I recently watched the Seven Wonders of the Buddhist World (2011), which provides a good introduction to Buddhism, its ideas, and its practices. However, a 74-minute documentary on a 2,500-year-old movement necessarily leaves a lot of information out. But Buddhism seemingly spread across much of Asia organically and peacefully; "refrain from taking life" is a core moral precept of theirs.

Although Buddhists, even Buddhist monks, have engaged in violence, this has been a product of extreme nationalism and, from an outsider's point of view, seems to be a clear violation of Buddhist teachings.

Christianity was also, originally, a pacifistic religion. The "Early Church Fathers" from the 1st to the 4th centuries CE openly rejected the sword. Some examples are:

Shall we carry a flag? It is a rival to Christ.

(Tertullian)

Say to those that hate and curse you, You are our brothers.

(Theophilus of Antioch)

You cannot demand military service of Christians any more than you can of priests. We do not go forth as soldiers with the Emperor even if he demands this.

(Origen)

This religion grew organically and spread through works of charity and healing. Although Christianity had spread deep into Africa and Asia, most of its growth was in the Roman Empire. But in the fourth century, Roman Emperors changed Christianity into something else.

It is to Emperor Constantine's credit that he legalized Christianity. But then he sought to unify the diverse Christian congregations of the expansive empire into one centralized Church, as he called the First Council of Nicea in 325 to standardize Christian doctrines. In 380, Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica which made Nicene Christianity the state religion of the Empire. Heresy could lead to violent punishment.

Two years later, the Council of Rome issued the "official" canon of Scriptures—the Bible—and explicitly rejected several writings that were attributed to Jesus's apostles. The Council also declared the Bishop of Rome, or Pope, supreme over other bishops. The Nicene Creed and the decrees of the Roman Catholic Church became the lens through which to "correctly" interpret the seemingly contradictory books of the Bible.

Roman Emperors consolidated Christianity into one universal church and gave it monopolistic power not only over the Christian faith, but all religious practices. The sword of the State upheld the religion supposedly founded by Jesus, who said "My kingdom is not of this world."

Ever since, mainstream Christianity has accepted Statism and has justified its wars and persecutions. Although the Roman Catholic Church no longer holds monopolistic power over the Western world as it once did, its offshoots haven't seriously questioned the legitimacy of State violence.

The Roman Church has seen numerous schisms, and the schismatic churches had their own schisms, and so on, and so on. But no denomination can credibly claim it is modeled on the teachings of Jesus or the first-century church; their faith is derived from a religion made up by the Roman Empire and its Bible. Protestants and other Christians may reject the Pope, but almost all espouse the Nicene Creed. Almost all of them accept the Hebrew scriptures and the same 27 books decreed as the New Testament canon by the Council of Rome.

The greatest leap of faith for Christians isn't about Jesus. It is their faith that the Bible is the irrefutable Word of God. Another leap of faith, in many denominations, is that clergy or other church leaders carry moral and spiritual authority.

The pacifists who grew the church in the first centuries CE didn't have a Bible, creeds, or political influence. Their religion is alien to us. Christianity wasn't corrupted by the Roman Empire but hijacked by it, and political entities in the West have found the Christianity invented by Rome as a useful form of social control. Ever since the Church became institutionalized, Christians have used the Bible to justify racism, slavery, and vice laws. They've also used the Bible to justify imperialism and persecution. But the first Christians didn't follow the Bible. They followed Jesus.

Did they know of and cite Hebrew scriptures? Surely some did, especially the first Christians, who were Jews. Did they copy and spread the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John? Certainly. Did they circulate the epistles of Paul and other apostles? Yes.

But other writings circulated as well, which were omitted when the Bible was put together at the Council of Rome. Christians already had the texts they felt were useful for their spiritual growth and didn't need the Bible. The efforts in Christianity to make the Bible theologically and morally coherent only diverted the focus away from Jesus.

One can believe in Jesus without making the leap of faith that the Bible is the irrefutable Word of God. For nearly 400 years, Christianity thrived without it. Perhaps it could do so again, drawing inspiration from the teachings and example of Jesus. Let go of church authority figures. Base the faith only on what is written about Jesus, and let go of Biblical doctrines that force Jesus into theological boxes.

There is no reason for Christians to have to explain, or explain away, confusing or appalling passages of the Old Testament. There is no reason they need to excuse the atrocities committed or endorsed by the Church. Instead of apologizing for the Christianity of the past 1,600 years, Christians might do well to just abandon it and focus instead on the teachings and example of Jesus as the first Christians did. Christianity could once again be a religion of peace.