Christians

[CursedFireDean]

Lots of people are using 'Christians' when what they really mean is a particular type of Christian. I certainly understand that yes, there are many discriminating Christians, but there's also many accepting Christians. I'd really like it if we didn't encourage these stereotypes/generalizations. As a Christian myself, I find it somewhat offensive when people just say 'Christian' or 'devout Christian' when what is really meant is 'unaccepting Christian.' There are many devout Christians out there who accept people for who they are, and devout does NOT mean that they are conservative. Devout people can be conservative or liberal, so please don't just assume. 

For me personally, being grouped in with those Christians is somewhat painful because in my view, they aren't on the right path religiously; almost like they aren't even my religion. They aren't following what I believe to be the main teaching of Jesus, which is to love others no matter what. I find it really painful and annoying to be grouped in with these people, because I and a lot of other Christians aren't like them.

Anyways, basically please just respect that there are more than just one type of Christian.

It seems like lots of us here don't want to encourage stereotypes but I feel like this one has been ignored or overlooked, so I really just wanted to say something about it.

[DriftingCrow]

Good point Dean, I'll be more careful myself.

[Brandon]

Well actually a Christian is just a Believer in Jesus Christ and God, Know a saint is a believer but also tries his or her best to not sin nlike your average Christian, Thoes are what you call saints of God the ones who use the bible scriptures alot or not condoning LGB and T

Good point though, The lgb tends to do that alot

[CursedFireDean]

Well actually a Christian is just a Believer in Jesus Christ and God, Know a saint is a believer but also tries his or her best to not sin nlike your average Christian, Thoes are what you call saints of God the ones who use the bible scriptures alot or not condoning LGB and T

I know that both sides of the spectrum are Christians, I'm simply pointing out that there are different KINDS of Christianity. I did not say it was a different religion, just that it is similar to that. Different Christians put their focus on different things.

The lgb tends to do that alot

could you re-word that possibly? I'm confused about what 'that' is referring to.

[Devlyn]

We don't allow any groups or individuals to be attacked, Dean, but it's up to the members to report posts that are offensive. Then the Staff can address them, otherwise you're just hoping a moderator stumbles upon the post. As a former Staff member, I can tell you we don't read every post, there isn't time. Hugs, Devlyn

[CursedFireDean]

We don't allow any groups or individuals to be attacked, Dean, but it's up to the members to report posts that are offensive. Then the Staff can address them, otherwise you're just hoping a moderator stumbles upon the post. As a former Staff member, I can tell you we don't read every post, there isn't time. Hugs, Devlyn

It's certainly not a deeply offensive thing, to me at least, it's simply a stereotype that I'd like to see reduced. And I know that when people say that they certainly aren't trying to be offensive, they probably just don't realise what they're saying. I figured that it wasn't worth reporting, just bringing attention to it.

[Devlyn]

Again, you're hoping someone stumbles upon it, in this case the person who said something about Christians. Reporting a thread is anonymous, only the Staff knows who reports a thread, and it is never disclosed. Hugs, Devlyn

[Sarah Louise]

There are Christians who don't accept transsexuality, just as there are Non-Christians who do not accept.

Lets not bring religion in when we don't need to.

[CursedFireDean]

There are Christians who don't accept transsexuality, just as there are Non-Christians who do not accept.

Lets not bring religion in when we don't need to.

I'm not saying there aren't non-Christians who don't accept, just that being a Christian doesn't automatically mean a person won't accept it.

[Contravene]

There are Christians who don't accept transsexuality, just as there are Non-Christians who do not accept.

Lets not bring religion in when we don't need to.

I agree with this. Describing someone as Christian is no different than describing them by another role. Saying "that Christian supports the LGBT community" is no different than saying something like "that guy in the green shirt supports the LGBT community". "Christian" is just a label. Everyone's beliefs and opinions vary regardless of what they label themselves as.

I see where you're coming from Dean but where does it stop with the labelling? It's unaccepting versus accepting Christians now but what happens when people start to break it down even further? What if a Christian accepts homosexuality but not transexuality, are we going to have to start specifying what they accept as Christians so we don't accidentally step on someone's toes?

If someone's talking about a Christian who has said or done something discriminatory towards the LGBT community, it's safe to say they're an "unaccepting" Christian without having to come out and label them as such every single time.

[Devlyn]

I believe Dean is referring to a specific post where "devout Christians" were painted with a broad brush as bad people, and that's wrong. And you should report it, hon. Hugs, Devlyn

[CursedFireDean]

All I'm trying to say here is that if someone is unaccepting then Christian isn't the right descriptor. 'Unaccepting person' is okay, 'unaccepting Christian' is okay, just that 'Christian' isn't a way to say unaccepting...

Sure I posted this with a post in mind, but I've seen more than one person do it. I'm just trying to call attention to the mindset that Christian=unaccepting that some people have...

[Shantel]

All I'm trying to say here is that if someone is unaccepting then Christian isn't the right descriptor. 'Unaccepting person' is okay, 'unaccepting Christian' is okay, just that 'Christian' isn't a way to say unaccepting...

Sure I posted this with a post in mind, but I've seen more than one person do it. I'm just trying to call attention to the mindset that Christian=unaccepting that some people have...

Yup, count me with CursedFireDean on this one 100%, I'm tired of the anti-Christian gang bangers that post their own brand of bigoted diatribes painting all of us with a broad brush, it's insulting and not a good way to ever make any extra friends who might even care for whatever else they ever post here rather than just glossing over it as if their opinion is worthless and no longer counts. I usually avoid religious topics because although these anti-Christians don't believe and scorn those who do, they can't resist camping on the thread and making everyone miserable with their nasty opinions. This being said, real believers accept everyone just as Jesus does.

