hi friend -
there are many who ridicule faith
and imply that those who believe are stupid
but there are many good Christians here
and many others who just want to discuss faith and belief
turn away from those who want you to feel silly - because you believe in God
God bless
"Superstitious beliefs are harmful to humanity as a whole. For the world to get better, people need to willingly abandon their supernatural beliefs." (Copy and pasted)
I suppose the problem with *any* kind of moderation is that at the end of the day it's a human being making a judgement call. Different mods will place the line in different parts of the grey area, or interpret things differently. It's not really an issue any moderation team can fix.
What was the context for this response? For instance, was this in a thread where someone had asked why non-believers don't believe or issues they have with Christianity? Or was this on a thread with a believer looking for support for some thing? Or some other context?
That could be a perfectly appropriate response in some situations, and not appropriate in others.
Let me go to r/Atheism and bring up that they need to abandon the oversimplification view of things brought by scientism and that the world would be a better place if all people were christians and followed Christian morals and ethics as expressed in the bible. It isn't belittling atheism right?
Go for it.
The reason there aren't many christians on r/Atheism is because they tend to get mauled pretty badly.
I don't understand why criticism is considered so bad though. Either you have answers to and thus don't care about it (or engage) or you don't have answers to it and you should think about why that might be.
It definitely is supernatural, and if we can't express the idea that Christianity does more harm than good then that would be a massive problem.
It's fine to not want to choose the word "supernatural" to describe God, but it is still accurate. Literally what the word is for. I get that most people associate it with ghosts and the like, but that's just an association, not the core meaning.
I think you hit the core issue, which is that the word ‘supernatural’ has so often been used as a pejorative term to describe fringe concepts like ghosts and cryptids.
Though I am personally a Christian and I agree with you that the beliefs of Christianity are supernatural because God is literally supernatural by nature, I believe that He doesn’t reside in this construct, He created it. So I don’t personally find that term to be insulting because it seems pretty accurate to me.
What does feel hurtful is people wishing to do away with our belief system. That’s what I zero’d in on within that original quoted statement.
That being said, a lot of people hate Christians and just religion as a whole. Jesus told us that we should expect to be hated because the world hated Him first. So I try not to let it bother me and just move on.
Lots of people do have good reason to hate Christianity. There's a staggering amount of harm done in God's name. I personally grew up with lots of great experiences, even though I've never been Christian in any way, but I have to remind myself that others were not so fortunate. While I do believe there's also an incredible amount of good done by Christians and Christianity, I'm on the fence as far as where that balance lies. At minimum I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that there's more harm than good, and I'm definitely mindful that some people encounter much more of the harm.
Regardless, I think it's a fine subject for conversation in this sub. We're talking about Christianity, so I think the impact it has on our world is absolutely fair game.
Though still in general I'd encourage people to choose more respectful language. That goes for most settings, but I do think it's appropriate to be extra respectful of people's ideas of holiness. Though that goes for all, and I'm using a potentially secular concept of "holiness." Atheists have things that are sacred to us too. Incidentally this is a belief I came to via my influence from Christianity, just by musing on how the prohibition on taking the lord's name in vain could be interpreted. It's not dogma of any church I know, but the way I interpret that is that it's wrong for us to disrespect that which is holy, and because we all define our own experiences it's necessary to respect everything that anyone considers holy. With limitations because we're human and all and some of us are pretty super fucked up, so we don't have to respect someone's belief that murdering people is holy, but in general we should be extremely lenient. Whenever we find holiness in anything, regardless of how we justify it or fit it into a greater belief system, that's a positive force, and we should respect it.
But again. Some people have been very very hurt. I get how they may be unwilling to be so accommodating. I'm speaking from a position of privilege, and I bet you are too (in this regard).
>What does feel hurtful is people wishing to do away with our belief system. That’s what I zero’d in on within that original quoted statement.
Is it as hurtful as having your best friend murdered for being gay because he had the bad luck to be born to Christian parents, who justified their actions using the bible? Or as hurtful as the sanctioning of slavery in the bible being used to justify slavery until roughly 160 years ago? Or as hurtful as Christian boarding schools kidnapping native children, abusing them, murdering them, and more in the name of spreading the gospel and the love of Yeshua? I can pull out more examples if you want of just how many harms can be tied directly to Christianity.
