Every religion has members who do evil in the name of that religion.  This is not acceptable. This is tragic.  But it is also true.  The fact alone that evil has been done in the name of Christianity is not a good reason to reject the truth or even the goodness of Christianity.  If we accept this argument, then all religions would be “wrong.”

The question we should ask to answer this question is this:  Is there any reason to believe that Jesus of Nazareth would personally support a king using violence to Christianize a local people?  If the answer is an unambiguous no, then we cannot blame Jesus or the religion he founded for this type of action.  If a person breaks the basic teachings of a religion they claim to align with, then common sense says we cannot blame that religion for the behavior.  Clearly, Jesus would not support anyone using violence to “Christianize” anyone.  Legitimate Christians would not ever use violence to force people to become Christian.  The king in the scenario above would be acting in direct opposition to Jesus if he were to use violence to “Christianize” a group of people.

However, we, as Christians, cannot simply use this argument to escape all scrutiny.  Believers should not simply say “I did not do that, so you cannot blame Christianity.”  I believe that Christians ought to humbly acknowledge the evil done in the name of Christianity, and ought to publicly condemn sins such as violence, racism and any other kind of sins done historically in the name of Jesus.  This reminds me of Daniel in Daniel 9 and Nehemiah in Nehemiah 1.  Both of these godly men accepted the need to repent for sins that they had not personally committed–sins of their people.  They did not say “they” did it.  Daniel and Nehemiah said “we” did the sin.  Based on this, I believe that Christians ought not to simply say “I did not do that, and do not agree with doing that.”  We ought to admit that evil has been done in the name of Jesus, and take on at least some kind of group repentance for the sins done in the name of Christianity.  Yes, we Christians took part in the Crusades, but please bear in mind that Jesus definitely would not have supported his followers committing war in his name.

So, although I believe that the argument above is not a valid reason to reject Christianity, believers ought to respond to this question with humility and group repentance for sins that those who take the name of Christ have committed in his name.

John Oakes