A few people think I'm attacking christianity a bit too much, and proclaim the whole "we're not all like that" thing.
I understand that.
Many christians are very loving genuine people, and can clearly see the horrors of "religion" and the general hypocrisy of the church. These folks exercise their faith in unconditional love without any other motives. They simply love and care because that's who they are.
But I'm talking about the foundations of Christianity itself - about what the real message is and how most christians live, without even realising it.
At it's very core, Christianity says "we have the ultimate truth". By its very nature it declares that God revealed himself only through the Jews and Jesus to the entirety of mankind. It boldly declares Jesus to be the all in all - the beginning and the end - before the foundations of time, and the one who will bring the current world to an end.
It states unequivocally that we are born corrupt and hopelessly separated from God without the saving work of Jesus.
It declares, without hesitation, that only through Jesus can true love be found, and that mankind can be saved and united. It proudly states that all else is a counterfeit and deception at best, to blatant demonic lies at worst, spread to deceive mankind.
It teaches that our motivation should be to "save the lost", that our acts of love and care should be with the express purpose of bringing everyone to Jesus so they will be accepted and make it into eternal glory.
It even proudly cries that we can only become humble by denouncing our humanity and bowing in humble subservience to God.
But it is nothing more than absolute pride and arrogance. It's the antithesis of real love. It assumes that without Jesus humanity can never experience or express true love. And yet more atheists live a far more genuine life of unconditional love than most christians. They know what it is to give without an agenda - to see the beauty in the hearts of every person, to live with real compassion and empathy.
Yes, other religions also suffer from the same thing, but I can only speak from my 40+ years as a devout christian with any authority.
It has attempted to convince the world on a massive scale over two millennia (by whatever means it can) - that it alone has "the truth".
It doesn't get more arrogant than that.