Posted on May 16, 2015
Why do some people feel the need to be openly antagonistic to Christians?
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Why is it that there are people out there who feel it's their duty to abuse others verbally? I'm asking this in the context of people specifically going on the offensive because they are atheist (think Richard Dawkins, only more abusive), and the other person claims a faith, usually Christianity.
I mean, I know people who have NO beliefs in common with mine, but we can have philosophical discussions all day long without any animosity. Then there's the rather witty and very intelligent people that, once they discover a person is a Christian, flip a switch and become a shark in a feeding frenzy...
I can respect your lack of faith, even though it saddens me. I only ask that you respect mine.
***Editing Note: On 21 May 2015, I removed the tag "Politics." As the OP, I don't intend this question as an antagonistic one nor do I intend it as a political one. I am simply attempting to gain insight into the motivation behind behavior that I have personally witnessed.
I mean, I know people who have NO beliefs in common with mine, but we can have philosophical discussions all day long without any animosity. Then there's the rather witty and very intelligent people that, once they discover a person is a Christian, flip a switch and become a shark in a feeding frenzy...
I can respect your lack of faith, even though it saddens me. I only ask that you respect mine.
***Editing Note: On 21 May 2015, I removed the tag "Politics." As the OP, I don't intend this question as an antagonistic one nor do I intend it as a political one. I am simply attempting to gain insight into the motivation behind behavior that I have personally witnessed.
Religion
Atheism
Christianity
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 74
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Well, as a Catholic, I can say that I have not always been as open to other faiths as I am today, but that is just a part of growing up. What gets to me, is not that others want to practice their own faith, or lack of, but that they find something apparently offensive about me practicing my own beliefs. Case in point, the Ten Commandments type things in government buildings. One, this nation was founded on Judaeo-Christian values, there is no arguing that, and it IS a part of our nations history. Two, is there something inherently offensive about saying that people shouldn't lie, cheat or steal? Three, be my guest to put up the Star of David or whatever religious monuments you wish in regards to your religion. Things like not being allowed to pray in school, or not being allowed to open an event in prayer... what ever happened to being respectfully quiet and not participating? When a Jehovah's Witness comes to my door I invite them in and offer them something to drink and let them give me their speech (if I am not busy) and then politely decline, I don't write my Congressman asking for door-to-door ministry work to be made illegal. This nation was not founded on the lack of religious values, but the plurality of religious beliefs and acceptance of them. You practice yours, I'll practice mine. What is it about that, that seems to be so offensive?
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Why do Atheists go out of their way to try and do away with anything and everything Christian?
Some Atheists don't care and mind their own business...but there are groups of Atheists who lobby against anything Christian or religious. WHY? No one is forcing them to believe... Why can't Atheists just do what they want, believe in what they want and let Christians and other religious groups do what they want? Why force people to take down nativity scenes and many other things at Christmas time...you don't have to join in...you don't have to share....why does it bother Atheists so much? Why take away the joy...the fun...the holiday season and other things....like Easter or other religious holidays? Why does it upset you so much? Just let things be...it's not hurting you. Why does it make Atheists so angry?
Some Atheists don't care and mind their own business...but there are groups of Atheists who lobby against anything Christian or religious. WHY? No one is forcing them to believe... Why can't Atheists just do what they want, believe in what they want and let Christians and other religious groups do what they want? Why force people to take down nativity scenes and many other things at Christmas time...you don't have to join in...you don't have to share....why does it bother Atheists so much? Why take away the joy...the fun...the holiday season and other things....like Easter or other religious holidays? Why does it upset you so much? Just let things be...it's not hurting you. Why does it make Atheists so angry?
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LTC Nancy Bodyk (Retired)
I want to point out I am a Christian so people don't jump to the conclusion that I am an atheist. I think you can provide the same argument from a non-Christian's perspective. Why do some Christians feel the need to attack others for their beliefs? Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk is a perfect example of a State employee forcing her religious beliefs on others. Then there is the Westboro Church picketing at funerals for fallen Service Members. Religious freedom isn't just about your freedom, it's about my right not to have others push their beliefs on me. Some people just don't get that point though.
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1LT Nick Kidwell, I do because those that claim to be Christian are not Christ like, fact so call Christian are the ones that use the phrase Religious Freedom as justification for discrimination against other including women. If you love thy neighbor as taught by Jesus there is no need for claiming Religious Freedom.
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Cognitive Dissonance. Which I have found to exist in an inversely proportional relation to base IQ.
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Suspended Profile
Let's talk about the power structure that can feed the resentment. Without rancor I say this: hostility towards Christianity is not born in a vacuum. Some of it is the unfortunate consequence of a Christian value system at odds with societal moral shifts, and some of it is very much earned contempt.
I hold no ill-will towards Christianity personally, but I'll share some of my own experiences over the last 20 years as a Jew in uniform. In garrison, we all know that there's usually at least a 4 day holiday over Christmas, and often units will have a block leave allocation over the same time frame. Chanukah is not Jewish Christmas - it's a minor holiday that observant Jews consider of less significance than Passover or Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, both of which seem to somehow always overlap a training schedule or deployability cycle at various MACOMs. So you put in for the holiday accommodation, and the immediate authority usually glibly tells you he's lost Christmas to deployment (though not since you've met him). Even in theater, while yes, some people will continue their duties, there is some modicum of an official treatment of Christmas abroad. Being an observant adherent of a minority faith can generate a lot of resentment towards Christians, because they so very often don't understand how good they have it.
