The Science Conclusion

One characteristic of the modern debate over Christianity is the role science has played in developing evidence that negates most of Christian theology. Of course, this is the reason Christians are fighting so fervently to discount this scientific evidence. Our examination; though, looks more at the Christian belief system itself and the development of Christianity as an historical phenomenon. We try very hard not to rely on examining the religion through a prism of science, but rather, to examine it based on the merits of its own claims of validity. The only area where we found this impossible was with the Christian view of original sin. If Christians wish to accept the Adam and Eve story as literally true and insist on a 6000 year old universe they have a built in refutation for the claims we make about original sin. We rely on the huge mountain of evidence supporting a much older universe in order to treat the Genesis story as myth and legend. We believe this evidence to be overpowering and this allows us to make the assertions that we do.

The other area where we are indebted to modern science is in the field of textual criticism. While the methods employed in this field rely on the conventions of science , the real reason biblical textual criticism exists as a field that we can explore rests on the decline of Church influence. In Medieval Europe scholars would not dare explore subjects that 19th century scholars tackled without fear of punishment and death. These scholars opened up an entire universe of inquiry lines for us to pursue. That Christian theologians missed or ignored something so basic as the synoptic Gospel issue continues to amaze us and further demonstrates the power of the Church as a mechanism for control.

We have attempted to cast our conclusions and ultimate judgement of the validity of Christianity on the same information that Christians use for the basis of their faith. We have simply explored the "evidence" without a priori acceptance of its truth.

We put forth our conclusion that Christianity is an entirely manmade phenomenon, not to destroy the faith of present day Christians. There is no reward for this. Rather, we are forward looking and attempt to layout the evidence so that people with a choice of whether to follow the Christian path or some other path will have a clearer picture of the implications. Likewise, if the citizens in the predominantly Christian nations are going to move in a different direction a lot of thought needs to be given to what will replace those aspects of life Christians find so appealing. The last thing we'd want is a world of Godless atheists that have no direction, no purpose, and no means for filling the holes produced by a world without Christianity.