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Psychologists and other behavioral scientists recognize the symptoms of mental illness. Some of them are low self-esteem, a dualistic view of self (mind vs. body), and alienation from others. All of these symptoms are also core teachings of Christianity. They can be found in the Bible, and Christian writers of earlier times seemed positively obsessed with them. Thomas A Kempis is a case in point.Thomas A Kempis (c. 1379-1471) was a German monk whose treatise "The Imitation of Christ" is one of the most influential Christian works of all time. It is a horrifying book to read. In it, Thomas repeatedly attacks this life and all the pleasures in it. He encourages self-hatred, obedience to authority, and disdains any kind of learning outside of the Bible. "The Imitation of Christ" lays bare the brutal and inhumane essence of Christianity.
According to the twisted Christian conception of morality, every virtue becomes a vice, every pleasure becomes a sin, misfortunes a test, and pain a reward in itself. Thomas¹ ideal man is not the intelligent, the productive, the noble and virtuous, but instead the weak, fearful, and ignorant. His own words are a better indictment of Christianity than any that an atheist could dream up.
Lets examine them: Thomas hatred of knowledge is obvious: "Never read in any science to the end that you may be called wise." And: "It is profitable to you to be ignorant in many things and to think of yourself as dead to the world." Of course, we must never trust in our own reason. Thomas, using God as speaker (rather an arrogant approach for one supposedly so meek and humble) says: "My judgements are to be feared and not to be discussed by man¹s reason, for they are incomprehensible to that reason." In other words, if some scriptural injunction seems to be irrational or immoral, follow it anyway and without question. Since our distinguishing characteristic as humans is our mind, hatred of the mind means hatred of humanity. Thomas takes it from there: "The highest and most profitable learning is this: That a man have a truthful knowledge and a full despising of himself." This hating of self is reinforced in other passages, including: "Blessed is he who knows how good it is to love Jesus and, for His sake, to despise himself." This concept is conjoined with other equally noxious notions when Thomas states: "Cast away from yourself all worldly wisdom, all man¹s comfort, and all your own affections." In other words, to be holy, one must detest learning, hate the comfort of others, hate oneself, and hate anything that gives us pleasure. Elaborating on this, he adds: "A man ought to establish himself so fully in God that, whatever adversity befalls him, he will not need to seek any outward comfort."
Again, this emphasizes anti-social behavior - perversely presented as a moral ideal. Not content with this, Thomas tries to deny us the comfort of any living thing: "Consider as vain all comforts that come to you from any creature." Pleasure is of course forbidden: "Oh how pure a conscience should he have who would despise all transitory joy and would never meddle with worldly business." And: "You cannot have two heavens - that is to say, you cannot have joy and delight here, and also joy afterwards with Christ in Heaven." Thomas goal is to live a totally joyless existence: "As far as your weakness may allow it, never give yourself to indiscreet mirth for any reason." The only thing Thomas would allow us to enjoy is our own misery: "You err greatly if you seek any other thing than to suffer." And: "For myself, I shall glory in nothing but in my infirmities." This of course leads to a promotion of masochism: No man feels the Passion of Christ so efficaciously as he who feels pain like the pain Christ felt." Or the even more graphic: "If you had once entered the bloody wounds of Jesus, and had there tasted a little of his love, you would care nothing for the liking or the disliking of the world, but would rather have great joy when wrongs and injuries were done you, for perfect love of God makes a man perfectly to disregard himself." The Christian must also exhibit paranoiac tendencies: "The spiritual enemy does not sleep, and the flesh is not yet fully mortified and therefore you must never cease to prepare yourself for spiritual battle, for you have enemies on every side who are ever ready to assail you and to hinder your good purpose all they can." Even good deeds mean nothing to Thomas: "Never think yourself worthy to be called holy or virtuous because of any good deeds you have done, but think how great a sinner you are." The atheist¹s contention that the only people who derive tangible benefits from religion are the ruling elites is borne out by Thomas: "Be not ashamed to serve others for the love of Jesus Christ, and to be poor in this world for his sake." And: "It is a great thing to be obedient, to live under authority and to seek our own liberty in nothing." And of course, the final touch is the pie-in-the-sky reward: "You will always have your will in Heaven, where you will have all that you desire." It is a serious mistake to dismiss these absurd and evil musings as the product of a medieval monk¹s dark mind, for many Christians today think in the same way - and then have the unbelievable gall to call Christianity a doctrine of love for humanity. Thomas book remains a best-seller. The note on the back cover of one recent reissue shows us that the voices of the Dark Ages are still in our midst:
"The timeless message of the humble monk is as inspiring in our tempestuous era as the day it was written." Inspiring? Timeless? Apparently emotional self-flagellation is still an integral component of church teachings and the goal of the clergy is still to keep humanity in this mental torture chamber - from whence they derive their power.Certainly, most of the world does not follow the mad monk¹s teachings; if we did, we would still be in the Dark Ages.
What has led some people away from Christianity¹s toxic doctrines is their innate humanity (held in check for centuries by the strong-arm tactics of the church) which enables them to transcend, to some degree, the horror of those teachings.This is why an atheist/humanist outlook is so essential for our survival. By rejecting theology, with all its concomitant absurdities, we can develop our human potential free of life-negating superstition. A person of self-confidence knows that real wisdom does not come from rejecting our minds, but from using them. Ludwig Feuerbach (1804-1872) once stated that his goal as a philosopher was to make "the friends of God into friends of man, believers into thinkers, worshipers into workers, candidates for the other world into students of this world, Christians who on their own confession are half animal and half angel into men - whole men."
What better goal could any atheist have?
References -
1) The Imitation of Christ by Thomas A Kempis. Published
by Doubleday, 1989
2) Deadly Doctrine - Health, Illness, and Christian
God-Talk by Wendell W. Watters. Published by Prometheus Books, 1992