Gandhi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

Question

He said this over seven decades ago. What do you think his views would be of today's Christians?

Answer 1

I am always puzzled when someone brings up this mean spirited remark. That doesn't sound like the man I thought Ghandi was.....

Answer 2

I actually studied about this in school....Gandhi did say that.... There was a lot of stuff going on during that time with the Christians.....there was a lot of fighting going on about the various diverse beliefs.....The fact that not one of the Christians of that time could conclude that each of their beliefs was based on their perception of what was said and written.....(kinda like today)....It is still true to this day that "Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." STILL!!! :( It's strange how people can take something that is so meaningful and use it to oppress others.

Answer 3

Yes. I agree. First, Christ was not a Christian... obviously, he did not worship himself. Further, he was gnostic, not Christian. 'Course, that's an oxymorom considering the first statement above. Thirdly, Christ was of Middle Eastern origin. Most Christians today are of Western European origin. I've seen this quote before, and if I recall correctly there was more to it... this means we need to remember not to take Gandhi's wisdom out of context. I don't think Gandhi intended this small section of his words to be a finger-pointing pivot.

Answer 4

I think Mr. Gandhi would be further shocked and appaled at what passes itself of as Christian today. Wake up fellow believers. Let these words of Gandhi speak to you. He may have missed salvation through the blood of Christ but he had respect for our Saviour, if in fact he said this.

Answer 5

I see your point... you're right, we're often not much like Christ.

But that doesn't mean we need to be less Christian (as if it doesn't work), it means we need to be MORE Christian - to keep pushing in to all of Jesus and keep asking questions.

My friend Tim Hughes wrote a song about his frustration in his own life that he was just playing Christian with out seeing Jesus reflected in his life. The opening line is "There must be more than this, oh breath of God come breath again" (Look it up on line if you're interested in reading one Christian's take on this subject - it's very thought provoking)

It's the great hope that St Paul talks of in Romans 7 "what I want to do I don't do and what I do I don't want to do... who will save me... But...God"

I guess the crux is that we recognise how far we are from Christ.

Answer 6

As an over all group(including Catholocism and all the denominations of various origin)? Probably the same sentiment. Individually? Depends on which ones you run in to. I've known a rather large number of the so called "Holy Roller" type and they'd probably fit the initial description. I've also met a large number of generally loving, nurturing, considerate people and I think Ghandi would probably like them, generally speaking, whether they agreed on every point or not.

By the way, I'm not even Christian so don't think I'm saying this as a tooting my own horn type of thing.

Answer 7

Well since Christ hasn't really changed and Christians have become not only more hateful and intolerant on average, but have pseudo-celebrities like Rush Limbaugh and Anne Coulter to back them up now, I think he would say the same thing, but feel a little bit more sad for those caught up in their negativity.

Answer 8

Just like some other wise guy discovered Buddha was not a Buddhist, and Christ for sure is not a Christian. The one is authentic, the other is following some "teachings"

Answer 9

Basically as a Christian I agree with him, I always say Christians give Jesus a bad name, Christians that I know go around bullying verbally , people that don't agree with them and tell everbody they are going to hell. What Gandhi is saying is that the life of Christ and what he came to do is not correctly interpreted by his followers, i AGREE. with such a precious sacrifice we fall so low in our world behavior

Answer 10

I think Ghandi was right. I don't think his opinion would have improved. There are individual Christians that are wonderful people who live in a way that is as Christ like as they can, but I think they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Answer 11

He fought for civil rights and freedom for India and South Africa. The oppressive governments in those countries were run by people who were supposedly Christians. They were obviously unlike Christ.