It seems that in the blogosphere, Christians are constantly criticized and often put down. The comments range from a ridicule, to a sneer to a downright derrogatory remark about "Christian fundamentalists", "fundies", "Christian right" etc. There is more to it though. There are liberal Christians who are working for social change. Dr. Martin Luther King, himself was a reverend and Christian leader. It seems that when someone mentions "Christian", a person will get a thought of someone like Jerry Falwell or some televangelist.
The most vehement attacks towards Christians come from "evangelical" atheists. This is a new breed of atheist fundamentalism, with a message of convincing people that there is no God. I have seen some of their blogs, spreading stereotypes and misinformation about Christianity, perpetuating the stereotype that Christians bomb abortion clinics, want to support torture and war, hang gays from trees and that Christianity is responsible for more deaths than anything ever. In fact, atheism is responsible for more deaths than all the religions put together - Christian, Muslim, Jewish and pagan. All of this in the 20th century. People like Stalin, Pol Pot, T'sung Mao, Fidel Castro and other atheists have killed Christians, Jews, Buddhists and other religious people in the name of a dogma that exalts the state along with the dictator of that state.
There is more to Christianity than decrying the immorality of abortion or rock videos or pornography. Christians have declared things like racism, corporate greed, homelessness, and hunger to be immoral. For example, the African American church has a long tradition of working for social change, starting with Fredrick Douglass and the abolitionist movement to end slavery. Christians like John Newton, the author of the famous hymn, Amazing Grace, was a powerful force that helped end the slave trade in the British empire. Pope John Paul II denounced both capitalism as greed and communism as slavery.
>Jesus|Freak
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You have heard the saying where "if you see one cockroach, there are thousands more you can't?" What we see as the "rare" Christians you described aren't so rare at all. It will take a good dose of judgment day to finally get you to see that most Christians aren't any better than the athiests they condemn.
People have issues, bad experiences along the way of their lives that deeply affect them and chart their course of life, whether with their church, teachers, police, bullies, parents or pastors. They carry this with them inside, and whenever anything emerges that reminds them of that experience, they relive it and project it onto them, just like in the extreme case of Ted Bundy whose first murder victims resembled a former flame that he now despised. This happens to all people with various shades of darkness. It is this, not religion, not athiesm, not capitalism or communism that is at the heart of every man's evil.
We are not here to say one group is better than the other and finding fault with it. We are here to learn the the fault lies in each and everyone of us, that some external change brought by political or religious solution is not going to resolve it. Feeding the poor will not change this. Blowing up an abortion clinic will not solve this. Slandering another group will not heal it, not even exposing the dark truth about another group. Getting one's way will not make it go away. Rather, it feeds it and grows into something worse.
Coming to grips with that and losing your care over the hostility in this world is the beginning of dealing with the internal problem with an internal solution. These things must be let go of. You must forgive your enemies an not return spite with more provocation. If you don't forgive your enemies, then neither can your Heavenly Father forgive you, Jesus once said.
All of these external things aren't the fight. They are distractions designed to lead you away from the truth, that you are the source of sin and so is your brother whoever or however he presents himself to be. That is why pators who lead their flocks into this kind of battle are not wise.
When you realize the pathologies you hold in yourself, and begin to loose them, the reaction you have to external agitants loses its power, and you are free to love people who only have hatred in their hearts for you. Most of the time, that simply mean letting their hatred pass through you without a reaction.
It's a hard thing to accept for most people. I have to deal with it myself all the time. The hate that affects you has no power without your own pathological baggage there to tangle with it. It is a symbiotic relationship that holds both parties at war with each other accountable. But God isn't interested in retribution and judgment. He would much rather heal and end the escalation of strife, even if only one party does that, it's a victory in His eyes.
Considering the atheists, you are quite right that they through history have killed more than religious zealots, (except maybe Muslims extremist). Stalin is the perfect example. I have really begun use the term Rejectionist recently instead of Atheist. The simple reason is that we all have the divine imprint in our souls and the atheist, though maybe from a load of baggage, chooses to reject God through a hardening of the heart. If there is no God, as they claim, then they themselves become their own master of their own destiny and there are no absolute truths. They become their own morality. Check out the following blog site that was noted onto my blog recently. Atheism-analyzed.net.
I think also part of the problem is just getting religion and Authentic Christianity. There is a huge difference here. When you see the difference between the two, you can see a world of difference. The real positive change in our world has come from those who have really known God through real Christianity. Consider the founders of the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, the original hospitals and universities. Even looking at Harvard in the U.S. one finds that its original purpose was to offer education for poor clergy in the area.
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