"the church is like a man who chopped jalapenos and rubbed his eyes and now flails around for something to ease the pain and hits other people in the process"
I love this analogy for some reason. Fairly accurate, and yet just kinda funny.
I can definitely relate to how you feel. Fundamentalists end up giving us all a bad name. Of course, the reality is that a lot of the people who have this "those Christians are at it again!" attitude are fundamentalists too. They're just fundamentalist athiests or fundamentalist pagans, etc. And they annoy me just as much. Every time I hear a fundie athiest say something to the effect of "Christians are all evil facists with a stick up their ass, and all athiests are totally accepting of other people and viewpoints" (Note: this sounds like exaggeration, but I swear, this is nearly a direct quote, only condensed) I almost want to laugh at the contradiction, except it isn't really funny. I know open, accepting, *tolerant* Christians, athiests, Pagans, Jews, etc. And I'd like to think we're all tired of being the voice in the back nobody listens to, but still it continues.
It makes me feel lost to believe in the things Jesus said, and see them distorted and abused by the majority, to the point where I no longer feel that Christianity represents me, or even represents Christ. And that shouldn't be.
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Date: 2006-04-03 06:52 am (UTC)I love this analogy for some reason. Fairly accurate, and yet just kinda funny.
I can definitely relate to how you feel. Fundamentalists end up giving us all a bad name. Of course, the reality is that a lot of the people who have this "those Christians are at it again!" attitude are fundamentalists too. They're just fundamentalist athiests or fundamentalist pagans, etc. And they annoy me just as much. Every time I hear a fundie athiest say something to the effect of "Christians are all evil facists with a stick up their ass, and all athiests are totally accepting of other people and viewpoints" (Note: this sounds like exaggeration, but I swear, this is nearly a direct quote, only condensed) I almost want to laugh at the contradiction, except it isn't really funny. I know open, accepting, *tolerant* Christians, athiests, Pagans, Jews, etc. And I'd like to think we're all tired of being the voice in the back nobody listens to, but still it continues.
It makes me feel lost to believe in the things Jesus said, and see them distorted and abused by the majority, to the point where I no longer feel that Christianity represents me, or even represents Christ. And that shouldn't be.