Why are Christians so cruel?

David French wrote a piece just before Christmas entitled, “Why are so many Christians so cruel?” You can read the full piece here if you have a NY Times subscription. But if you don’t here’s a site that copied parts of the essay. It’s well worth a read because it’s an important question.

And while I think French offers some good insight into humanity, I think he doesn’t answer the question. And it’s question we should be grappling with.

Christianity has a long history of cruelty, violence, and oppression. Why is that?

Christianity has used and abused political power, sanctioned the slaughter of all types of people, has a long anti-Semitic streak, and more. In this nation (the US), Christianity has been used to prop up racism. That’s no hyperbole. There are literally photos that exist of klan meetings taking place in churches where a preacher in his clerical is standing in the middle. There are stories of lynchings that happen on Sundays following worship. How in the world can that be a thing?

Christianity has gotten in bed with empires and was far worse for it, not tempering the impulses of empires but actually giving them cover for their atrocities. Christianity was used as excuse for genocide. Christianity has been used for nationalistic causes. Christianity has blessed war and weapons of war.

Christianity does not have a good track record when it comes to these things.