![]() Atheists like to ridicule this aspect of faith as “pie in the sky.” The central idea is, of course, that Christian faith offers a sedative for suffering in this life by promising that we will be fully compensated in the next, when “many that are first will be last, and the last first” (Mat. ![]() ![]() But in the case of Christianity, history shows that rich and poor alike turned to Christianity “in response to the widespread need to be comforted for the miseries of life-not merely poverty, but disease, the deaths of loved ones, and all the other misfortunes and disappointments humans face.” “Misery and Mercy” is the title of the chapter where Rodney Stark confronts the accusation by atheists that Christianity caters to the weak and suffering by promising “pie in the sky.” Yes, he says, it is most often the affluent who start new religions. ![]()
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