Growing Hostility towards Evangelical Christians on Atlas

[100% pro-life no matter what]

In recent weeks, I've noticed a lot of hostility towards evangelical Christianity on this forum.  While most of these posts haven't necessarily been reportable individually, they are currently collectively making it very difficult for evangelicals to post candidly and boldly about our faith.

In particular, recently, the belief that Christianity is the only path to Salvation has been roundly mocked on this forum in recent weeks.  For Christians who take the Bible as the literal and inerrant Word of God, that is a central belief that informs how we interact with the world- because we love everyone and want everyone to have eternal life.

I have also seen mischaracterizations about Christian views on sexuality, suggesting that they are hateful, rather than a commandment from God that applies to all sex- including heterosexual sex- outside a Biblical marriage.  I try to share Biblical Truth as lovingly as I know how (on both of the issues referenced in this post).  I fully acknowledge that I'm certainly not perfect at that, though.

The hostility of many on this forum to evangelical Christianity would never fly if similar comments were said about literally any other religious tradition.  And, before you say that it's because we are "advantaged", I would push back on that.  Evangelicals see very little representation in entertainment, for example (and, when we are represented, it's usually a cartoonish portrayal).

[KaiserDave]

My lack of belief in Christianity being the only path to salvation extends to literally every other religion. 

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

As a Christian, who cares? No religion (or lack thereof) is exempt from being mocked. If you don't like it, either deal with it or turn off your computer monitor.

[_.]

I've noticed a lot of hostility towards evangelical Christianity on this forum.

Just stopping right there, has this not been the case for pretty much as long as this forum has existed?
I very strongly empathize with you but I'd imagine you'd have stopped being ruffled by a mean word or two a long time ago, assuming you travel to other parts of the internet as well.

[Penn_Quaker_Girl]

...from God that applies to all sex

Oh please, oh please don't say hetero--

including heterosexual sex

Dammit!

[Never Made it to Graceland]

Someday you will see the emperor has no clothes.

[Skunk]

Man whose entire political beliefs center around persecution of women for getting abortions feels persecuted on political forum. Woe be upon ye.

[THG]

They hate us because they ain’t us, ER!

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I have been on this forum for one year and three months and the hostility towards Evangelical Christians I have noticed in recent weeks is not really anomalous compared to all the rest of my time here. While I dislike said hostility, I am not sure this post - which honestly sounds like you have a short memory - helps your case.

On another note, I cannot look at your "belief that Christianity is the only path to Salvation" without getting reminded of your history of equivocating as to whether Catholics - like myself - are Christian.

[Devout Centrist]

They hate us because they ain’t us, ER!

White men from suburbia? That describes 95% of the people here

[THG]

They hate us because they ain’t us, ER!

White men from suburbia? That describes 95% of the people here

I was obviously referring to evangelicals in suburbia, the third most oppressed group after gamers and Nikki Haley haters.

[KoopaDaQuick 🇵🇸]

They hate us because they ain’t us, ER!

I'd rather have Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali perform open heart surgery on me than identify as an Evangelical.

[_.]

They hate us because they ain’t us, ER!

White men from suburbia? That describes 95% of the people here

I was obviously referring to evangelicals in suburbia, the third most oppressed group after gamers and Nikki Haley haters fans.

FTFY

Nikki Haley haters unite 

[President of the great nation of 🏳️‍⚧️]

I have also seen mischaracterizations about Christian views on sexuality, suggesting that they are hateful, rather than a commandment from God that applies to all sex- including heterosexual sex- outside a Biblical marriage.  I try to share Biblical Truth as lovingly as I know how (on both of the issues referenced in this post).  I fully acknowledge that I'm certainly not perfect at that, though.

I assume you deliberately avoided my question on your opinion of thread to make this thread, but I'm still curious. Can a transgender person can enter a Biblical marriage (ignoring the obvious T4T "straight = yes, gay = no" solution)? Like, a straight marriage is obviously out of the question, because two people of the same assigned sex, regardless of actual gender, is gay in the Church's eyes, but since I'm a lesbian, if I had my very Christian but very allied brother officiate, would I have a loophole (provided my prospective wife was a cisgender woman, of course)?

[Continential]

BRTD is an "Evangelical" and he's the embodiment of the blog.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Does homosexual activity even count as long as you both say "no homo" afterwards?

