(Untitled)

[zinniazayda]

A few months ago I started to wonder why I spend so much time trying to explain/defend/champion faith itself to people. I was inspired to think about it by the following episode. I was eating breakfast with an acquaintance of mine from church, and she started talking about how she'd been hanging out with other Christians at our school. When they

Comments

[idealforcolors]

It's hard to find a balance sometimes. I would normally just sympathize in a conversation like your example, but I sometimes find myself in conversations with people talking about how stupid religion is or how oppressive Christianity is with the assumption that everyone agrees, and I always wonder at what point I should say something. Knowing when to speak up and when to listen are both difficult.

[zinniazayda]

I agree, it's difficult, especially with people who don't know you well. I would like to think that most people who are close to me are aware of my faith journey, but I am certainly not as good about making it clear (through words or actions) as I would like to be.

On a related note, I have gone back and forth a lot on the issue of whether or not to wear a cross or something else visually identifying myself as a Christian. I started doing it again recently as a challenge to myself to live my faith more completely instead of indulging my petty habitual sins. It does make me a symbol to others, like that shirt that says, "This is what a feminist looks like," except in this case it's "This is what a Christian acts like."

[idealforcolors]

I wear a cross sometimes (or used to, I seem to have misplaced it in my recent travels and really hope it turns up)...unfortunately, i don't think it makes me live my faith much better because i totally forget it's on, but it does make a "i'm harmless, see? christians aren't so scary" statement.

[jadeejf]

I do the same things, sometimes- I think it's just natural to try to defend the faith you love, and sometimes it's hard to balance that with loving the people you love, too. And loving the people in your faith that do things you really, really disagree with. The problem with love is that it's just awfully messy. Good messy, but a giant mess nevertheless. I hope you manage to accomplish your resolution, though! It seems like an excellent one to have :D

[semplice]

Despite the fact that I avoid mass a lot and am not particularly religious at the moment (it comes and goes), I still get defensive. Catholics seem to get criticism from everywhere - we get bracketed in with "All Christians are x" as well as our own special insults that are just for us. And then from the other side we get told we're not real Christians because we pray to saints. And I get annoyed by it. I understand that there are a lot of people out there calling themselves Christian who are downright obnoxious. But it feels like because we're the majority, it's fine for people to be as awful as they like with no consideration. People can say what they like and we're supposed to just put up with it, but it doesn't work the other way. Not that I especially want to go around putting down other people's faiths but that's just it. If I can respect and be interested in what othrs believe, why is it so difficult to show me the same courtesy?

[ovulus_]

Why was I so quick to defend Christianity itself instead of taking the time to sympathize with her over what must have been a hurtful situation?That is really interesting

[aredridel]

This strikes a chord with me, too, as I've turned into the apologist in my family. We grew up with "Christians" as the canonical example of what's misguided in the world, and it's become ever more frustrating to me.

My own beliefs aren't exactly Christian, but in my family, faith of any sort is suspect. I belive that it's an important thing to be able to feel and open to something larger than oneself; to be able to open and be loving.

I struggle with when to speak up, too, and I find myself torn between championing and continuing the discussion that triggered it.