In the bible, we read in James 2:18, “But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

James’s writing here points out to the believer that you may confess a faith in Jesus, but that faith is unreal without deeds to back it up. This is one of the greatest problems with today’s Christianity. The ‘church’ preaches their faith and the love of God, but they have no deeds to back it up.

Today’s hatred for so many in our society today is not the first of the evil actions of the church. Rather there a deep and dark history of evil in the churches past:

Josh Kilburn, on the website Church and State, lists a small number of some of the most outrageous acts of the church, these include:

•Central African Republic Genocide (2012 – Present) (Ethnic cleansing against a Muslim minority)
•Bosnian Genocide (1992 – 1995) (Again ethnic cleansing)
•The Holocaust (1933 – 1942) (Christian Antisemitism)
•The Pogroms (1881 – 1884; 1903 – 1906; 1917 -1921) (The Pogroms were a series of violent attacks carried out against the Jews by the Christians in Russia and Poland)
•American Slavery (c. 1619 – 1865)
•Native American Cultural Cleansing (c. 1500s –  c. 1800s) (Eradication of the Native American)
•Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648) (Catholics verses Protestants)
•The Inquisition (c. 1100 to Present) (Hunting down ov Jews, Heretics, and Witches)
•The Albigensian Crusade (1209-1229) (Effort of the early Church to stamp out a competing ideology, Catharism.)
•The First and Second Crusade (1096 – 1102; 1147 – 1149) (Christians liberating the Holy Land from the “Christ Killers,”)
•Hypatia and the Library at Alexandria (415) (Burn down the greatest reservoir of knowledge in the Classical World)
•Catholic-sponsored Death Camps in Vietnam (1955-1960)
•And others

Researchers estimate that hundreds of millions (if not billions) have lost their lives in the name of the church.

In America today we see the hatred around us in groups that claim Christ (white supremacy, Trumpism, Nationalism, and right-wing extremism to name a few). They preach nothing but hatred. They do not show their faith by their deeds, rather they hope to force into submission those who disagree with their beliefs. 

The Christ I believe in taught ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’. 

Josh Kilburn is a writer, author, blogger, and freelancer with a Bachelor’s degree who lives in the buckle of the Rust Belt.

https://churchandstate.org.uk/2016/03/the-right-wing-doesnt-want-to-talk-about-christian-atrocities-so-lets-talk-about-christian-atrocities/

Roy Richard
May 2023