I don't know if I'm doing it right because I say it to myself a lot, especially in the shower when I clean my no-no parts.

[Horus]

Oh cry me a river. You guys are responsible for countless LGBT suicides and your rhetoric gave us Bush and the Iraq war.

[OBD]

atheists represent

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I have been on this forum for one year and three months and the hostility towards Evangelical Christians I have noticed in recent weeks is not really anomalous compared to all the rest of my time here. While I dislike said hostility, I am not sure this post - which honestly sounds like you have a short memory - helps your case.

On another note, I cannot look at your "belief that Christianity is the only path to Salvation" without getting reminded of your history of equivocating as to whether Catholics - like myself - are Christian.

The answer is yes.

But the problem is that Jesus is clouded by all that other stuff in the church, a lot of which is actively harmful. Like how many LGBT people have been turned off to Christ by being raised Catholic? It's like if you're packing for a flight in a hurry but you don't need to carry a lot...but you pack a ton anyway, making it possible to overlook and more difficult to find the important thing you're trying to pack. Or as I heard one pastor put it "Catholicism is Jesus + works, we believe in Jesus + nothing."

[Donerail]

If you are "turned off" from Christianity because you were raised with the expectation that you should also do good works...

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

If you are "turned off" from Christianity because you were raised with the expectation that you should also do good works...

It's not "good" works though, but rather very legalistic junk, and in this case what turns LGBT people off isn't even so much that but rather obviously the teaching that their sexual orientation is inherently wrong and any relationships based on it is sinful.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I have been on this forum for one year and three months and the hostility towards Evangelical Christians I have noticed in recent weeks is not really anomalous compared to all the rest of my time here. While I dislike said hostility, I am not sure this post - which honestly sounds like you have a short memory - helps your case.

On another note, I cannot look at your "belief that Christianity is the only path to Salvation" without getting reminded of your history of equivocating as to whether Catholics - like myself - are Christian.

The answer is yes.

But the problem is that Jesus is clouded by all that other stuff in the church, a lot of which is actively harmful. Like how many LGBT people have been turned off to Christ by being raised Catholic? It's like if you're packing for a flight in a hurry but you don't need to carry a lot...but you pack a ton anyway, making it possible to overlook and more difficult to find the important thing you're trying to pack. Or as I heard one pastor put it "Catholicism is Jesus + works, we believe in Jesus + nothing."

Oh dear...

I don't even want to enter the (very silly) theological discussion here. Let me just say that my question was directed to ExtremeRepublican, that you are a pretty different kind of Evangelical Christian from him so you cannot remotely answer for him, and that your entrance here is completely bizarre and tangential to the matter at hand.

[TheReckoning]

As someone who doesn’t think this forum is particularly hostile to Christians, A lot of comments on this thread are just proving his point.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I have been on this forum for one year and three months and the hostility towards Evangelical Christians I have noticed in recent weeks is not really anomalous compared to all the rest of my time here. While I dislike said hostility, I am not sure this post - which honestly sounds like you have a short memory - helps your case.

On another note, I cannot look at your "belief that Christianity is the only path to Salvation" without getting reminded of your history of equivocating as to whether Catholics - like myself - are Christian.

The answer is yes.

But the problem is that Jesus is clouded by all that other stuff in the church, a lot of which is actively harmful. Like how many LGBT people have been turned off to Christ by being raised Catholic? It's like if you're packing for a flight in a hurry but you don't need to carry a lot...but you pack a ton anyway, making it possible to overlook and more difficult to find the important thing you're trying to pack. Or as I heard one pastor put it "Catholicism is Jesus + works, we believe in Jesus + nothing."

A lot of the same criticisms could be applied to various Protestant sects, though, where LGBT people have been denounced in arguably much more vocal ways.

I mean check out jesus-is-savior. This is not a Catholic website. (I haven't taken the time to figure out what brand of fundie the author is, nor do I very much care to.) It's an extreme example for sure, but I doubt you would be happier in what ever church this guy belongs to than the Catholic Church, which even takes a wink and a nod to LGBT issues in some parishes.

[Devout Centrist]

Or as I heard one pastor put it "Catholicism is Jesus + works, we believe in Jesus + nothing."

Okay, nihilist