More than loaves and fishes, more than water into wine, more than healing the sick, or feeding the poor, or forgiveness for sin, Christianity in America is becoming associated with hate.
The other day, we featured the video of a guy who declares Cheerios to be “the treat of the homosexuals”, setting a box of Cheerios on fire with a propane torch.
The video is great, because the torcher is a goober in a pink shirt whose act of zealotry seems to be met with a near-instant response from nature—or Karma, God, whatever—a gust of hot midwestern wind that quickly sets the lawn of GM’s headquarters on fire. In an accidental moment of cinematic genius, The Cheerios Torcher flees the scene, commanding his comrades to hurry up and get in the car.
The video quickly went globally viral, and in response, evangelical Christian blogger Fred Clark perfectly summed up the reasons why The Cheerios Torcher is a symbol of how evangelicals are viewed in modern society. In a blog on Slactivist, Clark notes that most people assumed The Cheerios Torcher to be an evangelical preacher, or at the very least a Christian, though nowhere on this video is it stated that he is. Clark explains:
So why did everyone assume that this man was an evangelical Christian?
Because he’s anti-gay.
More specifically, because he’s disproportionately concerned with being anti-gay and he’s choosing to express that concern in a goofy, obnoxious and destructive way.
Clark continues with a plea to evangelicals, and Christians in general:
Please let that sink in. Please contemplate what that means for the witness of evangelical Christians in America in 2012. Please consider what that means for the reputation of the church.
Don’t like ads? Become a supporter and enjoy The Good Men Project ad freeThat’s three “pleases” there, because I am begging — I am begging my brothers and sisters, my fellow evangelicals here in America, to step back and think about how we got to this sorry state of affairs.
That video? This is who we are now in the eyes of the world. And they are not wrong to see us this way.
And, as Clark points out, “Everyone was right” about The Cheerios Torcher being an evangelical.
If you are a Christian, it is time for you to speak out against the intolerance and bigotry coming out of your community. It is time for you to stand up for your neighbors and declare that this is not to be done in your name. It is up to us to put a face of love, acceptance and equality onto Christianity.
This is a call, folks, from a respected man within your community, begging you to see that more than loaves and fishes, more than water into wine, more than healing the sick, or feeding the poor, or forgiveness for sins, Christianity in America is becoming associated with hate.
Read Setting the World on Fire for Jesus by by Fred Clark
Also read 10 Things I Wish the Church Knew About Homosexuality by Jim Rigby
For the last few years folks have been asking why don’t the “Moderate Muslims” speak out against their more radical brethren?” Now Christians are being asked the same question.
As an American now living in Europe, I totally agree with the author of this article. American Evangelicals like it or not are often associated with intolerance and hate now.
Seems some of the folks leaving comments here want to shoot the messenger rather than take a long hard look in the mirror.
It seems you want to go there.
So we will. Let’s have a piece on the hatefulness of Islam. Its core beliefs. Its violence. Its views on gays.
No?
Why not?
A lot of references of “white” evangelicals …let’s not make this a race thing …. Okay? {“For instance, in an opinion piece published by News One, the Rev. Jamal Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple AME Church, a megachurch in Baltimore, Md., Bryant expressed disappointment with the president’s new position on same sex marriage”} {“The church has no shades of gray when it comes to marriage. Our faith reserves marriage for a man and a woman. President Obama, as a product of the Black church, is fully aware of that. Knowing this, the President made this endorsement without calling or preparing… Read more »
The rambling nut jobs at the Occupy movement were hardly paraded out as the spokespersons for that movement. how many times have we heard “not a feminist are like that”, and yet Christians need to clean up there house before they “earn” the right to have a say. I guess that standard only applies one way. Until the Christian faiths unilaterally abandon a great many core beliefs they will continue to be branded with the hate mongering title. I doubt that’s going to happen, certain passages even confirm that the world will hate them for their beliefs, so to many… Read more »
The emphasis on Christianity here might cause some folks to lose sight of the actual point: A religious group is defined by the actions of some of its adherents. I understand it’s okay to do this to Christians, and to conservative Jews. Has it occurred to you that people not in a cocoon might apply the same logic to Muslims? How many Americans have Christians killed in the last decade, in the name of Christ? Last two decades? None of the nutjob shootings in the past, say, ten years were preceded by calls to Jesus on the part of the… Read more »
Thankfully freedom of speech is still permitted here so no defense is necessary. The freedom to not listen is also protected.
