Sometimes I find when I read the papers online, I pay less attention to the actual news item, but instead mainly read the commentaries posted with the story. I have often been saddened by reading about what the usual timbre of people's opinions are on most topics; opinions that are self-righteous, or mean-spirited, or pragmatic without mercy, or bleeding-heart without brains.
I was recently reading about a family conflict between Christians and non-believing family members, and the commentaries went on for miles! The vast majority of the commentaries spoke about how judgmental and bigoted we are, how dumb-headed, how cultish, how we should be eliminated, how the world would be better off without such hateful, amoral, hypocritical people.
Sure, there were a few, lonely voices that had pointed out that this conflict really had nothing to do with religion (true), and that the posters shouldn't be too hasty to judge and jump on the issue. One also pointed out whether the tables were turned in this conflict, whether people would be just as quick to jump all over the bandwagon and write such awful things about the non-believing family members.
However, this does make me reflect on how we think we are so loving and good, and it's just that society doesn't 'get' us because we are not 'of' the world. We play up our victimhood by saying we should expect persecution because that is what happens when you 'stand up' for Jesus. I think that's bullshit. When society hates us that much, and cannot even recognize any of the good at all, there is a problem. If the previous paragraph is what we are known for, I don't care what kind of rhetoric we talk about not being of the world, and we are to accept that we ONLY get treated that way because that is what is supposed to happen. Being 'hated' by the world because we are hypocritical and judgmental is NOT a good reason, and not a reason why we would be persecuted in the first place. We need to seriously reconsider what we actually mean by being in this world...
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1 comment:
I can totally relate with what you are feeling.
After having more than a few encounters with some "fundamentalist" Christians in the States, I really started to understand where the anger is coming from. For a while I thought people like the ones you mentioned hate me. Perhaps some of them do in a distant anonymous way, but most of them are probably reacting against the types of
"fundamentalists" I've interacted with. Those whom I've found their approach to the Christ-Life to be completely devoid of Grace. It's those people that they really hate.
I think a lot of people see those types, and assume all Christians are like that. The truth of the matter is then that Christianity has been sorely misrepresented. I've talked with non-Christians on touchy subjects, and they can respect my stance, even though it was "against" them (not really, it is just for them in a different way). That should prove that it's not principally Christianity that is hated, but certain attitudes within it. I know I am personally a bad representative for Christ, but I think God can still work with my mistakes, whereas I see some of my brothers and sisters refuse to listen to the people to whom they are supposed to reach out. They even have an abrasive and unloving way of dealing with arguments with other Christians!
So, I totally agree with you on this aspect. Western Christianity has a mean face, and it is unfortunately the one people remember. It is not enough just to be determined in what we believe, but to be determined in helping others understand. A failure to do so has even resulted in Christians feeling driven from some churches based on poisonous attitudes from a few people there. I am more motivated now in confronting these attitudes, at the very least so that there is greater peace within the Body of Christ.
I do not think that this is a common characteristic of all Christians. In that respect, the hate that Christians receive in general is unwarranted. Your reaction to the hate in the comments you read, I feel, was an honest recognition of injustice. Christians are called to a higher standard, yes, but it's not wrong to call out hypocracy in the World when people who espouse tolerance show so little of it themselves.
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