Over the course of human history, people have abused and murdered each other in horrific ways. While we tend to be violent and dangerous to one another, modern societies also tend to lean away from these horrific abuses, but that doesn't mean they don't occur. When it comes to human rights abuses, we seem to up the game whenever possible, but the worst atrocities are often given a Biblical justification.
While the Christian Bible is used by hundreds of millions of people across the planet for peace and love, it has been used to justify some of the most horrific injustices committed against some of the weakest people in society. Even though the people using the Bible in this manner represent a minority of believers, those who succeeded in such a practice are responsible for some of the worst atrocities ever committed. Presented in no particular order, as these atrocities are all horrible, here are ten human rights abuses carried out by people who justified their actions with the Christian Bible.
10. Child Abuse
Most people agree that abusing a child through neglect, emotional abuse, or physical harm is a terrible thing to do, but according to some passages in the Bible, it's necessary to properly raise a kid. Various passages have been interpreted to support child rearing over the years, but one in particular, Proverbs 13:24, has been used by various people to implement the harshest types of abuse against children.
Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them.
The people guilty of human rights abuses who follow this passage are Biblical literalists who beat, malnourish, and torture children to break their will. Hana Williams was adopted by two Evangelical Biblical literalists who starved, beat, and ultimately killed her after they locked her outside, where she succumbed to hypothermia, in 2011. Those parents were sentenced to 30 years for manslaughter, but their case is hardly the only one of its kind. Child abuse is a serious concern in foster and adoption situations, where Evangelical Christians are more likely to be granted children over irreligious people in the United States.
9. Torture
Torture is nothing new, and it has been used by pretty much every civilization on the planet for one reason or another. During the Spanish Inquisition, torture was regularly used by the Catholic Church to identify heretics and also to forcibly convert Jews and Muslims to Catholicism or leave the country. What resulted was the imprisonment of hundreds of thousands of people who were tortured and confined, leading to an estimated 32,000 executions.
Modern uses of torture are rarely justified using the Bible or Christian practices used centuries ago. The most recent example would be the United States' waterboarding of prisoners during the Bush administration following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. While not directly linked, President Bush mentioned in a speech that the United States was engaged in a "crusade" against Islam. Because the US is considered by many to be a Christian nation, his statements reignited images of the historical Crusades, which led many to question his motives as possibly being motivated by his faith.
8. Child Marriage
Most Western societies have abolished child marriage, but it sadly continues in various countries around the world. The practice is justified in Numbers 31:18, which reads:
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the female children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Child marriage was common throughout history for a number of reasons, but primarily, women would be wed as soon as they could bear children. As society evolved around modern medicine, it was no longer necessary to marry children so young. Unfortunately, it seems many people didn't get the memo, and the age of consent in many states and countries is still relatively low. In Andorra, Albania, and Austria, the age of consent is only 14, while some states in Mexico set the limit at 12.
