Saturday, August 22, 2009

A mission of malice

A mission of malice

I often rag on how bad belief is. People who want to ban gay marriage, ban abortion, ban pornography and ban comprehensive sex education are among the most dangerous people on the planet. People who think “intelligent design” should be taught in the science classroom are almost as bad. Belief hurts us when people think we need to convert homosexuals to heterosexuality. It hurts us as people infringe on others freedoms, rights and privacy. It is one of the most destructive things we know.

Often, a common rebuttal to this is that belief also does some good. Faith-based initiatives do all kinds of great things like feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, etc. There are missions that go to the ends of the earth to try to ease the suffering of others. Surely I must acknowledge that belief if not all bad?

Nope. This would be another example of the harm belief can cause.

The purpose of these missions is NOT primarily to do the good works; it is to spread belief. What better way to spread belief than to offer a hungry person food in exchange for conversion? Let’s offer clothing and shelter for your soul! Confess Jesus is lord, and you will never be lonely again.

While it is true there are rare exceptions to this, the fact is the exception is rare. Show me a mission whose primary purpose is NOT to spread belief but to do the good work, and I will show you one that is criticized by the christain community for this very reason.

Or, you could show me a secular organization that does the good work.

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