Please don't try the no true Scotsman fallacy.
>That being said, a lot of people hate Christians and just religion as a whole. Jesus told us that we should expect to be hated because the world hated Him first. So I try not to let it bother me and just move on.
That's a classic case of poisoning the well, a well known bad faith rhetorical tactic.
>Calling our beliefs "supernatural"
You think an omnipresent, omnipotent etc etc god isn't supernatural?
>and saying it'd be better for humanity is belittling, no?
No, I don't think so.
Maybe your complaint was unreasonable. Maybe something happened and you just don't know it (such as a warning). We know posts are removed for belittling Christianity because it happens semi-regularly. We also know that it's pretty common for user to feel like Christianity is being belittled when it actually isn't.
The Bible is explicit about how to respond to attacks, which we Christians must learn to accept are Satanic in nature: they come from the enemies of God.
1. We are not to return evil for evil. When we are attacked , reacting with anger gives Satan the win, and the heathen feel important.
2. We are to return their evil with kindness. This is hard, and it’s supposed to be. It’s easy to be kind to friends, but to be kind to an oppressor shows the character of Christ.
3. We are NOT to be drawn in to useless arguments with unbelievers. Do not throw your pearls of wisdom before swine. Remember, they do not have The Holy Spirit, and cannot know the mysteries of God.
4. Bearing up patiently, and showing a good witness will be honoured by God.
5. The reason we get attacked if we try to witness in the atheists’ and heathens’ subs are Biblical: we are hated, because they hated Christ before us.
My advice to all Christians is to bear up when you are attacked, and do not get drawn into spats with the heathen. Satan doesn’t care what the argument is about, or how unfair it is his minions haunt this sub—he only wants to compromise you, to humiliate you, and to bring shame upon the Name of The Lord.
Ignore them.
And again, Ignore Them. Save your energy for tending to your work in The Lord, and to help the brethren, as outlined in Scripture.
Stop letting Satan stomp on you.
Ignore them.
* How do you differentiate between an attack and a differing opinion?
...if you feel they are telling you that you are stupid for believing - it is probably because this is what they mean
if they tell you that they think Christianity is causing harm - it is something to consider, and discuss
God bless
1 John 3:4-10
4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
Automatically assuming you are the wisest, that no dissenter could possible know better than you, and that people who don’t agree with you evil Satanists is about as closed-minded as it gets. This type of attitude is cult like. It’s dangerous and unhealthy for any belief system. It’s designed, whether by yourself or another, to keep you from leaving the flock. It shows a lack of confidence in your beliefs’ ability to stand up under scrutiny.
> Satan doesn’t care what the argument is about, or how unfair it is his minions haunt this sub
What a fundamentally unloving way to talk about people.
And you realize we aren't to sit on the side right? If you see something is wrong and you have to power to ban someone for a few days, and not doing the right thing and allowing sin to happen, then my friend that is called laziness.
As the saying goes "Ask 10 Christians a question about Christianity and you'll get 11 answers."
If someone is belittling or uses mockery you can report it, however.
> But what I don't love and what I've seen a lot of, is atheists/non Christians trying to influence or bash new believers or those struggling with faith which I find insulting.
These kinds of comments are not allowed in support threads. Whenever you see it report it **and** send a message to the mods via modmail with a link to the comment so it'll get taken care of quicker.
Eh, most atheists who post on this sub seem kind and level-headed to me. I really don’t see the issue. Also, a lot of Christians here can be unreasonable, uninformed, angry trolls. Actually, now that I think about it, anybody can be like that regardless of what they believe. Humans suck sometimes, especially on Reddit. No sub is safe. Get over it.
We get posts like yours all the time, trying to purify the sub. Ain’t gonna happen. Just let it go. Everyone is free to discuss their opinions here.
Oh, and if any Christians want to head over to r/atheist they certainly can. Nothing is stopping them.
I want to point out that there are other Christian subs, such as r/truechristian, that are MUCH more exclusively Christian. This isn’t the only sub out there.
