tract among all its thousands against property in human flesh and blood, and 80,000 slaves were owned by Presbyterians, 225,000 by Baptists, and 250,000 by Methodists. Even Wilberforce himself declared that the American Episcopal Church "raises no voice against the predominant evil; she palliates it in theory, and in practice she shares in it. The mildest and most conscientious of the bishops of the South are slave-holders themselves."

Neither did Christianity improve the position of the slaves, for both Lecky and Gibbon have shown that the condition of slaves was, in some instances, better before than it was after the introduction of Christianity. Prior to Christianity many of the slaves had political power; they were educated, and allowed to mix in the domestic circles of their masters; but subsequent to the Christian advent the fate of the slave was far more severe, hence Lecky observes "The slave code of imperial Rome compares not unfavorably with those of some Christian countries. The physician who tended the Roman in his sickness, the tutor to whom he confided the education of his son, the artists whose services commanded the admiration of the city, were usually slaves. Slaves sometimes mixed with their masters in the family, ate habitually with them at the same table, and were regarded by them with the warmest affection" (Lecky’s "History of Morals," vol. i., pp. 323 and 327). The Council of Laodicea actually interdicted slaves from Church communion without the consent of their masters. The Council of Orleans (541) ordered that the descendants of slave parents might be captured and replaced in the servile condition of their ancestors. The Council of Toledo (633) forbade Bishops to liberate slaves belonging to the Church. Jews having made fortunes by slave-dealing, the Councils of Rheims and Toledo both prohibited the selling of Christian slaves except to Christians. Parker Pillsbury’s excellent work, "Acts of the Anti-Slavery Apostles," is a strong indictment against the Christian Church for its conduct in supporting slavery.

(4) It is not true that the Galilean faith removed the blots that dimmed the glory of the ancient world. Slavery, infanticide, and brutal sports remained for centuries after the erection of the symbol of the Cross. We grant that Rome, like every other country, had its vices; but Christianity failed to remove them. As Lecky observes, "the golden age of Roman law was not Christian, but Pagan" ("History of European Morals," vol. ii., p. 44). The gladiatorial shows of Rome had a religious origin; and, while some of the grandest pagan writers condemned them, they were not abolished till four hundred years after the commencement of the Christian era. And be it observed that the immediate cause of their ultimately being stopped was that at one of the exhibitions, in A.D. 404, a monk was killed. "His death," says Lecky, "led to the final abolition of the games" (ibid, p. 40). It was a noteworthy fact that, while the passion for these games existed in Rome, its love for religious liberty was equally as strong; and it was this very liberty that was first destroyed in the Christian Empire (ibid, p. 38). Every nation has had its national drawback, and Christian countries are no exception to the general rule. Under the very shadow of the Cross cruelties of the deepest dye have been practiced. Bull-fights, badger-hunting, cock-fighting, and pigeon-shooting have all been, and still are, favorite amusements in Christian lands. What was the state of morals in England during the reigns of Henry VIII., Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, and George IV.? Was there ever a period of greater moral depravity and intellectual poverty than when the Christian Church was paramount and supreme, when the saints, the bishops, and the priests were guilty of the worst of crimes, including incest, adultery, and concubinage, when "sacred institutions," filled with pious nuns, were converted into brothels and hot-beds of infanticide? (ibid, 351). Rome, with all its immorality, will bear comparison with the early ages of Christianity.

(5) There is no lack of evidence to prove that consideration for the poor and the sick existed centuries before the Christian era. Such virtue is confined to no one race, and to no one religion. According to Prescott, the ancient Mexicans had hospitals in the principal cities "for the cure of the sick, and for the permanent refuge of disabled soldiers" ("History of the Conquest of Mexico," p. 140). Hospitals are evidently the outgrowth of dispensaries, and we are told that, as far back as the eleventh century B.C., the Egyptians had medical officers who were paid by the State, and who attended in some public place to prescribe for the sick who came there. These were qualified men; for at this early date there was a College of Physicians, and only those who were licensed by this college were allowed to practice. R. Bosworth Smith, M.A., writes in his "Mohammed and Mohammedanism": "No Christian need be sorry to learn, or be backward to acknowledge, that, contrary to what is usually supposed, two of these noble institutions [hospitals and lunatic asylums] ... owe their origin and their early spread, not to his own religion, but to the great heart of humanity, which beat in two other of the grandest religions of the world. Hospitals are the direct outcome of Buddhism" (p. 253). About 325 B.C. King Asoka commanded his people to build hospitals for the poor, the sick, and distressed, at each of the four gates of Patna and throughout his dominions. The first Christian hospital was built by a Roman lady named Fabiola, in the fourth century A.D., so that it took some time for Christianity to begin to develop this good fruit, though Egyptians, Greeks, and Hindoos had long before shown the value of it. If it were true that the world is indebted to Christianity for benevolent institutions, it would be a sad reproach to the supposed "Heavenly Father," who, until less than two thousand years ago, failed to inspire his children with active sympathy for those who required help. Were God’s chosen people "destitute of love and consideration for their fellows? Let the Old Testament answer the question.

(6) No doubt Christianity at one period gave an impetus to art, and so it did to monkish lying chronicles. William Hole, R.S.A., however, says: "Christianity brought about the deterioration of Greek art ... In early centuries Christianity tended generally to the decay of art. When it did favor it, it was not through love of art, but for the sake of religion" (Address delivered before the Edinburgh Philosophical Institute, February 16th, 1892). The assistance that culture has received from Christian teachings is of a very doubtful character. Where in the New Testament is culture inculcated? We know that the Christian Church destroyed much of the learning of Rome, and plunged Europe into a state of mental darkness. For centuries it monopolized, with a blighting force, the agencies of intellectual training, with the result that the world was cursed with what Lecky terms "a night of mental and moral darkness," and he further adds: "Nearly all the greatest intellectual achievements of the last three centuries have been preceded and prepared by the growth of skepticism. ... The splendid discoveries of physical science would have been impossible but for the scientific skepticism of the school of Bacon ... Not till the education of Europe passed from the monasteries to the universities, not till Mohammedan science and classical Freethought and industrial independence broke the scepter of the Church, did the intellectual revival of Europe begin." History of Morals," vol. ii., pp. 205 and 219).