I admit that the actual blog posts of late have been a bit thin on the ground. There have been compilation of Tweets from Twitter, and gobs of “Unblogged Bits” via Google Reader, but not as much original writing as I would like.
It is, honestly, all Les’ fault, as I’ve been sucked into excessive commenting in a thread on his blog.
In “A Christian asks; ‘I’m the bad guy? How did that happen?’” I chimed in on the question of how, and whether, Christians should be considered intolerant and ignorant threats to society (or members thereof). I ended up in the oddly uncomfortable and unexpected position of defending my personal faith from identification with the ultra-Orthodox Right who have absconded with the Christian “brand.”
So if the topic floats your boat, and you want to dig into stuff I’ve been writing about the past few weeks, check it out.
First off, as always you and DoF are well spoken and enjoyable to read. I think the original poster is likely not going to get anything from the discussion, and I’m certain that “Tyler” is indeed a troll.
Second, this statement by you ***Dave “I think on that basis, I have to claim that I am a … um … Me-ist. Except I don’t always agree with myself.” cracked me up.
I think that part the cause the shift to Christians as the ‘bad guys’ relates to the results of that religious survey of a few months back. Christianity used be the de facto first position on religion in the US, but as its prominence has lessened so has its shiny veneer. People with other religious beliefs (or lack thereof) have a greater voice than in the past 100 years, and they are pointing the finger at Christian theology and practice for what they perceive as failings.
Aggravating and snotty, you put up with Tyler longer than I would have. He appears to have a definition of ‘Christian’ that excludes many established churches that would define themselves as Christian; so who died and made him ‘god?’
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself,
I am large, I contain multitudes.
— Walt Whitman
I try not to play along with the trolls — but I also try not to second-guess. I couldn’t tell if he was just being belligerent out of anger, or was trying to see if I’d get all nasty and prove how mean Christians really are beneath the skin. I figured I’d simply respond, less for dialog with him (since he didn’t seem to be open to dialog) but for anyone else following along.
As I think I said somewherein there, I think it’s actually a good thing that people are questioning Christians and Christianity, and the assumption of Christianity as the norm and the empowered. First, it will lead people to question and, hopefully, examine and build on their faith, not just assume it.
Second, Christ was pretty clear that His Kingdom was not of this world; Christians who are too fond of being in temporal charge aren’t really following that model. In some ways, Constantine’s conversion was Christianity’s greatest temporal victory and its greatest spiritual defeat.