This is addressed to all those who feel animosity toward those of us who go by the name Christian.
What is it about us that you dislike so very much? We try to live good moral lives. We do not steal or do drugs or get drunk or destroy your property. It is true that we may, on occasion, be to "preachy" in the work place. We may try to share our faith because we talk about the things we love. We have learned that Jesus hears our praoers and answers. We have experienced his
love for us. Forgive us for wanting you to know real peace. Why do you dislike us so much? Are we really a threat to our society? What has a God-fearing person ever done to you? Why is it a bad thing to have a godly man in office in the White House? Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to all people. America used to be known as a nation that feared
God and hated evil. We, as Christians, still do. Is this a bad thing? For all those who feel such dislike for us, may i say that probably there are some of us who pray for you that God will protect you and your family. How can this be a bad thing?
A recent letter writer wondered why average normal people dislike
Christians. I wonder why, too? Could it be their holiert than thou attitudes? Or could it be the hypocritical nature that their doctrines preach? It's no wonder they turn out the way the do. Look at their leaders -- Baker, Falwell, Robertson, Swaggert, and the list goes on, unfortunately. The letter writer claims that no Christian ever does drugs or steals or drinks. If you're not laughing hysterically by now you must be a Christian. I suppose in her world no Christian ever cheats on their spouse,
either. The letter writer also ponders, "Are Christians a threat to society?" I answer wholeheartedly yes. Christianity preaches that to besaved on must give up free thought, or in other words let the church (i.e. its leaders) do the thinking for you. If you think this is untrue, look at some of the fringe cults. Who thinks this is healthy? As far as having a righteous man in the White House, let me know when he gets there.
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I'm not sure where the following letters were originally printed, but they recently appeared on an emailing list to which I subscribe and became a subject of discussion:
[begin quoted material]
LETTER #1: "Don't Hate Christians"
AUTHOR: female, name unknown
LETTER #2: "Hypocritical Nature?"
AUTHOR: male, name unknown
Below is my response to those letters, and to the issue. As a Christian, I am occasionally a part of this debate about religious freedom, and I always have alot to say!
I would say that they are both right, but misguided in their definition of a "Christian." The woman who wrote the first letter thinks that being Christian means that you are morally superior to everyone else and have some kind of right to tell them so(both of those ideas are insane! who the hell does she think she is, that she has can act so righteous?), and the man who wrote the second letter thinks that being Christian means you have to be some kind of automaton cog in a machine (not true either), and that our leaders are a bunch of money-grubbing televangelists - they're not the leaders of anything! They're just businessmen in it for the money, selling indulgences like the pardoners of the middle ages. Anyone who tries to control Christianity is only in it for the ego trip, because Christianity
isn't MEANT to have a leader - just that one model citizen we try to emulate, teaching us by example (and most of the people the Dude condemned were egotisitcal religious officials anyway, so what does that tell you?!).
The woman who wrote the first letter feels like she is always shot down simply for being a Christian, and I can understand why. Look at how the guy just "went off" at her in the second letter!
While I can understand the other side of the story and realize that the woman is being shot down because if you go around with that "holier than thou" attitude, people are going to treat you like a crackpot (ie, if she wants to be treated with respect, she's not going about it in the right way). But then again, there are Pagans who go around with the same "holier than thou" attitude, and I treat them like crackpots, too. There only
difference between the woman who wrote the first letter and the man who wrote the second letter is their points of view -- personality-wise, they are both immature and resort to preachiness and attacks.
Actually, the guy does not mention what faith he is; I don't know whether he's Pagan, Christian, or another faith entirely or even an Atheist, but nevertheless he's still doing the crackpot thing, too. Honestly, he has NO IDEA what Christianity is all about, and goes off on his own "holier than thou" rant about how Christianity is all about not thinking for yourself and he says the entire faith is a bad thing because there are fringe cults.
Every faith has fringe cults, and the core of Christianity has nothing to do with the Church; the "Church" is basically a political body/machine, when you get right down to it (so don't get the "Church" mixed up with the "religion" of Christianity - they are closely associated, but not the same thing).
Like I was saying before, I think it all comes down to the fact that if people would actually stick to DOING what is required by their faiths/practices instead of running off at the mouth, the situation would be much better, and we wouldn't get into so many of these kinds of posturing arguments. I'm a Christian, but I try to DO those good things, not sit here and compare my list of "good deeds" to yours...I never claim that I am perfect, I never run around saying that there is anything "wrong" with any
of the other faiths/practices (I say faiths AND practices because some Paganism is deity-orientated and some is not), and I never try to convert anyone. The way I look at it, I'm just trying to be nice to everyone and give them respect - my religion is a personal matter, and I try to keep it that way. That's why it pisses me off so much when I am not treated with the same respect.
I have only have one preachy Christian friend, and even he does not try to convert anyone or slam other faiths/practices. Most of my Pagan friends, however, routinely make slurs against Christianity and lecture me about what is wrong with my religion and why theirs is better. I do not do this to them, and I find it quite insulting that they do it to me. This is why I can
see the point of view of the woman writing the letter, and why she feels like she is being shot down...except in her case, she is mostly to blame for that because she blew her whole argument out of the water by doing that same frickin' thing herself!!!
Religious freedom is about acknowledging ALL faiths/practices, not just your own. Too many people talk about religious freedom, and then in the same breath, attack some other faith/practice.
I do realize that this is a defensive reflex, so I'm trying really hard not to do that. When I talk about religious discrimination against myself, I take extra care to keep my criticisms to the the style of argument of the individual, rather than say that the nature of the opposing person's
faith/practice has anything to do with why they argue in that manner/why I disagree with them.