I’ve said it. I’ll say it. Read the bible, really read it, and an atheist will soon be “born again.”
Here’s a great read that’s making the rounds (below). It’s from Rachel Hel Evans and the blog is called, How to win a culture war and lose a generation. The sentiment has been expressed before, but it’s still a great reminder:
When asked by The Barna Group what words or phrases best describe Christianity, the top response among Americans ages 16-29 was “antihomosexual.” For a staggering 91 percent of non-Christians, this was the first word that came to their mind when asked about the Christian faith. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers. (The next most common negative images? : “judgmental,” “hypocritical,” and “too involved in politics.”)
In the book that documents these findings, titled unChristian, David Kinnaman writes:
“The gay issue has become the ‘big one, the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation. It is also the dimensions that most clearly demonstrates the unchristian faith to young people today, surfacing in a spate of negative perceptions: judgmental, bigoted, sheltered, right-wingers, hypocritical, insincere, and uncaring. Outsiders say [Christian] hostility toward gays…has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.”
Later research, documented in Kinnaman’s You Lost Me, reveals that one of the top reasons 59 percent of young adults with a Christian background have left the church is because they perceive the church to be too exclusive, particularly regarding their LGBT friends. Eight million twenty-somethings have left the church, and this is one reason why.
In my experience, all the anecdotal evidence backs up the research.
So you know who is speaking, I am a white, Texan, Baptist pastor… Pretty much the socio-economic epitome of who you’re discussing. In all my life, I have never been involved with or witnessed any of many homosexual acquaintances being insulted or mistreated. The wider cultural perception of my cultural tribe as anti-gay is the result of a few people with undue influence. Just remember, the persons who speak the loudest rarely speak for the majority, and rarely speak the truth. Point in fact- see the above video.
Erhm, what video above? There’s not a video on my screen.
Did you miss the news out of North Carolina last week?
There is no love in the Christian message of “love the sinner”. It’s a masked attempt to hide behind — in all reality — a hateful message.
Esse quam videri
About the video, I am speaking of the Starbuck’s-wasting pastor on your main page.
The point I am getting at is that the “hate the sin, love the sinner” mess is not itself representative of Christianity, at least in my faith tribe (my personal experience). It is coined by a few old, white-haired preachers with slicked hair in the Southern Baptist headquarters in Nashville-the kind of people who are irrelavent to the worshiping majority, but who make it on Larry King regularly to spout their hate. As for me and my house-non solum esse, nos vero!
[...] The best PR to encourage disbelief, well, it’s belief (cafewitteveen.wordpress.com) [...]