There have been guys in rags on the edge of town ranting about Odins rage, Ra’s wrath, or the
disappointment of Apollo since humans first clustered huts together. Now they have YouTube channels.
Opposing views use these lunatics to try and smear, shame, and silence messages they don’t agree with.
Hey now, Rick. I oppose the modern day prophets, but I don’t have to use them to smear or shame anyone. They do it all on their own. If anything, I think it’s the responsibility of the group the radical minority is claiming to be a part of to clean their own houses out. As to some earlier discussion points… in my town, I’d say a disproportionate number of dysfunctional children come out of extremist christian households. If I was from a different area, they might be extremist Muslims or extremist Jews, but around here the garden variety of crazy… Read more »
I report what I see. Good enough for you, good enough for me. Neither exemplifies Christianity, according to someone else.
Back in 1970, my brother, an Air Force navigator, was killed overseas. Many years, decades, later, my father told me they’d gotten taunting calls from peace activists.
Do these subhuman slime exemplify the peace movement?
Wouldn’t happen today. Caller ID.
The fact that the man had a Twitter channel with more than a dozen evangelical rants would have indicated to most people that he was an Evangelical Christian.
One persons hatefull intolerance is another persons foundational belief. Until Christians come out enthusiastically supporting on demand abortion they will continue to be painted as narrow minded hate filled bigots by a large very vocal well connected minority.
That’s just one issue among many where that standard gets applied. Not to saw that there aren’t real circumstances of hypocracy bigotry and hate but most of those charges are actually the result of a desire to shame Christians into accepting the worlds standards, one thing they are very specifically warned against.
That ceases to become a valid defence the nanosecond the Christian rejection of “the world’s standards” becomes them trying to force other people to live their way. Don’t believe in abortion? Don’t have one. Don’t believe in gay marriage? Don’t marry someone of the same sex. Think Muslims are “of the Devil?” Don’t be a Muslim. But don’t try to legally or politically force the rest of the world backwards with you.
Joanna, for sure. We don’t have local bands of rape-threateners, but we do have people turn out with hateful and ugly signs at gay pride events, and the women’s clinic had a police cordon for many years because of violent “Christian” misogynists threatening women who went in, as well as the women who worked there.
The “leave others alone, don’t force your religious values on them” part is key, though.
Richard, I report what I see. At this point if I find out that an acquaintance is evangelical, I have exits planned for when the conversation shifts to religion, because it’s gonna go there. I’ve also learned to be closedmouthed around them about my own religion, because no, I don’t want them coming to church with me. I don’t mind other friends of different denominations coming, but they’re just curious and respectful. They’re not on some creepy Borglike mission to digest the church, which is precisely the vibe I get from the evangelicals. I get the impression that they’re told… Read more »
Curious about my vehemence on the subject?
This is my hometown: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/09/man-with-bible-threatens-to-rape-woman-during-gay-day-in-michigan/#.UCP25HvbSWQ.facebook
Sarahj. Hyperbole is so much fun, don’t you think? I live in an area where the evangelicals–we’ll leave the exact brand secret–are distinguished solely by the facility with which they smile. Other than that, nobody’s bothered me in the two and a half years I’ve lived here and the forty years I’ve been visiting here. The cooperation among the various churches–one is so inclusive they took down the cross and people stopped coming, lesson there, I guess–in civic activities would hurt the head of a person who thinks evangelicals can’t abide RC and the Unitarians can’t abide the trinitarians and… Read more »
Richard, the fact that you’ve had a nice experience with Evangelicals “where [your] kin are,” or that “nobody’s bothered [you] in the two and a half years [you’ve] lived here” means nothing whatsoever in the larger scheme of things. Every once in awhile, people like you could benefit enormously from just listening and reading, and not assuming that you have all the “real” answers to everyone else’s “hyperbole.”
