The Stigma with Christianity

I love learning.  When I use the word “love” in that sentence, I mean it.  I love learning.  I love being corrected, I love expanding my mind, I love exposing myself to knew ways of thought, I love learning things I will never use, I love listening to what people are passionate about—I love learning. 

I love culture.  When I use the word “love” in that sentence, I mean it.  I love culture.  I love different skin colors, I love different foods, I love different languages, I love different philosophies, I love different traditions—I love culture.

I am an intelligent person.  I say this with humility—the literal definition of humility: an accurate view of oneself.  It would not be accurate to say I am a genius or a prodigy.  It would not be accurate to say I am vapid or ignorant.  I seek knowledge, and with great awareness of all nine types of intelligence (shout out to Gardner), I am confident to make the claim: I am smart.

I was asked what persecution American Christians are faced with daily. 

Christians’ persecution in America may not be as physical as others around the world, but I believe our persecution can have the same damaging effect on a believer and their call to action.

This is the major stigma associated with Christianity, in regards to college life and in the classroom: Christianity is ignorance.  Christians are not intelligent.

I am fully aware all religions have stigmas and stereotypes.  I am also fully aware that stigmas and stereotypes are based on some degree of truth.  That’s why I am going to address Christians first. 

Christians, there is a reason this stigma exists.  Faith is not an excuse for simple thinking.  Faith is not accepting everything taught behind a pulpit.  Faith is not a box to lock your brain and contemplation inside—never capable of expansion or question.

Second, why do we believe our Christianity is the right Christianity?  I’m addressing the western thinkers who believe ‘Mercia Christianity is the “right” Christianity. Christianity did not begin in the west.  It began in a completely different way of thought: east.  It moved to the west, and we have taken it upon ourselves to filter Christianity through the western (individualistic/superior) paradigm.

We need to recognize there is a world out there.  A world that believes and worships the same God as we do.  A world where Christianity isn’t filtered through the western paradigm but is outside all paradigms—equally offensive and equally hopeful to all cultures and all people and all ways of life. You may ask, Offensive?  Christianity calls all people to live uncomfortably and against their worldly desires. (And for those who got offended by that—every religion calls for change and growth contradicting our worldly behavior and thought.)

Timothy Keller says:

Contrary to popular opinion, then, Christianity is not a Western religion that destroys local cultures.  Rather, Christianity has taken more culturally diverse forms than other faiths” (Reason for God).

This stigma of religion, specifically Christianity, derives from closed-minded believers who are cannot defend their faith by living it out.  And if you are a Christian—that simply looks like loving others unconditionally.  A claim like “love” needs a disclosure: Love isn’t always tolerable and accepting.  Like any parent that cares for their child, there are guidelines and restrictions to protect somebody. 

If you love somebody, truly love him or her, you would want him or her to be healthy and safe.  You would not tolerate harmful addictions or behavior.  Just because you do not support those addictions and/or behavior doesn’t mean you don’t accept them and (inevitably) love them.  You just want them to be safe.

This isn’t ignorance and idiocy.  It is a heart that loves deeper than the temporary comfortable behavior that is ultimately destructive. 

I am currently a student in college, majoring in English and minoring in Philosophy.  In both fields of study, I am finding it is becoming less and less credible to be a practicing Christian.  Religious? No, not really.  Mainly, just Christianity.  Why? What I’ve concluded is simple--trends.  We grow up in a culture that emphasizes individuality (me, myself, and I).   We’re told to “do great things with our abilities, stand out, and never be average.”  How does this relate to Christianity?  Well, if we grow up with Christianity being one of the most popular religions in the states, it’s not trendy enough.  It’s not unique enough.

Around the world, practicing Christians do not face this stigma, because it is considered a bold and beautiful act to go against the norm.

I’ve come to discover, true Christianity that is devoted to God and its religious text, is not even close to the “Christianity” that is portrayed so frequently.  It is a beautiful religion.  It is sacred and loving and cherishes the outcasts and nourishes the abandoned. 

If a practicing Hindu with a Ph.D. in their field spoke on their subject, they are taken seriously.  Thought of as, “cultural” and “beautiful” and “intelligent.”  Even an atheist is viewed as “complex,” and “educated,” and “deep.”  These are actual definitions given by other students.  But if a practicing Christian with a Ph.D. in their field spoke, they lose credibility.  Why?

Some may argue, but this is personal experience.  This is learning some of the most intelligent, wise, and credible people I know who are practicing Christians do not acknowledge their faith for said stigma. 

Faith is complicated.  Faith is beautiful.  Faith is confusing.  Faith is offensive.  It requires dedication and devotion.  It is not weak.  It is alive.  It needs attention.  It needs nutrients.  It needs practice.  It needs community.  So how can something that is so alive and so captivating—requiring so much thought and investment—be considered ignorant? 

We should treat a person with a religious faith as a person with discipline and complexity, rather than lazy and ignorant.  This applies to all religions.

I want to emphasize “religious faith,” because many people think faith is something that we chose to have and place in God.  However, faith is not a choice.  Faith is inventible. 

This is true: every person has faith. 

You may say, “No, I don’t.  I don’t believe in a god. I don’t believe in religion.”

This is true: not believing in a god is faith. 

Why?  Because the very existence of humanity is a beautiful mystery to the brain.  One can answer those questions with God, or one can try to answer those questions without God. But the nonetheless, reality remains the same; we are here.

We will all experience love and death.  We will live.  We will suffer.  Whether we chose to believe in God or not, is faith.  The difference isn’t the existence of faith. No, the difference is the placement of faith.  Faith in a supernatural spiritual creator, or faith in this fading world. 

Faith in the existence of God or faith in the nonexistence of God.

The human being is the most amazing creature living.  We have mental abilities unknown, unpracticed, and unseen by any other creature.  Intellect is not associated with what religion or (lack of) you chose to affiliate with.  This is a call for change.  Let us view every soul as an intellectual being, capable of adapting and growing in environments of constant mental, physical, and emotional change.