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Originally Posted by alansmithee
Many people do self-identify as Christian, true. But how many are practicing Christians, or even think of their beliefs except when asked? I would say that people who call themselves Christian are in the majority, but people who actually ARE Christians aren't. Christianity has almost gotten to the point of being a default response.
And the attacks are real. The only group it is widely acceptable to ridicule is Christians. Any show of faith is often openly mocked. Many forces in the popular media are trying to move any mention of religion out of the marketplace of ideas.
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Who decides who is christian or not? If you ask the evangelicals i'm sure they'd tell you that they themselves are the only real christians. Unfortunately for them, they aren't. They don't have a monopoly on what it means to be christian. Nobody does. All that christianity requires is a belief and worship in jesus christ. There are over 1500 different denominations of christianity in the world today. All of them are just as valid as whatever brand you happen to subscribe to. Speaking of christian values, how do you think jesus would feel about pat robertson living in luxury while people starve to death every day? I've met quite a few seemingly devout christians who think that pat robertson is the scum of the earth.
It would be much more accurate to claim that conservative christianity is under attack, because the rest of christianity seems to be doing just fine.
I'd be interested in hearing where you got the idea that christianity is the only group whose ridicule is widely accepted. I missed that memo. Is christianity being mocked by other christians? Who's laughing? Is it acceptable for someone to be able to laugh at their own religion?
I also don't understand where you get the idea that the just because there are forces in the media that discourage christianity that this is somehow evidence that christianity is somehow under grievous attack. The reason that christianity doesn't play a larger role in pop culture is that you can't make money off of it. There is a christian music industry. There is a christian movie industry. There are christian news outlets. If any of these entities had the ability to generate mass appeal they would have done so. Maybe it's just me, but most people don't find religion entertaining. Despite this: Tell me how well "the passion of the christ" did at the box office, and then tell me how the media is trying to quash mention of christianity. Tell me how "jesus walks" did on the charts and then tell me how the media is trying to quash mention of christianity.