Reply #153: "most Christians have not been so polite to non-christians"

[ThomCat]

Very few Christians stand up to bigotry against Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and people of other faiths. They might personally think it's wrong, but they don't stop others. Silence is a form of support.

People who do actively hate other faiths are allowed by christians to be the spokespeople, with huge audiences supporting them. Some Christians may not support those hate-filled messages, but if there was ever a fight for the voice of Christianity then the hate-filled people won.

Politicians have said such things as "I don't know that atheists should be considered patriots, nor should they be considered citizens. This is, after all, one nation under God." Other's insist loudly that this is a Christian nation, and that Christianity should be privileged in our society and our government. And statements like these get little attention, and these politicians keep getting elected by Christians.

Church leaders make political pronouncements all the time that are hateful to various other groups, and their congregations never seem to speak up in protest of that hate. Yet anyone who criticizes those church leaders is open to charges of attacking that church and hating that religion.

Violence against non-christians is not a rare thing. Attacks and vandalism are in the news fairly frequently. Muslims and Sikhs have been especially hard hit in the past 6 years.

In opinion surveys, large portions of the population consistently say that they don't trust atheists, would not vote for an atheist, and don't think that atheists are as honest or moral as Christians.

When you see all of this, it's very easy to think that the majority of Christians are not so polite to non-Christians. At the very best, those Christians are turning a blind eye to a lot of hatred that comes from within their ranks.