to half banana
Look how much better the world is (outside of religious sectarian wars).
I agree that Christianity at times had a very dark past such as the Inquisition and the Crusades. But may I ask, did you hold Atheism to the same standard as you hold Christianity to conclude that Christianity is the wrong choice?
Atheism argues that the abolishment of violence and tyranny can be achieved by getting rid of what ultimately causes it, faith in God. This claim could hold water during the nineteenth century because atheism had not yet held the power and influence once held by religion. This now changed. The innocence that atheism once had now does not exist. In the twentieth century atheism took power, and proved just as oppressive, fallible, and corrupt as any belief system that had gone before it. Stalin’s death squads were just as murderous as their religious antecedents. Some of these men thought that religion would just die off naturally in the face of compelling, intellectual argument with moral vision. Unfortunately this idea has the tendency to encourage those that don’t budge to change their belief at the physical level and history proves it. Some of the greatest atrocities of the twentieth century were committed by regimes that espoused atheism. Stalin killed approx 20 million, Hitler killed approx 11 million, Mao’s Cultural Revolution killed approx. 30 million, and Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge killed approx. 2 million about 26% of the population. More people were killed in the name of atheism in the past century than in the name of Christianity during its entire history.
Could the real truth be that there is something about human nature that makes it capable of being inspired by what it believes to be right to do both wonderful and appalling things? The real problem is extremism, whether religious, antireligious, or political. Belief in God can be abused, and we need to be very clear, in the first place, that this abuse happens, and in the second, that it needs to be confronted. But abuse of an ideal does not negate its validity. The difference between Christianity and Atheism is that the atrocities committed by Atheism is a natural outworking of that worldview, and to the contrary, the atrocities committed by Christians go completely against the teachings of Jesus. Do not judge a movement by its followers but by it originator. Judge Christianity by Jesus, do you find any flaw in Him or what He said. Judge Islam by Muhammad; or atheism by its founders and decide whose example you would follow.
how we are living longer, eating better food, curing once incurable diseases, enjoying better education and communication........... and all through applying science and reason to the tangible, measurable world.
This has nothing to do with religion. The scientist who are responsible for such advances were either Theist, Agnostic or Atheist. Belief or disbelief in a supreme being is irrelevant.