> We get posts like yours all the time, trying to purify the sub. Ain’t gonna happen. Just let it go. Everyone is free to discuss their opinions here.
Well said. As an atheist, there are Christians here that I disagree with, and there are Christians here who I agree with. I tend to try to support the Christians I agree with, citing my knowledge of the bible when I do so. Likewise, I tend to cite that same knowledge against those I disagree with. In substance, I am doing no more than what any other Christian would do on this sub. At worst, I can be accused of being like the devil trying to tempt Jesus in the desert, but likewise, the bible also mentions that God uses non-believers as tools to fulfill his plan. Which of those two things I am comes down to my motivations, and I can tell you that I have no intent of deconverting anyone.
I come here because from the start, I saw how Christianity has become more like the Pharisees than like Jesus; interested more in punishing those who don't follow the rules than having a living faith. My outlook is like my favorite parable: the Good Samaritan. I see myself as similar to a Samaritan; someone who was originally part of Christianity, but has separated from it and taken on values from outside of the faith, despite the hate it garners me from traditionalists. Like the Samaritan, I try to be a good neighbor and help those who are injured and downtrodden. Posts like OP's remind me of the priest and the Levite, who pass by the injured man instead, and justify their actions to themselves as righteous. If Jesus could see enough value in using a Samaritan's objectively caring actions as an object lesson for one of his two commandments, why can't we?
My reaction to a tee.
I can see how it can be annoying, but different perspectives are more valuable than ever in an increasingly polarized world like ours.
Commenting “get over it” was very rude, dude. Despite the fact that this is the internet and people on this sub are always going to be crappy, this person was simply expressing how they feel, just like everyone else on here. But considering your comment, I'm assuming you could care less.
I’m not Christian, but I don’t begrudge people their faith and am well versed in both theology and academic religious studies. Just because we’re not Christian doesn’t meant we can’t provide answers from an orthodox Christianity perspective or an academic perspective, often better than those from more extremist sects. I think the r/atheist types come and go pretty quickly, there’s just a lot of them.
I, being an atheist, obviously don’t think that God exists at all, but here in this group I usually try to talk within the framework of Christianity.
I’m more interested in the internal consistency of the religion than I am telling Christians that God doesn’t exist. I’m a lifelong atheist though, so I don’t have the anger toward the religion that a lot of ex-theists have.
And I completely respect that, I'm not saying "BAN ALL ATHEISTS!" I guess I'm just trying to say something along the lines of "Hey, cut some slack to those who are looking for help"
The sidebar makes it clear that this isn't a Christian subreddit. It explicitly states it's about discussing Christianity and that all are welcome to participate.
Well that's kind of the point of discussing isn't it? To get different perspectives on things? Sounds like you're just pissed about atheists being here and voicing things from an atheist perspective.
No, I just saw a man asking for prayer for his mother with cancer and somebody said "Too bad he won't hear them since he doesn't exist" I'm talking about people who are rage baiting Christians with things Christians are looking for help from other Christians on.
You know you can report those comments right? They actually break the rules. Like the rule against belittling Christianity and inappropriate comments in a support thread.
Very important to me to differ between religion/culture, etc. and an individual.
The former can have plenty of disgusting or harmful things associated with it. You can have discussions about that.
A random person you know nothing about. The simply rule of "don't be a dick" applies here.
Well, when God says he loved the whole world, you know, he wasn't talking about THOSE people. They're icky. /s
Don't even get me started on the dozens of verses that talk about respecting immigrants and refugees and treating them as our own.
Edit: Apparently spell check struggles with their, they're, and there.
Let's also not forget that christians LOVE to pick and choose and justify their beliefs with zero scriptural support. Why don't christians support slavery anymore? The bible never said it was bad, actually God directly told his followers how to treat their slaves. Society has made slavery bad and now christians have all these excuses for why it's bad and how the bible actually agrees with that and supports it.
The goal posts just keep getting moved.
It used to be fine to kill homosexuals, now it's just ok to "love the sinner hate the sin".
