Mocking Christianity is the latest American sport. Everywhere one looks, there are articles espousing the evils of faith, laughing at the irrationality of belief, and belittling Christian thought.
Some of this critique is deserved. (See: A Christian Response to an Atheist Billboard)
Many Christians have chosen actions contrary to love. Others have communicated a false doctrine or blindly espoused a weak faith. A few have even promoted evil in the name of Jesus.
All of these actions deserve rebuke.
Even when Christianity is properly displayed, intelligently communicated, and genuinely lived, it still can be fairly criticized. No one is forced to believe in God or the message of Jesus. Anyone is allowed to disagree and to fairly communicate their belief.
However, in many instances a fair critique has been exchanged for a petty mockery. Instead of debating the best, confronting the true teachings of the faith, and pointing out a different way to live, critics have failed to understand the Christian viewpoint, intentionally denied its strong points, and highlighted the worst among us.
I’m struck with how often I read an article about someone who has left the faith or who disagrees with the Christian viewpoint and I agree with their article. The faith they left or don’t believe is not the true Christian story. Maybe it’s religion or a political thought or some cultural ideal, but it has nothing to do with Jesus and true Christian belief. (See: Stop Whining About the Church)
There is a common characteristic with those who mock Christianity.
Critics are loud in the realm of politics.
They are everywhere on social media.
The voices are many in social issues.
But where are those voices when others are suffering?
I don’t hear them in the jails trying to help those who have made bad choices.
I don’t see them among the poor trying to feed, clothe, or house those who are without.
I’ve never run into one of these mockers at a hospital, a funeral home, or a courtroom.
It’s easy to mock Christianity on Facebook, but it’s hard for me to take the mockery seriously when all I see them doing is mocking and never serving.
Yes, many Christians are hypocrites.
Yes, Christians have made major mistakes.
Yes, many claim to do things in the name of Jesus that have nothing to do with Jesus.
But many other Christians are doing amazing things to help the poor, the hurting, and those in need.
Where is the cynic when the someone is dying?
Where is the skeptic in helping those with addictions?
Where is the doubter at the funeral home? (See: A True Picture of Justice and Grace)
I read, and sometimes even agree, with those criticizing aspects of Christianity, but I also see another side of the Christian story.
I see:
- people bringing meals to a family on a nightly basis as a loved one is in the hospital
- a man visiting the family of a dying patient hoping to bring them comfort even though he has never met them
- a pastor meeting with a couple whose marriage is in chaos
- friends taking off work to sit with a family whose loved one is having surgery
- yard work being done by young people for an elderly woman who lost her husband
All of these things are being done by people because their faith compels them to action. Are they perfect people? By no means. But they are people doing good work in response to their beliefs. And where did I get these five examples? They all happened yesterday by people I know.
One look at our church calendar and I see eight different meetings taking place this week for those struggling with addictions, love ones who are addicted, grief, or other issues. Why only eight? Because it’s Spring Break and most meetings are cancelled. Beyond those meetings, a civic group is using our parking lot for a fundraiser, someone who has never attended our church is having the funeral in our worship center (for free), and we are putting several people to work so they can earn money to pay off their bills. (See: Why Our Church Hosts LGBTQ Funerals)
I would never claim Christians are the only ones doing good work in our communities. I know that is not the case. Many people are doing many wonderful things to make the world a better place. But what I have noticed is that rarely are those who mock the church doing much of anything worthwhile.
Could it be that the mockery has less to do with critiquing the church and more to do with making the mocker feel better about themselves?
It’s cool to make fun of Christianity today. That’s fine. Just realize for every one story you read on Facebook which mocks the Christian faith, I could tell you ten stories of average people, who because of their faith, are sacrificing their time and money to help someone else.
Thanks for sharing. Truly, the cynics rarely accomplish anything.
This is not “No, but” but “Yes, and.”
I hear a lot of mocking by Christians these days, too. There’s just a real smug, sarcastic attitude these days in everyday discourse wherever you go. It’s like life has become a talk radio show. The scornful reaction of many white Christians to President Obama has grieved me deeply.
Must we hate people we disagree with? I end up keeping my mouth shut in a lot of social circumstances because otherwise I’ll just be drawn into the negativity.
This has become an age of contempt, from all sides. Sadly, i’s not just cool to mock Christianity these days. It’s just cool to mock, period.
Powerful message here. Thanks again!
Thank you Aloise.
You can believe anything you want as long as you don’t force it onto other people. My neighbor believes his wood shed is god. I think he’s an idiot and mock him for his stupid belief. He tells me I need to have faith. The more something seems to be untrue, the greater the faith is that continues to believe in it. He is so convinced in his faith, he tells other people they are going to go to hell if they don’t believe. He is that convinced. He says that at least he can see his wood shed. Prove their was a talking snake. I concede the point. The Bible claims it is true because in the Bible it says it is true. He says on the back wall of the wood shed a mysterious carving appeared one day. Carved into the wood were the words, “I am God. Believe in me.” That’s not evidence I said. It was probably your teenage kids trying out their carving knives. Since then, he will no longer talk to me. He says that he doesn’t associate with the unfaithful. So, yeah, I mock his faith and I mock yours. You all believe in stupid fables. When you can prove there is a god, we’ll have something to discuss. Until then, pay your taxes like any other business. Faith is for the weak of thought.
