I was talking to an atheist recently who said that most atheists she knew did not want to destroy people’s faith but only the violence done by faith. But I wanted to ask the question “does faith itself really lead people to behave violently?” Atheists often talk about all of the wars caused by religion and people of faith but I don’t think they are free of their own charge about faith leading to violence. The idea that faith is necessarily always religious is demonstrably false.
Faith is essentially synonymous with trust. You can have faith (or trust) in a person or an ideology. It seems hard to accept the notion that faith is somehow itself something that leads to violence. It is not hard, however, to imagine that faith in a person (namely their teaching and leadership) or a certain philosophy, religion or ideology could definitely give way to violent behavior. To deny that someone’s faith in something would ever lead them to violent action would be foolish because it would not take very long to come up with an example of just that.
However I think it bears pointing out that while atheists often claim that the faith that leads to violence is religious in nature this is hardly exclusively the case. No one is denying that religion has fueled violence but then again so have ideologies like Communism which are strictly non-religious. But it is more than fair to say that there are “true believers” in Communism and that their faith in that system of thinking and living has led to the death of millions. So it is not faith itself that leads to violence, it is faith in certain people or ideas that give way to violence. The kind of trust or total buy in that people give to any religious ideal is not any different than what occurred when people bought in, wholesale, to Hitler’s rhetoric.
So then faith itself is not the problem. What honest people ought to admit is that some ideas are more dangerous than others and it does not matter so much whether those ideas are religious or non-religious. There have been many atrocities committed in the name of “God” but there have been many committed in the name of “Man” as well. Trust (or faith) is not inherently dangerous but some ideologies are whether they are religious or not.
So what about Christianity? Is it a dangerous ideology? Some think so and they point to the crusades and Spanish Inquisition for evidence that it is. But anyone who studies not only religion but folk religion can tell you that what a religion actually teaches versus what people come to believe about it or how they behave while identifying themselves with it, is not necessarily the same. There is no doubt that people have identified themselves as Christians and then committed acts of violence that would abhor any moral man. But one can hardly help it if someone says they identify with a religion and then behave the opposite of how that religion instructs them to live.
Did Jesus condone violence in his name?
Matthew 5:38-40 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”
Matthew 5:43-46 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
Matthew 26:52 “Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”
