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Overwhelming Majority Associates “Christian” with “Anti-Homosexual”

Posted by on May 16, 2012 in Separation of Church & Prostate | 14 comments

This religion thing would be so much easier if we didn't have that darned Bible trying to tell us what to do!

According to a study (survey?) conducted by The Barna Group, a whopping 91 percent of non-Christians, aged 16-29, responded with “anti-homosexual” when asked what word best describes Christianity. The same was true for 80 percent of young churchgoers.

The next leading negative image words? Judgmental, hypocritical and “too involved in politics.”

David Kinnaman, author of unChristian, wrote about the findings in his book:

The gay issue has become the ‘big one, the negative image most likely to be intertwined with Christianity’s reputation. It is also the dimensions that most clearly demonstrates the unchristian faith to young people today, surfacing in a spate of negative perceptions: judgmental, bigoted, sheltered, right-wingers, hypocritical, insincere, and uncaring. Outsiders say [Christian] hostility toward gays…has become virtually synonymous with the Christian faith.

For reference, The Barna Group is a research firm that works with churches and other organizations and “provides leadership and unique, strategic information and resources that help facilitate transformation in organizations, communities and individuals.” (Source)

Now, I know it’s incorrect to lump all Christians together and assume that, “Hey, you follow this religion; therefore, you have the exact same beliefs as everyone who follows that religion.” But it’s so hard to find the non-crazies that make news when most of the Christians making news, are making it because of their hateful views.

Real talk: I’m Catholic. My family has strong ties to religion, but not the “gays are going to hell, child-molesting” religion. More the “be a good person, God loves everyone” religion. You know, the way it’s supposed to be?

It makes it worse when you have these hateful people that claim to be doing God’s work, and claim that they love everyone, etc. and yet they campaign so aggressively against LGBT rights. Then, you give them examples to show holes in their thought process, and it doesn’t even get acknowledged.

You know, like the argument, “If the fetus you save turns out to be gay, would you still fight for its rights?” Or the cartoon of Naughty Jesus telling his followers to love everyone, regardless of sexual orientation. Or the fact that there are so many ridiculous things in Leviticus that don’t apply today, except for the “man lying with a man” part.

Maybe people wouldn’t associate Christians with such negativity if there weren’t so many examples of Christians being negative.

For all the Christians out there who have normal thought-processes, and actually give a crap about following your religion and really, truly try to be good people, we’re sorry that there are so many bad apples spoiling the bunch.

(via Thought Catalog and Holey Books)