Part One: Introduction: “Is There Any Truth to This Claim?”

When someone accuses Christianity of being a crutch for weak and insecure people, they echo Karl Marx’s well-known dictum:  “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” When any such critical statement against Christianity is made, our first response is to clearly understand what is being said. In particular, are there any underlying premises or hidden assumptions? Often an evaluation of the assumptions discloses the fallacious nature of an argument and removes it as a significant objection against Christianity. There are three erroneous assumptions in the claim Christianity is a crutch for weak and insecure people.

1. Because the human psychic seems wired to need assurance in the face of the unknowable, unexplainable, and painful, people created religion as a remedial measure, as an “opiate” for comfort and encouragement. In other words, when early humans began to ask themselves why things happened as they did, who they were, and what happens after death, they concocted religion. Religion, then, evolved right along with humankind’s evolving intellectual probing, social interactions, and awareness of his psychological needs.
2. Since the mass of humanity is unable to cope with the realities of life—its hardships, sicknesses, disappointments, frustration, afflictions, and death. People need the psychological security of Christianity or some other religion to assure them that life offers more than what they experience in the here and now. They need to believe in a future state where the present suffering will be gone, a time of universal bliss that will last forever. Hence the evolution of some form of the afterlife.
3. There are a few individuals, however, who are alert and self-assured enough to perceive people accept Christianity to meet these psychological needs but who themselves are fearless enough to face life without a religious crutch. Moreover, because these courageous individuals are not addicted to religion, they are free to live life autonomously and unrestricted by the repressive rules and constraints of religion, including Christianity.

There are three sensible responses to these three assumptions, and together they demonstrate that Christianity is not a crutch for weak and insecure people. The truth of Christianity is affirmed not only by objective evidence but by subjective experiences that reveal Jesus Christ meeting human needs at their deepest level. Responding to these three assumptions is the topic of this new blog series. ©

Next week  I’ll respond to the claim religion is a product of evolution.

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