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feeding time at the lion enclosure
Oct. 12th, 2004 01:08 pmHestia's recent comments about Family First, religious groups and the popularity of Christian-bashing in general has reminded me of something i've been pondering lately.
As Hestia succinctly put it: "They see things through their own cultural filters just as we all do, and some of what I hear fellow lefties say is simply the flipside of The Best of Christian Bigotry." That's pretty much what i've been thinking lately, whenever i see 'Christian' used as a dirty word by people who would quite rightly be outraged by the same attitude applied to Muslims or Jews or Pagans. It's very similar to the habit a lot of us have of decrying racism and then vilifying Americans at the drop of a hat (of which i'm as guilty as any).
Of course, there are some views that are pushed in the name of Christianity that i am utterly opposed to, especially those based in homophobia or other conservative prejudices, but those things i am against on the grounds of opposing the prejudice, not the religion. I also recognise that a lot of these prejudices are not necessarily representative of Christianity, and are often contrary to the religion's teachings (passing judgement itself is against what Jesus taught, as i understand it, though i'd like to read up more on it again before telling people who spend their whole lives studying the Bible that they have it arse about). Things like the Australian Christian Lobby's "Christian Values Checklist" that are big on opposing gays, single mums and pornography, but silent on apparently 'non-core' Christian values like charity, non-judgement and social justice issues, i barely even rate as Christian and consciously try to use terms like 'fundamentalist' to describe (athough, as Hestia pointed out, even a lot of born-again churches have a lot of positive, compassionate attitudes and aren't all about enforcing their beliefs on everyone).
Anyway, i just wanted to make mention of this, maybe as food for thought next time you want to use 'Christian' as a four letter word (perhaps try replacing it with 'Muslim' or 'Jew' and see if you'd still say it).
As Hestia succinctly put it: "They see things through their own cultural filters just as we all do, and some of what I hear fellow lefties say is simply the flipside of The Best of Christian Bigotry." That's pretty much what i've been thinking lately, whenever i see 'Christian' used as a dirty word by people who would quite rightly be outraged by the same attitude applied to Muslims or Jews or Pagans. It's very similar to the habit a lot of us have of decrying racism and then vilifying Americans at the drop of a hat (of which i'm as guilty as any).
Of course, there are some views that are pushed in the name of Christianity that i am utterly opposed to, especially those based in homophobia or other conservative prejudices, but those things i am against on the grounds of opposing the prejudice, not the religion. I also recognise that a lot of these prejudices are not necessarily representative of Christianity, and are often contrary to the religion's teachings (passing judgement itself is against what Jesus taught, as i understand it, though i'd like to read up more on it again before telling people who spend their whole lives studying the Bible that they have it arse about). Things like the Australian Christian Lobby's "Christian Values Checklist" that are big on opposing gays, single mums and pornography, but silent on apparently 'non-core' Christian values like charity, non-judgement and social justice issues, i barely even rate as Christian and consciously try to use terms like 'fundamentalist' to describe (athough, as Hestia pointed out, even a lot of born-again churches have a lot of positive, compassionate attitudes and aren't all about enforcing their beliefs on everyone).
Anyway, i just wanted to make mention of this, maybe as food for thought next time you want to use 'Christian' as a four letter word (perhaps try replacing it with 'Muslim' or 'Jew' and see if you'd still say it).
