The so-called “Sermon on the Mount” is widely regarded as Christianity’s most important moral message. It is Jesus at his moral best. Even many atheists are highly impressed with the sermon, as well they should be.

However, there are still problems with it, and there is not a single word in it that even hints at omnibenevolence, moral perfection or divine wisdom. After all is said and done, it is, for the most part, a great message from a fallible human being.

What is missing from the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew, chapters 5-7)? A great deal. There is no forceful denunciation of slavery. On the contrary, the Second (New) Testament repeatedly condones it. Yet, what could possibly be a worse “sin” against humanity than slavery?

Perhaps holy wars might be worse in the eyes of some people. However, millions of people have been killed in wars in the name of Christ. The omniscient God in human form should have explicitly condemned wars in his name, knowing that Christians would surely wage such wars. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” is simply not enough to deter intolerant, violent Christians. Jesus could have and should have at least said something like “resist with all of your might anyone that ever tries to wage a war in my name.” Such a message would have done far more to avert Christian-led wars than a mere sentence blessing the peacemakers.

If God is truly opposed to patriarchy, the sermon would have been the perfect place to condemn it in clear, unequivocal terms. Yet, he neglected to do so, while the Second Testament consistently promotes it. It is left up to progressive Christians to cherry-pick and “re-interpret” certain passages to counter Bible-based patriarchy, sexism and misogyny.

Progressive Christians combat homophobia, even though the Bible – including the Second Testament – condones it. If Christ has no problem with homosexuality, he should have made this clear in the sermon. Yet he refused to do so, and many good Christians oppose homosexuality, same sex marriages, and so forth.

The omniscient God knew that racism would eventually become a major problem throughout the world. Jesus had the perfect opportunity to predict it and to condemn it. Yet, he did not so much as mention the word (he could have and should have introduced it to the world.) Once again, the son of God blew a great opportunity to help future generations in his wonderful sermon.

Many women throughout history have been persecuted, abused and brutally killed as alleged witches. Even today, Christians and other religionists in such nations as Ghana, Malawi, and Tanzania harm alleged witches. Jesus should have challenged the biblical teaching instructing believers not to suffer a witch to live.

The omniscient God could have added at least a sentence or two about the importance of animal welfare and animal rights in the sermon. As it stands, the Bible is a masterpiece of speciesism, concerned only with human affairs.

Many Christian apologists rationalize biblically sanctioned genocide and other crimes against humanity by saying that Christ brought a “new covenant,” and that the First Testament no longer applies. Yet Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18.) How could it be any other way? After all, God is immutable. This talk of a second covenant is nonsense.

Jesus makes the false promise of heaven to persuade people to accept his message. What is worse, he threatens people with “hell fire” (Matthew 5:22). The concept of hell might be the worst idea in the history of religion. As Robert Green Ingersoll stated, it makes the Sermon on the Mount hypocrisy and cant.

Rather than viewing the Sermon on the Mount as the be-all-and-end-all of moral teaching, Christians should see it as a golden opportunity for improvement. Just as any child could easily come up with her own Ten Commandments that would be vast improvements over those found in the First Testament, modern Christians could easily improve upon the Sermon on the Mount. All they need is a little bit of moral imagination. The Sermon on the Mount was cutting edge stuff 2,000 years ago. But, understandably, today we can do much better.