Uh…then stop trying to cram your beliefs down the rest of our throats? My neighborhood’s got a fair number of evangelicals. And they’re nice as pie until you refuse for the 823,525th time to come to church with them. I guess that’s the magic number, then they disappear. Before that, though, they’re incredibly intrusive, swarming all over your own religion in some mistaken belief that you want to share and commune in Jesus with them (doesn’t everyone?). The things that fall out of their mouths are breathtaking, and the “live and let live” module appears to be permanently broken. I… Read more »
Christianity is becoming associated with hate. Easy. Those who seek to discredit Christianity accuse Christianity of hate in the hopes that Christians, seeking to avoid the charge, will cave on their beliefs. It’s a vile, despicable tactic. As I’ve said elsewhere, though, it’s losing it’s effectiveness and those who still use it have apparently not gotten the memo for progressives, “Accusations that make the accused laugh at us.” If Christianity is exemplified by, say, the Cheerios burner, it would follow logically that liberalism should be exemplified by the “mostly peaceful” OWS. In fact, liberalism is exemplified by the OWS, as… Read more »
I think that we should recognize such ‘will you distinguish/dissociate yourself from such persons/beliefs/behaviours/etc.?’ challenges for what they really are: loaded questions, designed to underwrite the prejudices of the person who asks them. Asking Christians to distinguish themselves in such a manner is akin to expecting every woman to prove that she is not an irrational and hysterical creature, every black kid that he is not a petty criminal (if such a kid wears a hoodie, he is obviously asking for it…), every man that he is not a rapist, every Muslim that he is not a terrorist, or every… Read more »
Apples and oranges. Individual women do not belong and share the belief systems of group WOMAN. Individual blacks do not share the beliefs of group BLACK. Individual feminists (North America) should share the belief systems of NOW, and if they do not, they should not be calling themselves feminists. This is the same nonsensical argument some feminists make when you point out the negatives of their politic – big tent, small tent, tent for rent. If you are an Evangelical Christian then you should hold the belief of the group you belong to and one of those beliefs is that… Read more »
What are you asking Christians to do? Because if I compare this to the tweet sent out by @sikhknowledge: I will not distinguish my self from a muslim because I won’t abandon any one person as a target in the face of racist attitudes. Im a person Which you posted in your article, I figured you agreed that Sikhs, Muslims, and people of all faiths are individual people who should not be acted against or judged on the basis of their brothers and sisters in faith. That just because one dork in an untucked button-down sets the General Mills’ lawn… Read more »
Huge difference if you ask me. First, Christians are so by far the powerful majority in the US and the west in general. If we were talking about Christians having to “prove something” in Egypt, ti’d be a totally different conversation. The fact is, anti LGBT sentiment is largely, if not essentially entirely, wrapped up in Biblical-based foundations. Racism was this deep, multi-system discrimination based upon class, religion, economics, and a very noticeable physical distinction. Anti-gay sentiment comes straight from one place – the Bible (in the West). Being as the overwhelming powerful masses in the US are Christians, and… Read more »
Okay, the Christians have to step up and let people know that it’s not the norm and that the ones that are shown on TV don’t represent the majority. So when are the rest going to listen to us? We can talk until we’re blue in the face yet people don’t want to accept what we say. If I hear “I’m a recovering Catholic” one more time, I’m gonna puke. People don’t want to hear the “truth” about many of these religious organizations. The truth being that they are compassionate and open. Yup, there sure are some idiots out there… Read more »
Sorry, but their meddling in political activity alone precludes the notion that they’re “compassionate and open.” Instead of whining about how mean people are to Christians, maybe it’s time for Christians to school themselves and start speaking out against those whom they claim “don’t represent the majority,” every evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.
I’m a recovering Catholic. Just kidding. I went to Catholic schools too long to step on that particular land mine. Maybe Catholics in your area behave differently, but a surprising number that I’ve met, quite possibly the majority of them, are generally reprehensible human beings. I might be more open if it weren’t for the whole “sweep sex abuse of children under the rug and encourage suicide in the GLBT student population” thing. You certainly don’t have to defend your faith. In fact, I’d rather not hear it. I’ve spent a good amount of time studying modern Evangelicals academically, and… Read more »
Good stuff to think about. Great comments, everyone.