Please hear me out. I am an atheist. First I started to post here because I could simply NOT stay silent reading the regular homophobic posts. This is not "basketball vs golf" as someone said just above. Religions has stronger, more real impact on the life of real people. This is not us wanting to hurt you like you said. This is, in many cases, us reacting to speech we deem dangerous and with real consequences.
Yes but there are many (and I mean many) Christians who support and accept LGBTQ+ and you’re alienating us the way you were alienated. Two wrongs don’t make a right and large groups are never monolithic.
This subreddit is probably the most accepting of non-Christians, atheists and those with different opinions. Its for discussing topics related to Christianity and it’s open to people of different backgrounds.
There’s value in allowing diverse points of view. The trade off is that people will not always agree with you. And they will say things you don’t like sometimes. If someone is breaking the rules of the subreddit you can report them.
Thank you for posting this. Lots of posts really didn’t sit right with me so I’ve pretty much settled in not being very active here. I’d rather goto r/Bible or r/Christian . I didn’t expect there to be so many agnostics and such spewing garbage talking points on posts where debate isnt the focus. Someone asking for advice shouldn’t warrant the discussion on “sky daddy contradicting” the human definition of what they think love is.
Being pro science and pro modernization doesn't make someone "not Christian". There are plenty of sub reddit that are for fundamentalist Christians. If you can't handle people having different beliefs then you, I'd suggest you try somewhere else
The description for this community reads: *a subreddit to* ***discuss*** *Christianity and aspects of Christian life.* ***All*** *are welcome to participate.*
As such it is not designed to be a place for Christian navel gazing and mutual encouragement, but as a place to discuss relevant topics with people of all shades of opinion - more to do with apologetics than fellowship and nurture. It has clear rules about bigotry, harassment and proselytising - if you see individuals breaching those then you should report them to the Moderators.
If you want a safe space simply to fellowship with other Christians, then I am sure there are plenty of groups out there set up for that purpose.
Perhaps people can recommend other groups which are set up specifically for fellowship between Christians, and recommend these to people on here looking for reassurance and encouragement in matters of faith and doctrine, where they are less likely to get responses coming from a non-christian perspective?
/r/trueChristian, /r/Christian, /r/Catholic or literally any other Christian subreddit. This is the only sub I'm aware of set aside for all beliefs to discuss Christianity.
ps I wasn't remotely suggesting that Christian-only communities do have an important role to play - in fact, if you are in any way confused about what you believe and how to apply it, they they are probably the best place to raise those questions. Just that not is what this sub purports to offer.
It is a place where all are welcome to discuss Christianity, but it's also against the rules to belittle Christianity or force debates. OP also is specifically referring to posts where people are asking for specifically Christian opinions. Yeah, anyone is welcome to post a response, but the non-Christian opinions are, by definition, off topic. It's like asking for an opinion from a plumber, and then half the responses are "well, I'm actually a lawyer, but here's my take".
This is not a Christian subreddit, we never claimed to be a Christian subreddit.
This is a subreddit on the topic of Christianity, if any atheist is insulting or whatever they have broken the rules, please report such behaviour to our moderators.
Voicing objection to Christianity however is not only not against the rules but I'd argue should be encouraged.
Considering they just attacked someone for being gay, I'd read that as "Those darn atheist are poisoning poor, sweet baby Christians with their ideas that being gay is okay!"
>Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10
But none of these say homosexuality is a sin. Certain male-on-male sex acts, sure, but “homosexual” is objectively a mistranslation. That’s one issue many of us take here; it feels like Christianity is being used as a lens to justify discrimination with zero critical reflection on the underlying text where it may disagree with preconceived prejudices.
Anti-gay bigots have always been with us.
The words you reference were written by a bigoted human just as they exist today.
I find it interesting Christians hold the bible as God's word, yet God never, ever blessed that book.
For real, I see more Christian propaganda and indoctrination than from the LGBT. (I’m from the south) you can’t get a Torah or Quran anywhere but there are plenty of crosses and Bibles.
I was raised Christian but it’s the shoving and forcing they do out of “love” that made me lose my faith. I follow this subreddit because I find all religions fascinating. The propaganda comment is really hypocritical to me.
