http://www.debunking-christianity.com/2023/08/can-christianity-survivewith-so-many.html
Christian Apologetics, Bible, Biblical Christianity, Christian Faith, Agnostic, Evangelical, Atheism, Atheist, Creation, John W. Loftus, David Madison
Can Christianity Survive—With So Many Problems and Scandals?
The idea for this article is idiotic.
Apply critical thinking, ffs. If the followers are ready to die and kill for the idea that there's some big guy watching over everything they do, loving them and giving terminal cancer to kids, then they will as sure as hell won't mind some problems and scandals by their leaders.
I don't know if scandals can really discredit a religion, this is mostly not how cult beliefs work; they seem to gain adherents largely through manipulation and force, which are not holds that a scandal is very effective at breaking. I'd suggest the results that Madison is citing are not the results of scandals but instead of rising levels of education and living standards, which do in fact break the hold of cults (by decreasing general ignorance and increasing emotional well-being, and thereby reducing the desperation that makes people vulnerable to dependence on authoritarianism and other comforting lies in the first place).
However, he does bring up a point against Christianity that I like at the beginning. I've heard Christians say that clergy are less likely than laymen to go to heaven, an admission that they observe corruption in those who are supposed to be closest to God. So where is the ennobling influence of the Holy Spirit? Where is God's discernment in picking the virtuous to represent him? The corruption of the clergy is a pretty solid bit of evidence against religion.
If we are to believe the Bible (which we don't) the whole thing started as a scandal when Judas did his thing. It will hopefully die someday, but it won't be in our lifetime.