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Originally Posted by filtherton
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.
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I guess I didn't make my point as clear as I should have. People claim Christianity as a default when asked about religion. They don't go to church, read the Bible, or even think about religion or acting in a religious manner. They are essentially non-religious, but answer as being Christian as reflex. I am not saying that one branch is better than another. And I personally think that televangelists who live like kings should be struck dead (and I would put Robertson in that group). I've seen churches where the pastor and wife both drove Lexuses to service. Behavior like this is despicable, especially since these are usually protestant leaders, who supposedly left Catholicism for it's material excesses.
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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.
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I would dispute this. the only type of Christianity that is "doing fine" is those who don't practice.
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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?
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If anyone in the public eye makes a negative comment about any group outside of Christians, they are maligned. But you can call Christians whatever negative names you feel and nobody blinks. And it isn't other Christians doing the majority of the mocking.
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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.
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Why do gays think that because there are forces that discourage homosexuality that this is somehow evidence that gays are under grievous attack?
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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.
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The Passion and Jesus Walks did well IN SPITE of media pressure against them. Many movie execs didn't want The Passion to do well, and many passed on funding it for ideological reasons. And in Jesus Walks Kanye talks about how he felt that the song would get less attention because of the subject matter.
And I'm not advocating Christianity taking a larger roll in pop culture, I am pointing out that much of pop culture has an anti-Christian adgenda.