I don't mean to target Christianity exclusively. These should only be taken as examples. All religions have their dark sides or so it seems.

What concerns me is the fact that there is so much pro-Christianity right now in the American culture and it appears to be having great effect on our daily lives through politics, education, etc. Understanding that these forces have at times been of a negative nature and detrimental to society would be a good thing to know, I believe.

The Nazis proclaimed themselves to be Christians. Many members of the Klan profess to being Christians. We all know about the Crusades. We realize how religions of all factions have been used as a tool to control the masses of the less fortunate. We see the problems within the preisthood today. We see multi-million dollar settlements being made to satisfy law suits against the Catholic church. Why wasn't this money used previously to help the needy instead of hoarded? Why were not the art treasures of the Vatican used to help the needy instead of being hoarded? Why were underhanded and shady deals made between the Catholic church and Italian government in association with the mob in the '70s and then swept under the rug when money was lost and leaders turned up murdered? This just goes on and on.

You can point to the terrorist cells in the Middle East and say that they are not really associated with the true Muslim culture but these acts are all said to be done in the name of religion. This is much like Nazi Germany embracing Christianity in the 1930's.

As for the origin and spreading of early biblical stories; I'm not surprised that each individual culture adpoted and accepted many of them over time and through translation or interpretation wound up with similar tales about their own evolution. The same could be said about urban legends today.