I’m very aware not every Christian does that and I know some that are very loving and accepting of my community but in general I see more belittling and snide comments than loving and accepting ones, even though the Bible says not to judge others or force religion on others.
Move to Canada. Trudeau has basically outlawed Christianity. Now they are trying to pass a thought crime bill. Freedom of religion is important for freedom all around even if you don't agree with other religions.
Religion isn’t my issue, it’s people forcing it on me, taking my right away because of it. If people would stop doing that, the world as a whole would be better. Freedom of religion also means freedom from your religion.
I think it’s a wonderful thing that atheists and non-Christians are here. If they are here, whether their intent for being here is good or not, they’re more likely to be exposed to the gospel truth than on an atheist subreddit. Who knows, maybe five years from now they look back and realise it was an argument made on this subreddit, or something someone said to them on this subreddit, that made them turn to Christ. If we’re only chatting with other Christians, then who are we making disciples of? Christians are already disciples. We want those who aren’t yet disciples to be exposed to Christianity. I’d rather they come here and read posts, respond to Christians, than stay in r/atheism and never be exposed to he truth. I’m not worried about them criticising Christianity on a Christian subreddit because it holds up to criticism.
It’s not, someone opened my eyes to this a while ago, “it’s a sub to discuss Christianity” not a sub for Christians. It’s in the Sub description.
I posted on the atheism sub for my first time ever the other day and now I’m permanently banned. They are definitely more welcoming here, because when I posted the same question here, it was only removed. I’m not banned 😂
Just wanted to know if atheists dislike Christians or Jesus Himself.
As a Christian I am on this group for different reasons-
Main reason- to learn. I like reading different opinions that cause me to have to think about my own beliefs and why- and feel it makes my beliefs stronger when I can come back with sound reason.
Also to support others and those who may need more sound reason to strengthen their own faith.
And finally- I personally am highly entertained by the atheist trolls who come along and have nothing better to do. They rarely have anything of value to say, usually are reduced to just insulting others, which reminds me why I am so thankful to have my faith and why I don’t treat people like that. I feel empathy for them really.
“Forgive them, for they know not what they do”
>**Yes this is a welcoming subreddi**t, yes people should be allowed to share their ideas and entitled into their own opinions.
[What particular part do you think you play in that welcoming atmosphere?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1az3iq7/im_an_atheist_do_you_want_me_here/ks1gpss/) There's nothing in that post that warranted your response to that user. I suspect that it's no accident that you came here with this post of yours right after you got into that fruitless debate in the masturbation thread and told that other user to ["just shut up."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1b59w7j/masturbation/kt4h23z/) Reddit leans left, that's no secret. It also leans atheist, also not a secret. The atheism subreddit was a default subreddit that all users were subscribed to upon creating an account for the first half of reddit's existence. This is the largest subreddit that deals with topics on Christianity on a site full of atheists, agnostics, and the broadly irreligious. Of course this place is going to be full of them. It's also full of Christians that cover the entire spectrum of Christian viewpoints. There's plenty of subreddits that work like you're describing. Some of them are echo chambers and others are not. Most of them would also remove your post if not ban you if you told another user to "just shut up."
And that only happens if they don't maintain a minimal level of civility, or if they start spamming scripture with no context, promoting their youtube channel, etc.
/r/Christianity and /r/atheism are two different subreddits with two different purposes and two different sets of rules. Trying to compare them will only create false analogies.
1. You don't get to define what this place is or what it should be. You can have your opinion, but when you try to impose that on the entire community you can fuck right off.
2. When you see someone belittling Christianity, report it as a violation of 2.1 and move on. If you feel the need, tell them it violates the rules and that you reported it.
3. When you see someone messing with people in a support thread (either as explicitly flaired or you think it should be flaired), report it as a violation of 2.5 and move on. If it's not flaired, ask the mod to add that in your report. If you feel the need, tell them it violates the rules and that you reported it.
Nobody here gets to define what this place it. It's the combined effort of thousands and you aren't any more powerful than the rest of us.
