Did St Patrick do Ireland such a favour by bringing Christianity here?

Did St Patrick do Ireland such a favour by brining Christianity here? Vincent Browne asks if Ireland would have been better off without it?

I raise these issues knowing that I risk being offensive to many devoted Christians and an impression of disrespect for their religious convictions. I regret if this is so. It is not my purpose to belittle anybody's religious beliefs. I was reared in the Catholic faith myself. My parents were convinced and devout Catholics, many other people I admire were/are convinced and devout Catholics and Christians. If for no other reason that respect for all these, especially the memory of my parents, I would wish to avoid any offence and impression of disrespect.

At the heart of Christianity is the symbol and story of the crucifixion. The cross is the ubiquitous symbol of the Catholic faith. And yet the story about the cross is not just literally incredible but also disturbing.

The story is this: that an all-merciful, all-loving and all-forgiving God, so obsessed with the sinfulness of humanity that to atone to himself for that sinfulness he sent his son into the world to be tortured and crucified to save us all from his (God's) own wrath.

I am aware that others will portray the story of the crucifixion in slightly different terms but I don't think I have mistaken the essential message of the crucifixion that has been conveyed to us over the years by the Catholic Church.

With respect I believe this is wholly absurd and disturbing – I explain below why I characterise this as disturbing.

Assuming the existence of God, a God who intervenes directly in our individual lives and with whom we can have a personal relationship, and that this God is indeed all-merciful, all-loving and all-forgiving, how could it be that this God is/was so obsessed with the sinfulness of humanity? Even if this sinfulness involved the forsaking of him, God? Why would a sane, all-powerful, non-neurotic God be so obsessed with the sinfulness of humanity?

And even, if for a reason that I cannot perceive, God was indeed distressed by humanity's sinfulness, by what reasoning could that sinfulness be expiated in his own eyes by his entirely innocent son being tortured, nailed to a cross and executed?

The only sensible (I believe) concept of sinfulness has to do essentially with justice or rather injustice or with the unfair treatment of others. How could the cause of justice be furthered by a drama (the torture, cruxification and execution of his innocent son) that is itself outrageously unjust?

Yes, I know there is the added story of the resurrection, the triumph over death or darkness and that raises further questions but it offers no answers to the paradox of the crucifixion story and it is the sign of the crucified Jesus that is the prevailing symbol of Christianity (or of most versions of it) not that of the risen Christ.

Now for the disturbed dimension.

The story of the crucifixion is fixated on the phenomenon of sinfulness and on the sacrifice that the son of God had to make in expiation of that sinfulness. Were it the case that sinfulness was perceived solely in terms of justice in society or fairness or in how we related to other human beings and, possibly, our environment, it might be helpful. But, unfortunately, sinfulness is caught up with several other ideas, many to do with sexuality (aside from justice and fairness in sexual relations), with decorum and, of course, with our dealings with God.

For instance, what on earth (or heaven) does it matter whether we believe in one God or two Gods or millions of Gods or whether we have reverence for images of other Gods? This is entirely harmless and it is impossible to believe that if there is a sane intelligent God that God could care less about such maters.

What is this taking the name of God in vain and keeping holy the Sabbath day? What is this honouring one's father and mother, as though every person did not deserve honouring?

Yes one can see the point of “thou shalt not kill” and “thou shalt not steal” and “though shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (now that is a biggie and what is the incidence of that sin around these parts nowadays?). Coveting thy neighbour's wife may cause problems requiring an ASBO order, so lets not quibble with that one. But how about “Neither shall you desire your neighbour's house, or field, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (taken from the book of Deuteronomy)?

The point I want to make is that the Christian/Catholic fixation with sinfulness is dysfunctional, because it is divorced from concepts of justice and fairness. It must be psychologically disturbing, all the more so when associated with the powerful, ubiquitous image of the crucified Christ.

There is more to Christianity that has caused harm. The repression of sexuality (yes there were other cultural forces at work here but Christianity/Catholicism have a large culpability), the subjugation of women (and yes again there were other forces at work also), an intolerance and authoritarianism (ditto re the qualification).

Others will argue that Jesus brought into the world a refined conception of justice, as exemplified in the sermon on the mount. But that was already part of the Judaic tradition and, of course was part of Greek philosophy of some five centuries earlier.

Back to my original question: would our heads have been less wrecked if St Patrick had given us a miss?

The truth is I don't know for the opportunities to wreck of heads through other means would surely have come along and these might have been worse. But shouldn't there be a Tribunal of Inquiry into this or at least a Commission of Inquiry. Even if it took a few hundred years? Like the Planning Tribunal?