The only "bad" social movement that I can think of in US history attributed to Christians would be the Temperance movement that eventually led to Prohibition. Obviously that didn't last. Everything else has been positive, often overwhelmingly so.
Sir –
With all due respect, and perhaps I have misread, but this statement is utter nonsense. To take this statement at face value one must ignore the following Christian influences in the USA:
- Anti-gay ("God hates fags")
- Pro-war (eg putting religious quotes on top of war briefs being given to George Bush)
- The violent anti-abortion movements
- The inherent racism of Christian fellowships such as the Klu Klux Klan
- The rounding of "Pi" to 3, denial of evolution, anathema of intelligence, and other assorted absurdities
That is off the top of my head. The list is practically endless thanks to the magical thinking a society as wealthy as the US can tolerate. US politicians run on campaigns of anti-gay, etc., so as to distract from their real objectives: to advance the political and economic gain of the rich at the expense of the poor.
If you do not consider the plethora of hatred, assaults, murders, invasions, brainwashing, the denial of irrefutable facts, and the destruction of society's capacity to understand and contribute to the advancement of human society to be "bad", then perhaps the Temperance movement is the only "bad" movement in the U.S. that can be attributed to Christians. I suggest it's probably the least noteworthy.
Religious thought negatively impacts economic growth, civil rights, critical thinking, scientific progress, human rights, and fundamental freedoms. It is a form of brainwashing supported by baseless fear-mongering and propaganda, masquerading as a social utility. Abolition, suffrage, and civil rights movements succeeded not because they were born of Christians but because they encouraged people to think and empathize. These three examples are stark contrast to the populist thought in the US now.
The people who make your world better, the educated engineers, civil rights activists, professors, are predominantly skeptical of Christianity. They are not driven by hate like the throng of evil-mongering zealots because they are busy making actual contributions to society.
So what is just so horrifying about a country founded and heavily influenced by a group of people who want us all to be free with equal rights?
This is not a horrifying concept, but it also has nothing to do with religious influence in the USA. Religious influence in the USA takes the form of a pestilence.
The founding fathers of the United States were, if anything, extraordinarily skeptical of the value of Christianity. With good reason: they were conscious of the evils inherent to religious movements.