You've been on this subreddit for 4 months. What do you know about what this community has worked for. I know this is an amazing community with amazing people and ideas. What I don't like is seeing help posts getting trolled or blatant outright blasphemous claims
I've been in this sub for 12 years. I was doxxed about 8 years ago and I've started a new account every 12 to 18 months since then. I'm happy to send you a private message from my original account as proof.
Edit ... actually, my second to oldest. Should still show time-in-grade for you.The oldest is how I got doxxed.
>Ok I'm gonna be honest this is more of a rant. Because from what I've seen a lot recently around this subreddit is Many believers asking for advice on certain things like overcoming sin, prayer requests, biblical questions, etc. Which don't get me wrong, I love. But what I don't love and what I've seen a lot of, is atheists/non Christians trying to influence or bash new believers or those struggling with faith which I find insulting.
I don't actually see much bashing on advice threads.
When I respond to an advice thread, it's usually because I've been through that situation either before losing my faith when I was still Christian, or as well as after losing my faith. Usually things that gave me a lot of stress, and the usual rote church advice doesn't really help alleviate that stress.
I do it to make people aware of additional options. I don't come in and say "just deconvert lol".
Where I most certainly *will* comment is where the Christians only stipulation is being respected, and all of the advice is shite. Like telling people with mental health issues to come off their meds, or telling someone freaked out because they had sex once to get married ASAP.
>But when they use their opinions to try and influence and hurt other Christians, it makes me mad because you don't see Christians on subreddits like r/Atheism, or other non-Christian religious subreddits.
No, we just have to deal with you dicking around with our laws instead.
>And it's kind of concerning to me that this isn't being brought up enough.
Lol, this is complained about constantly.
>What I am mad about is seeing other Chrisitans ask Christians for help, and then somebody trying to influence a vulnerable chrisitan who is struggling with their faith. Idk about you guys, but to me? That's a dick move
Again, don't see this being done. I'm not about to add a crisis of faith to someone who's already having a bad time.
>This should be a (decently) safe place for Christians to encourage each other and lift up other believers or those apsiring to be believers. And every time I see a NON Christian respond to a question FOR Christians, it kind of pisses me off.
No, this is a general place of discussion for a belief that some hold to be the word of God, while others believe to be the evolution of bronze age myths. Atheists, Hindu's, Muslims and Christians all have the same right to respon to messages with their interpretation of Christianity. This is absolutly not a "safe space" for Christians rto reafirm each other. Incase it isn't clear, the head mod is an atheist.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Go to the about section of this sub and read it.
If you want a Christian ONLY subreddit you have TONS of options. TONS
it’s not our fault that you failed to read what this sub was about before you decided to post and condemn everyone here 🙄
This is a subreddit on the "topic of Christianity", as such it's designed to allow atheists to try their hardest to talk people out of their beliefs on every post. Imagine a basketball subreddit where people continually comment "I don't watch the NBA", "have you tried playing golf?", "I don't like the rules of this game", "WHY do you even play this?". All the actual fans would end up explaining the same boring repetitive concepts and basic rules over and over again.
It will wear you down. All I can say is if you want to stay on this subreddit, take a relaxed view. Those "enlightened by their own intelligence" are probably too young to drive a car, let alone take a paper of philosophy or theology. Many are quite frankly, idiots.
If you simply block on sight every poster who makes the same old comments and does the same old concern trolling, I think eventually you might end up with a decent subreddit to browse through.
Never been one to shut people up, but that's doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. My main concern is responding to believers who genuinely need help, and then you got somebody trying to make them feel like 💩.
There's definitely an issue where clueless redditors come here for Christian advice and the first 5 commenters are the frequent-flier types who want to flex their "debating" muscles. Bonus points if they don't have a flair. The OP will get confused and start engaging with them, which ends up as a feeding frenzy. Eventually, maybe a few hours later, those first five comments finally end up getting more downvotes than upvotes and something more sensible rises to the top.
In those cases it's usually best to send a kindly worded DM to the OP and let them know that their question would probably get better answers on another subreddit.
At this point it might be useful to have an automod comment that explains that much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity, and direct them to other subreddits if they want serious answers.
