CBEB’s

A few months ago, the Barna Group released a study on young people’s perceptions of Christianity. The results of the research were published in the book UnChristian. Not surprisingly, the Barna Group found that Jesus’s fan club has some serious PR problems:

The study explored twenty specific images related to Christianity, including ten favorable and ten unfavorable perceptions. Among young non-Christians, nine out of the top 12 perceptions were negative. Common negative perceptions include that present-day Christianity is judgmental (87%), hypocritical (85%), old-fashioned (78%), and too involved in politics (75%) - representing large proportions of young outsiders who attach these negative labels to Christians.

The report also states:

Today, the most common perception is that present-day Christianity is “anti-homosexual.” Overall, 91% of young non-Christians and 80% of young churchgoers say this phrase describes Christianity.

Amazingly, there are Christians who interpret those numbers as “At least we’re doing something right.”

The Barna Group study got a lot of coverage in the blogosphere when it was initially released. I apologize if it seems like I’m reporting old news, but the story is still alive and well. Over at AtBC, Erasmus FCD introduced me to World on the Web, which, as far as Christian News websites go, is fairly thoughtful. Lately, writer Tony Woodlief has been doing a series on UnChristian. His most recent column addresses how Christian attitudes towards homosexuality are perceived by today’s youth. I don’t necessarily agree with some of Woodlief’s points - especially since he is using theological arguments; it’s sort of like basing one’s argument on Venus being in the House of Pisces - but his article should give his fellow Christians something to think about:

What’s more, they note from Barna’s other survey research that a considerably higher percentage of Christians believe homosexuality to be a sin than believe divorce for reasons other than adultery is a sin. When reading this I was curious how gossip and slander would fare, neither of which seems to receive the attention from pulpits that pornography and homosexuality receive. It’s no secret that many of us have created our own hierarchies of sin, with the ones we are prone to at the bottom, and the ones that hold no attraction for us at the top. The authors suggest that homosexuality’s top billing translates into hatred not just for the sin, but for the sinner.

But World on the Web’s readers are having none of that. The very first response to the article:

The authors can suggest whatever they want, but it’s only their opinion, and they have an agenda of their own. I don’t feel a duty to be true to what they want; rather I feel a duty not to rewrite the Bible to accommodate its critics.

Wow. Just fucking wow. Of course the writers have an agenda; they’re trying to bring attention to a potential crisis, but this nimrod just doesn’t get it. This is why people look at Landover Baptist Church and Objective Ministries and don’t realize they’re parodies: Christianity has become vitually synonoymous with tenaciously holding on to ridiculous beliefs in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary.

I honestly don’t get it. Millions of Christians around the world have the sense to know that there are some things in the Bible that shouldn’t be taken too seriously. To think that bats are birds (Lev. 11: 13-19), placing poles in the ground will influence the color of cattle (Gen. 30: 32-41), happiness can be attained by smashing children’s heads against rocks (Pss. 137:9) and/or self-mutilation is a way to prevent sin (Matt. 5: 28-30, Mark 9:47) is to firmly place oneself into tinfoil hat territory. Not all Christians follow the Bible’s instructions on divorce and there is certainly no movement to prevent divorced people from teaching in public schools or leading Boy Scout troops, yet the Bible is consistently used as a foundation for anti-gay rhetoric.

I have family members who would be considered ultra-conservative, but because they’re not religious, they don’t buy into all the “pro-family” bullshit of the conservative Christians. I’ve heard a few conservatives try to make secular arguments against homosexuality, but they don’t hold much water.

Almost 200 years ago, the United States was divided over the issue of slavery. Some churches used the Bible to justify the abolition of the practice, while others argued that slavery was santioned by God. The Southern Baptist Convention owes its very existence to being on the pro-slavery side of the debate.

Although disavowing Christianity was an option back then, it’s a much more viable choice nowadays. A person can stand up and declare, “Hey everyone, I just converted to Buddhism/Scientology/Wicca/Pastafarianism/atheism” without the expectation of being tarred and feathered. At the organizational level, churches are being divided by the homosexuality issue, but at the rank-and-file level, there has got to be people who simply say “enough of this shit” and start sleeping in on Sunday mornings. Who wants to - even if it’s only once a week - get up early on their day off and sit for an hour while someone rants on about the evils of butt sex, Harry Potter, and evolution?

I’ve lived among Christians most of my life; in the American South, it’s pretty much impossible not to. However, it’s only been in the past decade or so that whenever I hear a phrase like, “You don’t understand, I’m a Christian…” that I prepare my ears to hear something completely and utterly ridiculous, as if being a Christian automatically trumps the notions of common sense and decency. To claim that a book written over a thousand years ago makes one’s bigotry somehow respectable and worthy of consideration is nothing short of contemptible, and many people - Christian and non-Christian alike - are finally becoming cognizant of this fact.

This is not a prediction, it’s a simple statement of fact: It might be 5 years from now, it might be 50 years from now, but the churches are going to be on the losing side of the homosexuality debate. The religionists will continue to deny evolution until the Twelfth of Never, yet life will continue to evolve. But more and more people are coming to the realization that Christianity’s anti-gay rhetoric has a tangible effect on the happiness of productive citizens of this country, and bigotry is no longer considered a virtue by most Americans.

It’s shocking to discover that the Christian Bible has been used as a justification for slavery, to oppose women’s suffrage and even to oppose lightning rods being put on buildings. Even more shocking is that it is still being used to justify discrimination and bigotry to this very day.