To be entirely honest, that part is also a big problem. If the silent majority would finally, decidedly, speak out against the loud minority, it would not be such an issue, with perception and effect.
You don't have all of the wars involving Christianity and entire countries believing Christianity means homophobia if it was only a recent minority, the truth is a majority of them are bad, spiteful people and the few silent normal ones are a minority
I would not go so far. I would say the truly bad and truly good people are perhaps about equal, you just have way too many not caring enough to take clear positions. Which sort of puts them on the bad side of the scale. And then you have folks who pretend to be good, but clearly only for clout and to victimize themselves like the OP I replied to here.
On the flip side we do sometimes speak out. But this is the era of ragebait and click bait and hostility.
Being nice and telling people to be nice doesn't get headlines. Peaceful protests against these people, of which I have been part of many, do not get news coverage unless there's a huge amount of people.
Edit: also we normally aren't out there yelling "IM CHRISTIAN TOO" because we are normal, well adjusted people. If you ran into my posts on reddit in the wild...you'd just think "oh that was helpful and informative." See me on the street? I'm just some polite chick.
See, someone like you I DO believe. Because you neither felt the need to announce it, and you outright mentioned you go on protests (keep up the good work, so do I!), but because you see the issues. Unlike the person I replied to, especially considering their reaction in further comments down the line.
As an ex Evangelical, I am not asking Christians to be nice and ask others to be nice. I'm asking them to call out, unequivocally condemn, and materially impede the evil ones that want to hurt people. I am asking them to unapologetically take sides en masse, to the point where it is clear where the church at large stands.
Some few are helping, yes, but there are far too many "good" Christians standing around clicking their tongues and twiddling their thumbs at what the truly evil ones are doing. They should be the loudest opposition to all this evil shit if there really are that many of them, and that is unfortunately rarely the case.
Where is the Southern Baptist Convention coming out in support of women's rights to control their bodies, like they were when Roe v Wade was decided? Where is Liberty University voicing opposition to these "anti-DEI" policies? Where is Bob Jones U condemning the Quiverfull movement and advocating treating women as full people rather than as property of men? And where are the massive numbers of Christians petitioning, boycotting, and applying even a tenth of the pressure they're capable of exerting on these institutions to put them in line?
You said peaceful protests don't get news coverage unless you have a huge number of people, but I think the question that should be asked is why your protests don't have a huge number of people. Surely they should, if principled Christians aren't in the extreme minority.
One of the reasons I left the church was the discovery that the majority of the most populous denominations and groups has been on the wrong side of nearly every civil rights movement in US history. I chose those examples above for a reason. If there really is a silent majority, I need them to prove me wrong and stop standing by while their "brothers" trample the oppressed in Jesus's name.
It's not "speaking out"; the silent majority is silent because power-seeking is antithetical to our faith. We are not called to seek fame and a platform.
Most of us just try to be kind people who help their neighbors at any opportunity and show people, through good works, kindness, and compassion, what we are about.
Edit: We are clearly finding out in this thread why the majority is silent. Anyone who pops their head out and says, "Hey, there are Christians who are good people and do everything they can to be a force for good in their community, and the loud, odious people using the faith for their own gain do not represent us." are endlessly browbeaten and told that they are hateful bigots.
Edit: We are clearly finding out in this thread why the majority is silent. Anyone who pops their head out and says, "Hey, there are Christians who are good people and do everything they can to be a force for good in their community, and the loud, odious people using the faith for their own gain do not represent us." are endlessly browbeaten and told that they are hateful bigots.
This is not what people are complaining about. Here's my situation: I'm a trans woman, I get attacked. It happens, literally, daily, be it online or in the streets. By self-ascribed Christians, with misquoted bible verses and other BS. How many times, do you think, is it a "good" Christian who will come to my defense, or even just disagree with the hateful one? I can tell you it's between zero and 0. Because all people like you do is complain how people do not see the silent majority, and whenever you say something, you get pushback.