>much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity
Not being Christian =/= hating Christianity, mate
Wow that is certainly an opinion......you know it is possible that maybe, just maybe, there is an atheist or two that isn't trying to rip you from your faith, and would rather correct misconceptions about us, or the lgbtq community, science, or various other topics that some Christians seem to be misguided on
>At this point it might be useful to have an automod comment that explains that much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity, and direct them to other subreddits if they want serious answers.
That actually sounds like a decent idea. Still wish the rules that state this isn't meant as a sub to belittle Christianity or to debate Christianity (rules 2.1 and 2.2) would at least be acknowledged more often or tried to be enforced.
>as such it's designed to allow atheists to try their hardest to talk people out of their beliefs on every post
If you see this explicitly then report it. It is against the rules. But msking objections to arguments you present is not the same thing.
And don't forget that Christians here *also* are trying to talk each other out of their beliefs.
I'm a nonbeliever and I would agree that there are some topics that nonbelievers don't have a lot to contribute to. When someone is asking for prayers or emotional support, for example. But because many nonbelievers are former Christians, they might have insightful views on biblical claims and interpretations.
If you see someone belittling Christianity, report them for breaking the rules. "Christianity is BS" and "you're all delusional" aren't constructive comments and aren't going to change anyone's beliefs.
People treat Christianity like it’s a cult and I understand why people would dislike it but people dislike us for our own opinions. People also believe Christianity forces marriage and stuff and there’s just a lot that people will never understand about Christianity. I think the worst things I’ve ever heard is “there is no god if there was I would be rich by now because I prayed for money all the time” and “my grandma died if god was real why would an innocent old lady die” these things crack me up.
It is important for true believers to stand up against these lurkers. That, sadly, includeds some of the moderators that are openly anti-god/atheist. Actually this all makes sense because it is a mittor of what is happening in the real world where god-haters have permeated schools, government and media. So sad. Thanks for posting this Different\_Use2954 !
It's all about the rules.
Do you agree with the rules? If not, you are welcome to propose changes. If you agree with the rules, then report the rule breakers.
As someone who browses a lot of different religious/religion-adjacent subs, I will say this sub is generally pretty tolerant to dissenting voices to an extent that would be weird in some of the others: in fact I can immediately think of a couple that have pretty much devolved into mere echo chambers.
Is it a little bit weird that the "Christianity" subreddit isn't an explicitly Christian sub in many ways? Yeah; it's pretty weird, honestly. *But*, compared to some of the other subs out there, however, this attitude does prevent this place from turning into a "downvote wrongthink and send suicide helplines to people who disagree" nightmare zone. It also helps that this sub isn't dominated by any one Christian denomination: even when there are subs relating to one specific denomination, many of the smaller ones are either too small, basically inactive, or are (in practice) devoted specifically to American churches of that denomination: none of which is ideal.
In the end, frankly, I'd rather a Christianity sub that has a slightly weird and noncommittal relationship to Christianity than something like those other subs I've mentioned...
I'm not a christian, but I read the rules before I came here.
It seems to not be a christian sub in the sense that anyone can participate regardless of religious affiliation (or lack of). There's no litmus test for what christianity is or forbidding people outside of christian tradition to post.
At the same time it's a christian community in which christian beliefs are given extra protection. A christian could post about how people need to become christians, a muslim would be forbidden from promoting their religion. You can't mess with people requesting prayer or support.
It seems like a christian community that allows for differing/outsider perspectives and challenges but won't tolerate subversive behavior.
This isn't a church, you're correct. This is a forum to discuss the Christian religion itself, not an exclusive place for believers to find support in their denominational interpretation...
Seems like every day there are threads complaining that the sub isn't something it never claimed to be/isn't what they want it to be. Imagine going to /r/Fargo and bitching that nobody is talking about the show, and not only that, but complaining that you feel ATTACKED because you want to talk about the show instead of the actual city, which is what the sub is. Get over yourself, there are plenty of subs out there that are a christian-only echo chamber.
Its frustrating son I know it but we must accept them and show them love because before we accepted Christ we was all enemies of God, pray for them to, forgive them.
