Why Do They Hate Us? – 2
My comment on iMonk’s article, Why Do They Hate Us? is here. Below is another comment that I thought interesting:
As a former rabid atheist, I disliked Christians because I saw them as ignorant, intolerant and absurdly convinced that they had the Truth. The only evidence for this was TV and the people I came in contact with. Also, many of my College Professors found them easy targets and I enjoyed laughing at these poor deluded souls. But I was empty if the truth be told. However, I was won over to the other side, in the San Francisco Bay area because I personally witnessed the love amongst Christians and I had had enough of the self righteousness of New Agers and fellow Freethinkers to know they were a bunch of lost souls. Your quote below can easily work with nonbelievers in the Berkenstock Bay Area.
Many unbelievers are bizarrely shallow and legalistic about minute matters. We are frequently psychologically unsound, psychiatrically medicated, filled with bitterness and anger, tormented by conflicts and, frankly, unpleasant to have around.
So personally, I find alot of your insights a wash. As the only difference between the two groups that I see is that the Christian is aware that he needs a Savior outside himself. He is no longer autonomous.
Since you seem to speak for all of Evangelicals I wonder if your experiences have something to do with regional Christianity in the South. If you were to give a survey here in Northern California and ask “Is the South ruled by a bunch of hicks?” I would argue that the percentage would be really high that it is…regardless of the truth of the answer ( I would not agree by the way, but if we are giving surveys weight, then the results are just as valid..although misleading ). I am afraid that as a result of many years of secular education, any graduate now in the system has been thoroughly indoctrinated that truth is maleable if not totally irrelevant any more.
HOWEVER, I agree with many of your points. But if you lived amongst the left winging, Berkeley types like I did for 15 years… then hanging out with some of these Evangelical Pharisees is alright by me.
I am a half full kinda guy. You and I could (I am 52 like you) easily have a chat at a cafe and tell all the tales of Evangelicals’ corruption, vice, adultery, etc. that we have seen for ourselves. So what? What else is new. There was a guy in the Corinthian Church having an affair with his mother? I don’t think the first century Church was as ideal as many Church Primitivists make them out to be.
But all in all, I find your Blog thought provoking , challenging and very important. Keep up the good work.
–Frank Ordaz
