Why they hate us…
13 October 2007 - 2 חשון 5768 by Huw
Over at Young Anabaptist Radicals, a post up about perceptions of the Church among young people.
Some of it I find, well, common sense - “One of the most frequent criticisms of young Christians was that they believe the church has made homosexuality a ‘bigger sin’ than anything else.” This is my usual criticism: many although certainly not all in the conservative religious communities (of various faiths), as we’ve discussed here, make light of issues like divorce, birth control and heterosexual philandering. But let the person in question confess to same-sex attraction and lo, all hell breaks loose. While these parties are not the only voices in their communities they seem to be the ones who want AND get the biggest share of the media.
Aside from that, I was interested in this paragraph:
I’m sure that many Christians will try to spin this as a result of increased persecution of Christians in the US or the influence of the secular, liberal media. But the study specifically highlights that perceptions are based on interactions with Christian friends or attending church. A whopping 80% of non-Christians surveyed had spent at least six months attending church. These are not casual cynics, jaded by the media. They are people who have tried Christianity and found it wanting. In other words, all of us Christians are responsible. We can’t just point our fingers at some other part of the church or secular society.
(Emphasis in the original.)
6 months?
I’ve just spent 5 years on a religious journey… and I know I didn’t get deep enough into the denomination I’d joined to find out anything. (That I’d had a bad experience or two is not intended to colour all of Orthodoxy.) Is 6 months supposed to be enough time to understand Church? As I commented over there, attending a church for 6 months is not enough time to get to know people’s names let alone form a non-cynical opinion of that community. There’s certainly no way to grasp the essentials of the faith in that time. I’m afraid that 6 months is about just the right time to become a casual cynic judging the person in the next row.
But it is our job as the Church to not let people make it to six months without making serious attempts to reach out to them and to explain ourselves to them.