Jesus and me (Part 3)

Christ and Christianity

In the last instalment I argued that Jesus Christ was a real person. If you agree - or can at least suspend your disbelief - let us carry on.

In Part 3 I turn to another question. A not-so-simple question. Indeed it is one that will take several articles to tease out.

Who founded Christianity?

Surely the answer is obvious. Christianity was founded by Jesus Christ! That is why it is called Christ-ianity.

Duh…end of story.

Bugs Bunny: “Duh!”

But if I rephrase the question it is not that straightforward.

Did Jesus really break away from his existing Jewish faith in order to set up a new religion?

Regular readers will know my answer to that question is a resounding ‘no’.¹ However my schoolboy Catechism takes a different line. I have discussed this book elsewhere.² Here is a recent observation extracted from Part 1 of this series.

The Catechism was an important means of shaping our thinking about the Church and the world. Perhaps the most important.

The Catechism’s title page bears the legend, “approved by the archbishops and bishops of Ireland”. Directly underneath on the same page is the ‘Imprimatur’ of the archbishop of Dublin, John Charles McQuaid.³ We can safely assume that the contents were scrutinised carefully before the Church authorities gave the Catechism such a significant thumbs up. Specifically the language used throughout the book must have been crucial in gaining the Irish bishops’ blessing.

For example the terms ‘Christianity’ or ‘Christian’ do not appear anywhere in the Catechism. Was this because the authors feared that using either word would conjure up images of the ‘Reformation’ (also notable by its absence)?⁴ However, using its own terminology, the Catechism makes the official position clear in the answer to question number 138, “What is the Church?”

The Church is the visible society founded by Christ Himself, to continue on earth his work of teaching, sanctifying and ruling mankind, for their eternal salvation.⁵

So, as far as the authors of the Catechism are concerned, the Roman Catholic Church goes right back to Jesus Christ. But the Catechism was published in the early-1950s. That is a long time ago. Does the Church still believe that it can trace its beginnings to “Christ Himself”?

Following the Second Vatican Council in the early-1960s, the Catholic Church softened its teachings so as not to upset other Christian religions.⁶ In 1992 Pope John Paul II published an updated Catechism to cater for the new era.⁷ What does the pope’s revised teaching aid have to say about the origins of the Church?

Although it is not as direct as its predecessor, the new Catechism includes a reference to the Church’s “obedience to the command of her founder”. It does not say who that founder is but the context makes it abundantly clear that it is talking about Jesus Christ.⁸

I will discuss the biblical justifications for this claim in more detail later in this series. For now I will say this. I can find nothing in the Gospel record to support the view that Jesus came into this world in order to launch a new religion. Nothing. Whatever the reason that Christianity (or the Catholic Church) was set up, it was not to perpetuate the teachings of Christ.

Elsewhere I wrote this.

Jesus’ very existence was such a reproach to the “ruler of this world” that, if Jesus himself could not be erased completely, his life would have to be misrepresented and distorted.⁹

As the following examples demonstrate, establishing Christianity was central to this plan of misrepresentation.¹⁰ Here I contrast the life and work of Christ as set down in the Gospels with the comparable behaviour of the Church.

Money

Jesus Christ often joked about or mocked our obsession with money. An example is his suggestion to Peter that they settle both their tax liabilities with the aid of a fish!¹¹

The Roman Catholic Church, and other Christian denominations, value material wealth. This is evident in many ways, from local parish collections, to the treasures held in great buildings like St. Peter’s basilica and Westminster Abbey.

Women

Jesus not only was unusually solicitous to women he came across in his work, he regarded his closest female companions at least as highly as he did his male apostles.

The clergy in the Roman Catholic Church are exclusively male. While recently a few females have been appointed to positions of authority, the Church of England is still run mostly by males.

Healing Miracles

The performance of apparently physics-bending miracles was central to Jesus’ public mission.

Apart from a few isolated incidences, the Christian churches have not taught their clergy or followers to emulate Christ in his performance of miracles. Instead they put their faith in scientists rather than in God, most recently during the covid period.

Mary

The Gospels offer numerous examples of a lifelong antagonism between Jesus and his mother Mary. She was his adversary, not his spiritual ally or Co-Redemptrix.

The centuries-old policy of the Roman Catholic Church to elevate Mary to at least demi-God status was halted during the 1960s by a more urgent desire to placate non-Catholic Christians who disagreed with that policy.

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As these examples illustrate, Christianity in its many manifestations bears no relation to what Jesus Christ taught and believed. Therefore he could not, and did not, found Christianity.

So if Jesus was not the begetter of the new religion, who was?

More in Part 4

1. Into the Memory Hole: Despatches from the “world of lies” (2023), pp 176-81.

2. Ibid, pp 42-5.

3. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘imprimatur’ as “an official licence issued by the Roman Catholic Church to print an ecclesiastical or religious book”.

4. An oblique reference to the Reformation can be found on page 40 of the Catechism. This refers, inter alia, to “other bodies [being] divided among themselves in faith and worship”.

5. Catechism of Catholic Doctrine (Dublin 1951), page 39.

6. Jim Bruce, Revolution From Above: Transforming Catholic liturgy in Dublin & Westminster (UCD unpublished dissertation 2013), pp. 12-3. (The Second Vatican Council took place more than sixty years ago. The Reformation occurred in the 16th century. These events are old – historical even. We should be able to read about them as settled facts. Yet they do not seem finished like, say, the Irish Famine or World War II. On the contrary it is more like reading an incomplete novel than studying a history tome. The story in the novel is not over yet. How will it end?)

7. Holy See [https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_jp-ii_apc_19921011_fidei-depositum.html], 27 May 2026. (There are maybe 2 or 3 instances each of ‘Christianity’ and ‘Reformation’ in the new edition. Some progress I suppose.)

8. Holy See [https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P29.HTM], 27 May 2026.

9. Into the Memory Hole, p. 293.

10. More information about each of these examples can be found in Into the Memory Hole, particularly pp. 221-4, 260-77, and 293-5.

11. Matthew, 17:27.