The cult of Christianity

I know that Christianity can’t by definition be a cult, although this is what the dictionary has to say about it:

1. a particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies.

2. an instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers: the physical fitness cult.

3. the object of such devotion.

4. a group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

5. Sociology. a group having a sacred ideology and a set of rites centering around their sacred symbols.

6. a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

7. the members of such a religion or sect.

8. any system for treating human sickness that originated by a person usually claiming to have sole insight into the nature of disease, and that employs methods regarded as unorthodox or unscientific.

So it does fit pretty well within this definition until you get to #6. It gets a little fuzzy, who is to say what is “unorthodox” or “false” ? Wow, according to the dictionary, there is somebody out there who can tell us which religious groups are “false” I’m guessing because they know the only true way. I know I’m being dramatic here, but everything seems to be twisted to the Christian beliefs. Even something as simple as a dictionary definition. How has this happened? Even our money has “In god we trust” blazon across it. What if I don’t trust that god? Even on the TV show Bones the other night our religion is treated like it’s some kind of joke. Bones is supposed to be Atheist and is confronting a Christian about God being make believe. To bolster her claim she tells him “After all, nobody believes in Odin or Zeus anymore” Gee, don’t think that had anything to do with 1500 years of Christian persecution do ya missy?

My point is, when did Christianity become the gage that all others would be judged by? How is it the accepted norm? Out of the billions of people in the world only a third of them are Christian, a full two thirds are not! Yet, Christianity is the norm. I think it is the most viral of all cults. Someone tell me what makes it not a cult. They start indoctrinating children from childhood and basically preach that it is their duty to show everyone the light. It makes me sick. Their “light” includes tales of child abuse, disregard for life that is not human, degrading women, human sacrifice, genocide, slavery, etc... the list goes on. Yet numerous other peaceful religions are labeled as sinners that must be saved.

I had to think back to my youth, why did I keep going to church and following a religion that in my heart I knew was wrong. Well, it was for the same reason cult followers don’t get out when things don’t feel right. I was afraid. Afraid to stand up to my parents and confront them with my problems with the church, Afraid of being labeled as an evil sinner, afraid of being smited by god. That is what you are taught. If you don’t believe in the biblical teachings you are angering god. The very act of questioning the teachings is a sin. You are set up for failure right from the start. You are in fact born a sinner! How about that. So someone remind me how this isn’t a cult again.

Now, compare my motivations from the past to my motivations now. In the past I was given 10 commandments of “thou shalt not” this and that. You had to plan your life around these, they were god’s will. Of course they didn’t include things like “tho shalt not enslave thy fellow man” but that is another story. I tap danced around these trying not to anger god. Of course there are a few I broke, all of us have. Some like not working on the sabbath seem almost impossible to follow, if you even know what day the sabbath is. My motivation for not breaking them? Why gods wrath of course! Now, compare that to now. My reasons for not breaking the commandments? Ha, trick question, there are no commandments. Instead there are noble virtues that you try to live your life by and then not doing bad things will follow naturally. That is a much more logical system than just giving you a list of things not to do.

Think of raising a child. You could teach you child about the dangers of fire, but also show them why fire is useful. They will learn fire is hot, fire can hurt you. But fire can also cook your food, heat your water, etc... The child will be armed with the knowledge they need to understand why they shouldn’t touch the burner on the stove. Or you could just say “Tho shalt not touch the stove”

So what kind of group expects you to blindly follow without question? Sounds like a cult to me. Christianity is the proverbial pot calling the kettle black. I find cult to be a nasty word anyway. Why must we label peoples beliefs this way. If it works for you, you should be allowed to practice without the moral majority calling your belief system a cult. If we are going to call something a cult though, lets at least try to make sure we don’t fit the description of the label we are using for others.