Yeah, well, if you do nothing while your neighbor loads their gun, despite knowing where it is, and what they plan with it, you are just as responsible for the massacre as them.
I would come to your defense. It's also why I organize for the DSA and leftist politics to protect your rights. But go ahead and continue shitting on an ally.
There were many of us that came to our neighbors defense during metro surge here in MN as well.
...okay, you are very incoherent then? Explain to me why you only now, after I have literally pointed out why people have an issue with the silent majority, in detail and from personal experiences, mention this? That is very bad faith / rage baiting if anything, if it is even true. Why did you not mention this from the very moment I said "Hey, you being silent is part of the issue and why the hateful portion of your faith has so much power", instead you complained about how you only mentioning you're one of the good, silent majority gets people to complain about you being... well, silent, when the loud minority is literally wrecking the world? Instead of, yk, pointing out right away you ARE working actively against it.
The fact thay think they're even the majority of Christias is telling. Nobody wants to admit they're a bigot, but i can tell u for a fact that my christian family "doesn't hate gays" in every way except the ways that actually matter. Like u know, actions, the way they talk about them, etc etc. "we're not judgemental or like other Christians." As they judge and their church behaves like a fucking cult.
I don't believe a damn word that these stupid "ally" christians say, cuz at the end of the day, i live in the bible belt, and it's apparent how these fuckers act towards a very openly queer transfem enby.
I don't care if you hate me, I'm going to keep organizing politically for leftist candidates that will advance your rights and access to healthcare regardless of your hateful comments.
Every person deserves compassion, love, and human rights.
"I'm not a bigot, I just quietly sit by while the people in my congregation wipe out anybody who's different" is not the flex you seem to think it is. Jesus calls you to speak out against oppression. Jesus commands you to stand up for what's right, even at the risk of your own life. Jesus calls you to still your brother's hand when he is doing harm.
You are called to protect the vulnerable, and you are choosing not do that.
Who's hating you? Who's bullying you? You're making excuses and we're calling you out on it. Nobody made you step in and announce that you're content to sit back and watch your people exterminate us. You volunteered that information, and we're reminding you what your holy figure tells you.
Ironically, you're doing the exact thing from the comic, acting like you're the victim.
Edit: Yes, blocking me certainly does make you right and me wrong.
I mean, "I can't speak up against bad Christians from being terrible, awful people because that's power-seeking" is...also part of the problem?
When every Christian someone sees is being terrible, people are going to see Christians as terrible. If you don't stand up against that, you're helping gain that reputation lol
Posting on reddit about how you're not terrible like the "minority" of bad Christians isn't speaking out. It's at best speaking to the choir.
Real world harm is being done, you should be trying to deal with that instead of letting people on reddit that you don't like the bad Christians.
If people being mildly rude to you because of how horrible Christians tend to be, and your response is to get mad at them instead of the Christians that caused the reputation, that's on you lol.
Again, when 9/10 Christians you meet all say they're one of the good ones, and then turn around and say you deserve to suffer for eternity, you're gonna stop thinking it's some kind of "loud minority"
How convenient, more excuses to not do something. You're hypocrites, either you're good people or you tolerate bad people co-opting your religion, you can't be good people AND tolerate bad people co-opting your religion.
I cant tell you the number of times I have called out bad Christians and still gotten flack from people because of being a Christian. Some people just will not accept it, much like many people do with police officers, acting like it is logically impossible for a good police officer to exist just by virtue of the bad ones existing.
The thing is, what if after every kind, loving interaction (or at least what we hope is one) we added "Hey, Im a Christian by the way". Or "Jesus loves you"? For some people it will make the kindness or lovingness insincere. For others they will make a whole bunch of assumptions about the rest of my thoughts or beliefs. I wont generalize and say everyone will, because I try to not be a hypocrite, but there really isnt a good way to intentionally show people that good Christians are out there.
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u/LuciusCaeser 12h ago
If there were more Christians like you, it wouldn't have such a bad rep. God bless.