Where are the normal Christians?

[Carol]

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Star Member SpartanDem (3,451 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore

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Where are the normal Christians?
You see them on the news every night. Extremists. Hate groups. The lunatic fringe. And you cringe every time some new radical or abusive psychopath makes the papers again, because you know that strangers and even friends are going to be wary of you now. You suspect they’re afraid you’re like that too. You feel caught in the crossfire between the frightening, hateful fanatics who call themselves by the same name you do, and the bigots who tar you all with the same brush. You’re a Christian.

“The bad news is that we’re all part of the same body,” says Amy Laura Hall, an associate professor at Duke and the creator of Profligategrace.com. “The bad news is that somebody like George W. Bush and I are part of the Methodist church, and he’s condoning what I and many in the community say is torture. But the good news,” she continues, “is we’re part of the same body. Therefore we have a responsibility to keep engaging in political discourse, and conversation with people on all opposing sides.” Not that it doesn’t get exhausting, battling the scorn from both within and without.


As a practicing Catholic, I have lived my entire adult life being skeptical, questioning and critical of the backward policies of my institution, and the horrific crimes committed by its members and perpetuated by its authorities. These days, I figure most people associate my religion with child molesters and Rick Santorum. But I have stuck with my faith – albeit a very different one than the traditional image of some papal ring-kissing, birth control-hating freak that tends to get more attention — because the values I learned directly from a Christian upbringing are the values I still try to apply to my life every day. And if you, as either a conservative Christian or a staunch nonbeliever, think that’s easy, it isn’t. It’s a struggle. But it’s an often wonderful struggle.

It’s hard to forgive people when they screw you over. It’s hard to not be materialistic or petty. It’s hard to follow the command to love your neighbor. You don’t have to be a Christian to get those ideals and to practice them, but if faith is the means by which many of us choose to express our values, it also doesn’t automatically make us all sheep, taking orders from some imaginary white-haired man in the sky.

http://www.salon.com/2012/03/28/wher...al_christians/

Some "Christian" all right. Another liberal who simply USES his/her faith to claim that those who are more conservative and who believe the bible is the inerrant word of God aren't "real Christians".

To be sure she goes on to criticize liberals attitudes about Christianity, but it's just the........"I'm not like them, don't blame me. You should be tolerant of MY beliefs. (While being intolerant of conservative Christian's beliefs.)

Star Member starroute (9,512 posts) Profile Journal Send DU Mail Ignore
7. I suspect the normal Christians may eventually have to denounce the nutjobs

As an outsider, I may be speaking out of turn -- but there's a kind of co-dependence going on that's apparent even in the article quoted in the OP, an insistence on engaging and working out problems within the family that I don't think has served Christians in general well.

In the old days, many of the fringe Christians would have been routinely condemned as heretics. The Ayn Randists trying to turn Christianity into a religion of selfishness. The left-behinders who think they can force Armageddon by hustling all the Jews off to Israel or whatever else is next on their prophecy checklist. The deviant Catholics who believe that "wealth creators" are uniquely made in the image of God.

I understand that progressive Christians are heavy on tolerance. I understand that the history of schisms and religious wars within Christianity may give pause to anybody who fears it could happen again. And I also understand that progressive Christians may fear that if they start describing the reactionaries as not real Christians, it will bounce back at them ten times harder.

But operating from a position of weakness is never a winning strategy in the long run. And it would be a terrible thing if the "normal Christians" surrendered without firing a shot out of fear of rocking the boat.

[Stoic]

Where are the normal Christians?

*Raises hand* Yep, we're all right here, right where we always have been. And we don't like Christians In Name Only...like you.

What you people don't understand is that what you call "extremists" and "hate groups" are the normal Christians; we just don't agree with your faux-Christian secular humanist ideals. If normal Christians have a fault, it's that we are too inclined to hold our tongues when we see something we know is wrong.

So yes, we're here. But you won't like us.

[noonwitch]

*Raises hand* Yep, we're all right here, right where we always have been. And we don't like Christians In Name Only...like you.

What you people don't understand is that what you call "extremists" and "hate groups" are the normal Christians; we just don't agree with your faux-Christian secular humanist ideals. If normal Christians have a fault, it's that we are too inclined to hold our tongues when we see something we know is wrong.

So yes, we're here. But you won't like us.

They are not looking for normal Christians, they are looking to lump all evangelicals in with Fred Phelps and his ilk.
The DUers consider normal christians to be those who are members of mainline protestant denominations. What they don't understand is that a lot of church outreach to the poor in this country involves people from all branches of Christianity coming together to help-our local churches take turns being shelters for the homeless, for example. If they want to find normal christians, just go volunteer at a program like that, they'll find plenty there helping others.

[RedGrouse]

So all Christians are right wingers? Uh, no. I am seen many non-religious and non-Christians who were conservative. I don't see religion and politics being that correlated.

[NJCardFan]

You see them on the news every night. Extremists. Hate groups. The lunatic fringe.

I don't know what news you watch(BSNBC probably) but when I see the news, the only extremist hate groups or lunatic fringe I see are leftists. Unless OWS is now considered a right wing religious hate group.

[txradioguy]

You see them on the news every night. Extremists. Hate groups. The lunatic fringe

Yup right there on MSNBC

Hardball with Chris Matthews

The Rachel Maddow Show

The Ed Show

The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell

And let's not forget Al Sharpton's show either.