The *authoritarian hierarchy of Christianity* is the root of its evils.
We are expected to believe that a god who saw that "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually," would then set up a system for exploitation of the weakest among his creation by those he'd give the power to do so.
[Christians, please note that I'm not bashing God. I'm saying the god described here doesn't exist. The Bible was written by men who had power over others, and the hierarchy the Bible cements into place is for their benefit. It is you who believe in a god who encourages and enables predators and abusers of power. I do not.]
This gift of power to abusers makes the Lord's Prayer *obscene.* We're treated to the spectacle of Jesus Christ praying these words to his father, "And lead us not into temptation . . ." while that's *exactly* what the hierarchy he put in place does. The god commands the submission of those who already have very little power and autonomy--women, children, those in poverty and other weakened conditions--to their superiors, *as they would submit to God, Himself*--and there's no out clause from this abject submission, even when the superior is flagrantly disobedient to the god.
The god, himself, leads these authorities into temptation. There's no sense entertaining the argument that IF all people were obedient to the god, THEN it would be a perfect system. Is the god unaware that humans have the propensity for evil? He knows who he's working with! And yet, he gives a strong incentive for the authority figure to abuse his god-given power: delayed punishment, that can be completely avoided by properly timing true repentance for these sins, before one's death. We see that the specter of hellfire didn't stop Christians in the clergy from abusing children. And not all abusers even believe in a life after this one. Regardless, justice delayed is justice denied. Abuse destroys lives, and the tragic ripple effect often continues through many generations. Throwing an abuser into a lake of fire--especially if he was an abuse victim, himself, as a child--doesn't wash anything away.
One need only look at the much higher rates of domestic abuse in patriarchal religious homes, to gain a sense of how the Bible's requirement of submission to human authority figures tempts abusive men to do as they wish and leaves their wives with no choice but to submit to abuse, in order to please a god. Again, the god knew he was making these women that he lovingly created *punching bags.* Submission by one group to another, ordered by a god, makes the authority who dominates them think they're morally inferior. It dehumanizes.
The basic, underlying structure of Christianity promotes strife, and abuse, and injustice. Then the Bible has the audacity to blame all of this evil on the hearts of men. No amount of "Thou Shalt Nots" can fix it. Only a complete overhaul of religious belief will do, and that must begin with the realization that no god inspired this book. There is no objective morality, here, handed down by an actual god.
How can anyone still imagine a god behind such a system, obviously set up to benefit predators, abusers, and corrupt leaders in positions of power, and to perpetuate crime, and misery, and injustice. It's clear who benefits from it! And that should point all of us toward the actual writers of it.

Michelle hopes