Christianity is not built on the Bible claiming itself to be true. Christianity is built on what we believe to be historical events–the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. For us, faith is not a blind belief. I understand why many doubt the resurrection, but there seems to be a lot of evidence for it.
I don’t believe there is much evidence for belief in the resurrection at all. I’ve looked at the evidence, it’s not very convincing.
I mock Mock, and I especially mock Mocks, which means I mock mock Mocks!
Time to leave this word in the 19th century where it belongs!
Here is what I say….Christians are the experts at mocking Christ. Just turn on any Christian channel or go into any local church. T is a joke! Christians today use, abuse, mock and crap on christ. A dog is treated better than how you treat christ. Let me give you a few stats on the state of Christianity and how they blaspheme His name, reputation, character, sacrifice and word. 85% of single Christians have sex out of marriage, a third of them have an STD, 70% of abortions are done by Christians, over 50% divorce rate with second and third marriages, p_rn is a huge problem, pedophilia, gluttony, debt, gossip, your young women look like whores and your young men are whoremongers. In regards to your christian virtue list , many non believers do the same things also. We mock Christians not because they obey christ but because they dont. You ask for the mocking. The world laughs at your hyocracy.
Wow the comments are disgusting. Check out “case for Christ” Literally an atheist set out on disproving the existence of Christ and proved wrong by scholars and historians. Christians dont claim to be perfect, they acknowledge that they are imperfect and believe that they were intelligently made by a Creator. Its not as far fetched as you think, but despite what you believe to be deserving of mocking, you really have no right to treat people like crap. Some christians are bad, some are good. You cant generalize in the same way you cant generalize with race. It doesnt matter what you believe. Well, except for satanists that practice animal and human sacrifice. They deserve the hate, and they are literally in power over the entire world planning to depopulate. If anybody deserves hate, its them. I encourage you to research the elitists. They worship the devil. That revealed to me, there has to be a God. Theyve been worshipping Satan for thousands of years, for that, there is so much evidence for. That proved to me God exists, because its the thing theyve been trying to disprove the most over time with their masonic scientists and philosophers. Even celebs worship the devil and practice pedophilia. And people worship THEM. If theres no God, then I wld just kill myself at the majority of idiots that dont realize who theyre fans of. The masses deserve to be mocked, but I will never stoop to their level. Because as a christian, I know that its wrong.
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Hello. I’m not certain how recent this post is (it’s not dated) so I apologize if I am resurrecting an old post. But I have to say that I disagree with you that those who criticize a religion should “debate the best.”
I fully agree with you that not every expression of Christianity is harmful, and that some churches are doing good work that lifts humanity up, all things considered. But our society doesn’t want to come to grips with religious harm. And I have noticed that even so-called “liberal” churches evade this question. But the problem remains: does religious belief sometimes cause significant, tangible, identifiable harm? And if so, how should society handle that? Everyone is agreed that religions sometimes cause significant harm, but no one – and no religion – has any idea of how to correct that situation. So they all defer to religious freedom, which simply leaves victims of religious harm holding the bag. So I would argue that no religion should be judged by its best until that religion has a plan for rectifying the harms of its worst.
Let me make this a little more concrete. I was raised in a religious cult, (the Jehovah’s Witnesses) and there were several things about the Watchtower society that caused me great harm. As an LGBTQ individual, I was taught to hate myself. I was also taught that God was going to carry out a Great War to murder people like me (Battle of Armageddon). I can’t tell you how much emotional distress this caused me as a child. Then, when I became an adult and rejected the faith, I experienced a whole different level of abuse: I was shunned by my entire family and everyone that I had ever known.
Would you agree that such things are harmful? Then why does our society permit these kinds of things? I would think that at a bare minimum any church should be forbidden from preaching hate, teaching a child that their identity is displeasing to God, that God is going to “judge” the child, whether through eternal torment or any other form of judgment which would be highly illegal to actually perform (murder, scourge, whatever: these are the things of nightmares). Or to engage in abusive membership practices like social isolation, ostracization, and shunning or via thought control practices like information restriction.
Yet, suppose I tell a good Episcopalian about my experience in the JW religious cult? The Episcopalian will try to tell me that JW’s have bad theology, perhaps even using Scripture to refute the JW’s. But the JW’s don’t care what the Episcopalians think. They go on doing their abuse regardless of what the Episcopalian thinks. So when I tell an Episcopalian about my experience, I am not asking the Episcopalian to come up with a Scriptural refutation of the Witnesses, I am asking for their solidarity with me in helping to craft laws that make it illegal for the Witnesses to do what they do. How else am I to be made whole from the religious harm I have suffered?