When I was a younger soldier, it positively infuriated me how Christians could claim persecution and enjoy such a relatively easy time of it. You're almost always apt to find a denominationally relevant chaplain on post or in theater, religious support is easily understood and attended to. I saw a Jewish chaplain twice, until I became a lay leader.
None of that should be an indictment of Christianity, but if you're a member of a minority faith, you have to remember that the indignities we even inadvertently in what should be a secular military because Christians make up the majority feed acrimony.
I'm older and wiser now, and I see it as my responsibility to make sure to send the elevator back down to the ground floor for new religious minority troops. They must be consistent and persistent if they want their faith needs taken care of, and to understand, more often than not, that the people they're asking just don't know.
Now, that said, there are many negative experiences I've had with religious Christians over the years. A Dominionist off-post cult had a number of unit soldiers' piety interfering with their duties, and their commitment to the Great Commission and conversion attempts of me and other even insufficiently saved Christians was an egregious abuse of power. A Baptist Chaplain overtly tried to convert me, and then later used the ambiguities of a yet-to-be-ended DADT to start a witch hunt against a fellow chaplain from an LGBT-friendly denomination. A Jewish psychologist offering services to returning vets with PTSD in California as part of the Yellow Ribbon program was harassed by an Evangelical colonel because he wanted his participants to fit a particular religious mold.
You aren't responsible for any of this, and neither are the majority of Christians with whom we serve. In fact, these days, our Christian chaplains very often are the most helpful when it comes to ensuring my own observance. When my unit was mobilized for Katrina, it was a Christian chaplain and his (as it turned out himself ordained) assistant that drove me from New Orleans to Mandeville for services with a Jewish congregation.
I wish being American was a better common denominator sometimes. We all just need to be better neighbors.
I hold no ill-will towards Christianity personally, but I'll share some of my own experiences over the last 20 years as a Jew in uniform. In garrison, we all know that there's usually at least a 4 day holiday over Christmas, and often units will have a block leave allocation over the same time frame. Chanukah is not Jewish Christmas - it's a minor holiday that observant Jews consider of less significance than Passover or Rosh Hashanah/Yom Kippur, both of which seem to somehow always overlap a training schedule or deployability cycle at various MACOMs. So you put in for the holiday accommodation, and the immediate authority usually glibly tells you he's lost Christmas to deployment (though not since you've met him). Even in theater, while yes, some people will continue their duties, there is some modicum of an official treatment of Christmas abroad. Being an observant adherent of a minority faith can generate a lot of resentment towards Christians, because they so very often don't understand how good they have it.
When I was a younger soldier, it positively infuriated me how Christians could claim persecution and enjoy such a relatively easy time of it. You're almost always apt to find a denominationally relevant chaplain on post or in theater, religious support is easily understood and attended to. I saw a Jewish chaplain twice, until I became a lay leader.
None of that should be an indictment of Christianity, but if you're a member of a minority faith, you have to remember that the indignities we even inadvertently in what should be a secular military because Christians make up the majority feed acrimony.
I'm older and wiser now, and I see it as my responsibility to make sure to send the elevator back down to the ground floor for new religious minority troops. They must be consistent and persistent if they want their faith needs taken care of, and to understand, more often than not, that the people they're asking just don't know.
Now, that said, there are many negative experiences I've had with religious Christians over the years. A Dominionist off-post cult had a number of unit soldiers' piety interfering with their duties, and their commitment to the Great Commission and conversion attempts of me and other even insufficiently saved Christians was an egregious abuse of power. A Baptist Chaplain overtly tried to convert me, and then later used the ambiguities of a yet-to-be-ended DADT to start a witch hunt against a fellow chaplain from an LGBT-friendly denomination. A Jewish psychologist offering services to returning vets with PTSD in California as part of the Yellow Ribbon program was harassed by an Evangelical colonel because he wanted his participants to fit a particular religious mold.
You aren't responsible for any of this, and neither are the majority of Christians with whom we serve. In fact, these days, our Christian chaplains very often are the most helpful when it comes to ensuring my own observance. When my unit was mobilized for Katrina, it was a Christian chaplain and his (as it turned out himself ordained) assistant that drove me from New Orleans to Mandeville for services with a Jewish congregation.
I wish being American was a better common denominator sometimes. We all just need to be better neighbors.
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Don't be surprised when people persecute you. They persecuted Jesus and the apostles, and they will persecute you. Soon physical persecution will be legal.
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The screaming, shouting and name calling. Is it possible they are trying to feel superior to organized religion? They think they need to make a spectacle of themselves so they can be seen and draw attention?
I don't know. I'm an Irish Catholic. I don't force anyone to talk religion with me, but if a challenge is engaged, I will take part.
I don't know. I'm an Irish Catholic. I don't force anyone to talk religion with me, but if a challenge is engaged, I will take part.
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Some people are misinformed or just out of touch with their beliefs. No Christian or Atheist should have to defend their belief to anyone. We all are free to believe what we want. Respecting others goes a long way in making friends and having a decent relationship.
However, no one has the right to make laws to stop Christians from practicing their religion or an Atheist from practicing his or hers. This is called tolerance and it is a must if we are to live together and create a better place for our children.
However, no one has the right to make laws to stop Christians from practicing their religion or an Atheist from practicing his or hers. This is called tolerance and it is a must if we are to live together and create a better place for our children.
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