How About We Not Lump All Christians Together?

Question

There seems to always be so many people who are upset with "Christians" after being subjected to some sanctimonious holier-than-thou creep. These people are just the internet version of wackjobs on street corners, waving Bibles and babbling about God and Satan and Hell and sin.

Not all Christians are right wing, conservative, pretentiously pious know-it-alls. We have to remember that those who are inclined to denigrate others' lives and/or spirituality are simple unhappy and insecure about their own.

Don't think that, because right wing wackjob Christian extremists are the loudest and pushiest and most arrogant, they are the majority of Christians.

Blanket stereotyping is never a good thing!

seanswims - LOL- you're right. I was only speaking of one group of people. I didn't intend to try to address all the wrongs of the world in one question. But, yes, the same should be true of all groups!

Duck Phup - you wrote: "Christians believe in talking snakes (with legs) and donkeys, a shepherd staff that turns into an asp, demons chased out of people and into pigs, friendly spirits, evil spirits, walking on water, multiplying loaves and fishes, food falling from the sky, conception by a ghost, people raised from the dead, the sun stopping in its tracks, parting seas, people being bodily sucked up into heaven (which, by the way, lies on the 'other side' of the sky), world-wide flood that drowned the earth to a depth of 40 feet above the tallest mountain, creating people from a dust bunny and a rib, a magical tree of knowledge, god speaking from a burning bush."

That's simply not true. Not all Christians believe in all (or even ANY) of those things. You shouldn't make statements about something which you, frankly, obviously don't know anything about.

Kithy - it's a deal :-)

Answer 1

Thank you. It always amuses me when people make wild accusations and blanket statements about "Christians" doing this or that, and end up ignorantly lumping groups like the Unitarian Universalists or other progressive branches of Christianity in with ultra-conservative denominations. They operate as if there were no difference whatsoever between Quakers and Seventh-Day Adventists, Methodists and Swedenborgians, Roman Catholics or Presbyterians, or the Eastern Orthodox and the Assemblies of God. Nine times out of ten, I doubt that these stereotype-happy people could even pinpoint the thelogical differences between mainline Christianity and Fundamentalism.

However, another poster had a good idea. Expand your statements to encompass ALL religions. One group of Wiccans is not like another, nor are all Muslims or Hindus the same.

Answer 2

Yet all Christian beliefs are rooted in the myths, superstitions, fairy tales and fantastical delusions of a tribe of ignorant Bronze Age fishermen and peripatetic goat herders, and taken to be some sort of cosmic 'truth'. Christians believe in talking snakes (with legs) and donkeys, a shepherd staff that turns into an asp, demons chased out of people and into pigs, friendly spirits, evil spirits, walking on water, multiplying loaves and fishes, food falling from the sky, conception by a ghost, people raised from the dead, the sun stopping in its tracks, parting seas, people being bodily sucked up into heaven (which, by the way, lies on the 'other side' of the sky), world-wide flood that drowned the earth to a depth of 40 feet above the tallest mountain, creating people from a dust bunny and a rib, a magical tree of knowledge, god speaking from a burning bush... and ritual cannibalism, by eating god in the form of a cracker. Thus, Christians can safely be labeled as 'whack jobs', irrespective of whether they are left wing, right wing or smack dab in the middle.

So... what's wrong with lumping them all together, again?

"When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion." ~ Robert M. Pirsig

Answer 3

I entirely agree with you. However, my problem with your question and your statement is that Christians are in no way the only wrongfully stereotyped group on here. Muslims are lumped together as much or more, and often in a more negative light. Atheists are lumped together and given a stereotype. This is a good idea, but you must expand your concept to include all religions and groups, otherwise you are being close-minded and implying that only Christians suffer from such treatment (which is an attitude no better than those few holier-than-thou right wing fundamentalists)

Answer 4

People need to look up the word Christian and stop calling denominations Christian. Denominations are only a man's idea of capitalizing on Christ; and it's pathetically sick.

Not all those who claim to be "Christian" are even that. And those who really are, are not all rightwing, etc etc. The extremists aren't even Christian because they deny the Father and then break His only rule---LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Answer 5

Christians are not the only ones being lumped. I am amazed at the number of people who lump: Republicans, Democrats, liberals, conservatives, Muslims, Jewish, Blacks, Whites, Indians, etc., etc., etc. Perhaps some openness to other concepts is in order.

Answer 6

I agree entirely, but it is the responsibility of the more moderate members of the Christian faith to stand up and state that the whakos aren't speaking for them!
When all of us unbelievers only see the nuts of your religion active in the public sphere, how can we not come to that conclusion? Actually, I know of other moderate Christians who lead their lives piously and set good examples, but that's not what some people see every day....

Answer 7

I don't lump any culture together. But I've found when I tell Christians I'm an Atheist they are the only ones who will try to
talk me to their belief instead of just letting me be.
I don't get that with other religions (Muslim,Jew,etc...).
My thought on life in this world is simply "Live and let live".

Answer 8

Clearly you are not a REAL christian. Those of us who are real christians know that the word of the bible is true, and that if you don't accept that, then Jesus will torture you for all eternity. You are no better than an atheist. Maybe worse because your type of christian confuse those who really seek the lord.

Answer 9

Stereotyping is bad, true, but playing with semantics is a huge waste of time that accomplishes nothing. There needs be a balance there.

Answer 10

Agreed, generalizations like this are false and lead other people to the wrong conclusion.

Tell ya what, I'll work on the Pagans and correct when I see them generalizing "all" Christians... if you'll work on the Christians and correct them when they start that "Pagans/Wiccans are Satanists" thing. *_*