I think, like many ideas/concepts/and even words in our society, Chritianity has been co-opted by those interested in their own personal gain or gain of their particular group. Think “moral majority”. Combating such co-opting requires a lot of work, pro-activeness, and involvement. I also wonder if we have reached the point of no return…. That Christianity will now always be seen as a religion of white intolerant reactionary men?
The nature of the church in the developing world says that this point of no return has not been reached, but Christianity in America is definitely in dire straits. i reminded the people I lead in a Bible study group of Matthew 7:5 and Amos 4:4-5 regarding all this recent, show madness from so many people.
Alastair. I hear you. Moderation is like kissing your sister. (Actually that would generate more interest than a passive Christian.) Crazyness is far more attention grabbing than people just going about doing random acts of kindness.
It is interesting that evangelicals are supposedly exemplified by such as the goofy Cheerios burner, while liberals are not smeared by the excesses of the mostly-peaceful OWS. Not an accident. Some time back after a serious earthquake in Mexico, the Baptist emergency response was detailed someplace. Interesting. Astonishing. Got no freakin’ ink anywhere. Not astonishing. Bad joke where I live: If Brother Bob’s house is damaged in a storm, the guys from the church–conservative–show up Saturday with their pickup trucks, compressors, table saws, miter saws, PVC, drills and wrenches and generators, forests’ worth of plywood and boards. They stand in… Read more »
Is anyone actually paying attention to the innumerable moderate voices out there, or are people merely publicizing the crazy voices that fit their narrative?
Alastair, unfortunately not many are listening to those moderate (read: sane, rational,etc.) voices. Let’s face it. Normal doesn’t sell ads. Sane and rational don’t get ratings. Like the old saying: “if it bleeds, it leads.” If it’s loud, in-your-face and divisive, it gets attention. It’s a shame, but for the foreseeable future, that’s how it’s going to be.
The recently published article about the Westboro Baptists by a Sociologist of Religion on this site explains what you’re asking perfectly.
As I understand it, it’s not that the crazy voices fit their narrative, it’s that the narrative is formed, or at least heavily impacted, by the most extreme examples of any given position.
Yes. Yes, it is.
It’s about time at least one Christian stood up and said.. “Wait… What are we doing here? This isn’t what Christianity stands for.” It is so much easier to hate than to accept or tolerate.
Greg, There’s a very similar parallel to the supposed “lack” of outrage amongst the Muslim community after the September 11 attacks. What saddened me, however, was that citizens were clamoring for a “moderate” voice. In both instances, we should make a clear delineation: in this case, this man does NOT represent the tenets of Christianity — so to label him as an “extreme” Christian means that there is some thread that connects my beliefs with his. I imagine your friendly neighborhood Muslim would say the same of the frustration they experience with being even remotely linked with an organization like… Read more »
I have for quite a while now struggled with this issue. Having grown up in a church that was decidedly narrow-minded and bigoted, it took a long time to tune out those old voices and “be my own man,” Christianity-wise. I have for several years now belonged to a church that is welcoming. When people ask what religion (i.e. denomination) I am, I merely say, “I am a Christian” (and unfortunately not a very good one at that. I am a sinner, saved by grace. On matters such as abortion, homosexuality, etc. I merely know what the Bible states; on… Read more »
Was Jesus tolerant of those guys changing money in the Temple courtyard? Christianity, like other religions, prescribes a moral code, which the disciple is supposed to follow. “It is only through me that you shall be saved”, Jesus says, not through someone else’s teachings.
It is one thing to say that a secular civil society requires a peaceful co-existence between people of differing faiths and opinions, but the assertion that Christ requires tolerance of any and all behavior is just unbiblical. I think the phrase is: “Love the sinner, hate the sin”.
I see that phrase get thrown around a lot, Anon, but I’ve yet to observe an adequate execution of it, which leads me to treat it as a trite platitude that “Christians” like to throw around to justify their intolerance without ever demonstrating the semantic MEANING of the phrase. What does “loving a sinner+hating a sin” entail? If you’re already making a values judgement on another person’s behavior, then you’ve assumed a position of moral or ethical authority in regards to the actions or decisions of another implicitly; you’ve already decided that YOU know what is right and wrong, and… Read more »