A Response to Intrusive Evangelical Christianity

One of the more troubling doctrines of Christianity is its tenet of evangelism which is an often invasive and downright obnoxious means of  trying to gain new followers. One such Christian organization,  the Israel Restoration Ministries  has been targeting Jews in St Louis, MO  with solicitation phone calls promoting  the "good news"about Jesus,  and urging them to convert. The recipients of these annoying calls BTW were selected from the phone book based on Jewish sounding names. On a larger scale, Christian extremist Pat Robertson, through an organization called the Brazilian Center for Law and Justice, has made inroads in Brazil using religion as a front for right wing political activity in that country.

Why can't these fundamentalists get it through their arrogant skulls that there are billions of people in the world who have never heard of Christianity or who know about it but want no connection (Think China and Japan for example) and who are doing just fine with their own beliefs.  Do Christians think that they're going to be able to reach and "save" each and everyone of these "heathens" when they have no business trying to convert even one? Moreover, if the Christian deity is a god and Jesus a savior whom everyone must accept or otherwise be condemned to hell, why did he and his son supposedly reveal themselves  to only a very small portion of humankind, and only for a brief era centuries ago? If there's no way that those who have never heard or never will hear about this dynamic duo, then they are damned for eternity through no fault of their own? How can anyone in their right minds be persuaded into worshiping such extortionists?

And the upshot is that there is of course no more proof for the existence of the biblical God and  of Jesus as a divine messiah than there is of the numerous other ancient deities of legend such a Zeus and Woden, just to name a few.  Nor is there any  physical evidence of any of the miraculous events narrated in the scriptures. Furthermore,  the theme of a man-god rising from the dead is not even a Christian original. It occurs in pre-Christian religions too,

So in order  to counter  the sectarianism that Christians try to force on others in American society, including public elementary and high schools where they try to impose prayer and creationism,  I propose that colleges and universities—especially the secular ones— in the U.S.form and offer courses in Christianity as mythology just as they do for the religions of ancient Greece and Rome. By doing this,  these institutions of higher learning would be officially placing the story of Jesus into the category of  fiction which it really is anyway.  And despite the firestorm of protest they would likely encounter from believers, scholars would be taking an academic step that's long overdue. And hopefully, this  reassessment of Christianity would catch on in other countries as well. 

Importantly, this relegation might prompt enlightened Christians to reconsider their beliefs. Who knows, it might also well take some of the wind out of the sales of Christian evangelism if it is officially categorized at least by some authorities as a relic. In any event, there's no reason for believers of this religion and its practices to continue receiving the privileges and deference that they have been afforded for entirely too long.