[Jack_M]

The only thing I'd say is that as an atheist any religious affiliation is a red flag for me because there's few religions that don't state something homophobic or anti-trans in their books.  Christians DO follow a book that is against LGBT.  Therefore IMO, regardless of any argument, I feel that justifies being anti-Christian until Christians prove themselves otherwise. 

For me it'd be how I'd view someone who has a math book that tells them subtracting a negative doesn't equate to adding.  Until they do the sum 1 - (-1) and give me an answer of 2, I'm assuming they're going to give me an answer of 0 because that's what their book says.

[Darrin Scott]

The only thing I'd say is that as an atheist any religious affiliation is a red flag for me because there's few religions that don't state something homophobic or anti-trans in their books.  Christians DO follow a book that is against LGBT.  Therefore IMO, regardless of any argument, I feel that justifies being anti-Christian until Christians prove themselves otherwise.

I feel the exact same way.

[CursedFireDean]

The split between Christian support or unacceptance is somewhere between 40-60 and 50-50 and support is growing higher. It's not uncommon at all for acceptance. And as orange creamsicle said, there's more than one interpretation of the word.

[DriftingCrow]

The only thing I'd say is that as an atheist any religious affiliation is a red flag for me because there's few religions that don't state something homophobic or anti-trans in their books.  Christians DO follow a book that is against LGBT.  Therefore IMO, regardless of any argument, I feel that justifies being anti-Christian until Christians prove themselves otherwise. 

I am sorry but. . . lots of racist people feel this way about certain racial groups. "Most are criminals so therefore it's okay for me to be racist until an individual of a certain race proves they're not a criminal".

[David27]

The only thing I'd say is that as an atheist any religious affiliation is a red flag for me because there's few religions that don't state something homophobic or anti-trans in their books.  Christians DO follow a book that is against LGBT.  Therefore IMO, regardless of any argument, I feel that justifies being anti-Christian until Christians prove themselves otherwise. 

For me it'd be how I'd view someone who has a math book that tells them subtracting a negative doesn't equate to adding.  Until they do the sum 1 - (-1) and give me an answer of 2, I'm assuming they're going to give me an answer of 0 because that's what their book says.

I personally believe that the context of passages is lost and just the cherry picked verses are used by some (1 romans). I think that yes some Christians reject science, which make no sense because science/religion can function together.

The problem that plagues Christianity is that the loudest voices are what is being heard and those voices are often anti-LGBT. Around non-LGBT Christians I don't think I will ever feel safe until I'm fully passible and stealth. This is because of the hate the sin love the sinner mentality that exists with people who want to be loving, but still have issues with GLBT. There are some Christians that I do feel safe around. I always get the vibe of GLBT vs Christianity or science vs Christianity, which isn't true because these things can work together. The unfortunate part is these "competing" things can be perpetuated by churches. I don't think that churches are a problem, but when people just soak up the pastors message without any questioning (critical thinking) it can lead to negative things.

On the flip side GLBT people and organizations can further increase these factors by responding with negative things. It is a vicious cycle where people continue to argue and cannot understand each other.

[wheat thins are delicious]

Christians DO follow a book that is against LGBT.

I wouldn't say the book itself is against LGBT, that's simply the interpretation some get from the book.  The Bible works so well because people can read it and get an interpretation that is suitable to their needs.  Yes, some are simply militant and are taking scripture literally and basing it's meaning on what those words (which might not be true to the original words after who knows how many translations and versions) mean in modern days.  They have no reason to want to look at the times and places in which the books of the Bible were written. 

I personally believe that the context of passages is lost and just the cherry picked verses are used by some.

Basically.

[Jack_M]

People of a certain race don't follow a common book telling them to be criminals though so it doesn't really relate.   As for interpretation, I see that excuse all the time and I have read the bible.  The way I see it, it's explicitly written down and in order to not be taken at flat out face value, you have to interpret it away.  So for me, I just can't buy that.  You're cool with it and don't get me wrong, I'm glad there are a lot of accepting Christians who can interpret that away, but at face value, I'm not happy with that excuse and can't personally buy into it.  Especially when knowing the interpretation is not something followed by all.  Again, I'm just giving you an honest view from a non-theist.  I can't trust someone devout to a religion based on an anti-LGBT book to be accepting until they prove themselves to be. 

Yes, you can argue that non-theists can be non-accepting, but the truth of the matter is that for the vast majority this just isn't true.  They typically aren't influenced by any specific anti-LGBT books and so I don't see a red flag, I see more of a pale pink verging on white (white being that which would indicate accepting/safe).  There's a hint of red in there still because it's not a definite but the liklihood is far, far lower.

I'm not saying it's okay to bash on the religious, I'm just giving you an honest view as to why people are anti-Christian until they prove themselves otherwise.  IMO the burden is on the religious to prove themselves worthy and not on the rest of us to assume they're okay, and especially true in the LGBT community.  In my everyday life, as stealth, I will full on admit that I'm wary and cautious around the religious and often try to feel them out in some way shape or form to find out if they are LGBT accepting because I don't want to make friends with people who will bash me or out me to all if they somehow found out.  And if I can't feel them out, I just flat out decide it's not worth the risk.  There's someone I recently found out is mormon, and that was it, I wanted nothing to do with them and turns out I was right in doing so. 

I'm not trying to justify any hatred towards the religious and if you're religious that's all well and good.  It doesn't affect my life (assuming people just keep the damn thing out of politics) but I'm just giving you an honest view.  For a lot of people, especially in the LGBT community, religious = red flag and I honestly never see that changing.  Feel free to defend your own branch of faith but you can't defend Christianity as a whole because it is a split with regards to acceptance.  Some are fundamentalist and some aren't and it's not like you have a clear defining name for accepting side and non-accepting, the term Christian applies across the board.