On the Christianity Meme as presented by http://www.christianitymeme.org/immorality.shtml ================================================ by FZT (of ethertech.org) Christian principles include loving thy neighbor, compassion and understanding, and not bearing false witness (lying). All of these principles are systematically violated by "True Christians"--those infected with the Christianity Meme. And, for that matter, are violated by every living human being right now. That's the point. If people were not systematically violating these principles there would be no need for the Christianity meme. The action of the Christianity meme is meant to instill respect for and action on behalf of these principles, in fact, that's why they're the principles of the meme. Since the Christianity Meme draws heavily from the Bible, many of the ancient writings become invalided by scientific discovery. Consider the once-held Christian belief that man was the center of the universe--the pinnacle of creation. Modern astronomy has shown that our small planet circles an insignificant star in an insignificant galaxy. After questioning the tenet, Galileo was forced to recant the truth because the Christianity Meme held more power. It took the Roman Catholic Church 400 years to apologize to (the long since dead) Galileo for its mistake. (This one event effectively kills the argument that the Church must be used for an infallible interpretation of scripture, though the Christianity Meme would like you to believe otherwise.) See "Galileo: the real story" for a more thorough discussion of the event. I've yet to come across any literature documenting man as the actual center of the universe. That idea is intuitively absurd to anyone that knows what a circle is since there's only one center and there's more than one man. I'll assume, however, that the comment was made allegorically in an attempt to make the actual viewpoint you criticize in the next sentence, that being heliocentricity. Although Christians have, in the past, ascribed to this viewpoint, they certainly weren't the only ones. In fact, AFAIK the Bible has no genuine references to heliocentricity and the idea has gained far more momentum from Aristotle than anyone. Next you blame the Chrisitianity meme for the acts of the catholic church in the 15th century. However, as I'm sure you know, the catholic church, moreso then than now, is run by a few individuals whose aspirations are to control the public and control their experience of religion. The large masses of those infected with the Christianity meme are, in fact, often in opposition to those very church leaders, and as has happened more than once, have fought with them and been killed by them. I see no reason to blame the acts of a few power-hungry aristocrats on the Christianity meme. Furthermore, as the Christianity meme was started before the inception of the catholic church years after the death of Jesus, there is no implication in the Christianity meme that one must grant authority to the interpretations of any church, let alone the catholic church, in fact, one's only authority is ultimately God and Christians have a history of subverting authorities that would have them violate their subservience to the principles of God. See: http://web.haystack.mit.edu/pcr/documents/historicalviewofman.htm Today, the "debate" about creationism is alive and well because the Christianity Meme is in conflict with the rival meme of Evolution. Science has long since disproved creationism and the biblically supported notion that the universe is about 10,000 years old. Evolution is able to completely explain the mystery of life without requiring divine influence. Far from conceding defeat, the Christianity Meme continues the promotion of this antiquated (and false) explanation and directs "True Christians" to suppress the rival meme. Consider the August 1999 action by the Kansas school board in the removal of evolution from public school curricula. See Christianity Meme in the News for more. No, it's not. It's because the people in power in the government and in media, were more than often brought up without learning about evolution. The model of the world that they hold in their minds is being threatened by this idea which turns the conception most people had on its head. The bible neither contradicts with creationism as it's believed today nor with the idea of a 15-billion-year-old universe. Both of those have been thought up and ingrained in the populace by post-biblical scholars and shim-shams. You may wish to view Gerald Schroeder's excellent scientific study of the creation myth. If evolution can completely explain life without divine influence, maybe you'd like to tell me where the plasma, the earliest stage of the big-bang we know of, came from. The fact is that evolution explains the progression of life from the viewpoitn of a created universe, in fact, even a specific created planet. Other scientific theories, however, can bring us back to just moments after the big bang all the way through the universe as we know it, but that still offers no explanation of the natural laws we have exist or where energy comes from. The only place I see to go from there is to a view of something that would be called God. The Christianity meme, as established by Christ 2,000 ago directs "true Chrisitians" in absolutely no way about the suppression of evolutionary theory. And that action in 1999? Who was that by again? Oh, the Kansas school board...and they work for the Christianity meme? Maybe they've got a contract written up with Jesus in a file somewhere? Sorry, that's the government, and it's compelled by law to act seperately from religions, so guess what? If it does something completely fucking retarded like that, you have beef with it for both violating the principle of seperation of church and state (if it was, in fact, compelled to do so by the Christianity meme) and for not properly educating children. see: G. Schroeder It is not difficult to find other topics on which the Christianity Meme begs to differ with fact and reality. Promotion of falsehoods is the same as bearing false witness, an act explicitly prohibited by the Ten Commandments. Thus, following the Christianity Meme leads to immorality as defined by Christian principles. Thus, following the Christianity meme leads to not following the Christianity meme. Which doesn't make much sense, right? Wow, those infected are really crazy. First, let's avoid the fact that the ten commandments are general principles that are a part of the Jewish and muslim faiths; they aren't as trendy to bash these days. Chrisitianity also follows these principles, though, and should be held accountable to them. However, the Christianity meme makes no exhortation that its followers lie if faced with evidence that seemingly contradicts their faith as known by them at the time. Thus making your point a complete strawman.