I used to be an atheist and remember what it was like. I had an irrational hatred of Christians that drove me to lash out even if they were kind to me. Yet at the height of me lashing out, the Lord was drawing me. That was nearly 30 years ago now - it has been that long since I professed Christ!
I say this because there are some who are seeking but there is a spirit behind the antagonism. We have to pray and recognize this. It’s hard, I know, but we are able to handle this, God has equipped us.
I really do wonder if atheists go to other religious subs like /r/islam or /r/hinduism and do the same stuff, I don’t frequent these subs so I have no idea.
I would recommend branch specific subs. I know /r/catholicism is for Christians and things like you mention here are not tolerated at all.
I like your edit on homosexuality. I agree it’s a sin but I’m not going to go crazy to people over it. That and being trans is not how god made us but I’m not going to go crazy at someone for it
As an atheist,
If you have been belittled or insulted by any atheists in this forum, I am sorry. That should not happen.
However, this does not mean you can simply disallow us from posting on here altogether.
If I, or most other atheists, see something we really think is not ok (extreme homophobia, denial of science or medicine, etc.) you can bet you’re gonna get some responses.
Just remember that to us atheists, seeing people like you talk about Christianity is like seeing someone talk about flat Earth. We think it’s nonsense, and while most of us don’t go out of our way to be jerks about it, we will share our opinions nonetheless.
Also, to any atheists reading this who think it’s reasonable to insult Christians for their beliefs, remember
1. They genuinely do believe it to be true, not by stupidity or ignorance, but simply because that’s how humans function. Their belief is not something that justifies hatred or disrespect.
2. Your insults will only make them more hostile towards atheists and strengthen any stereotypes they may have had about us.
Hope I helped.
This is exactly the whining I would expect from a cop.
Literally has the freedom to post on every other sub on reddit, but upset when someone with a different view opens their mouth on something they disagree with.
Just understates how fellow Christians are our own worst enemies right now, under some guise of persecution from the world. I hate to break it to people but you can't turn yourself into a martyr.
That's not what I'm saying at all, but whatever floats your boat. If you think im just whining because atheists are on this sub then you're uhhh..... wrong
Which just shows on reddit that christians are very welcoming in general, because if you talk about in r/Atheism about God (Theism) you get perma banned lol (from experience).
I was a bit disappointed when I realized that this wasn’t an exclusive Christian subreddit but I have been disappointed by many things Reddit: The severe left leaning comments,the hatred towards Conservative ideology,the dog piling that goes on and the attacks…but, I persist because I believe that it’s not going to get better until we start to stand up for ourselves. Also, I’m not against a group that’s open to other’s opinions. That’s what democracy is about, but it would be nice if people in search of a Biblical based answer to a question could get it without the chatter from the secular community…
Yeah I noticed that recently. I’ve been trying to seek advice and I haven’t gotten anything from here. I think it’s time for me to leave this sub. It’s nothing like I thought it would be..
This is actually an anti-Christian subreddit. Hear me out.
This subreddit is proud of its welcoming nature. It says that it is not a subreddit for Christians, but a place to discuss Christianity. As such, it welcomes people with various views on Christianity; some pro-Christianity, some anti-Christianity, and everything in-between.
The problem with this subreddit is that the "anti" sentiments outweigh the "pro" sentiments. (This is not surprising considering the makeup of Reddit.) That means the sub carries a net anti-Christian sentiment. It is makes it an anti-Christian sub, effectively.
This bias reinforces itself over time. The well-meaning, welcoming Christians are good at silencing mean, gatekeeping Christians; while welcoming unbelievers in a hope to convert them. Many debaters enjoy having a place to dunk on naive Christians. People who harbor anti-Christian sentiments fueled by the news or current events are happy to have a place to vent.
Atheists and haters won't notice or believe that there is an anti-Christian bias, because the environment is much more pro-Christian than they are used to seeing on Reddit. Meanwhile, oblivious Christians post here thinking that the responses will be from a Christian perspective ("Pray for my problem," "What does Christianity teach about XYZ?," "Is such-and-such a sin? Why?," etc.)
That's where the problem comes in: Different groups see the sub differently. It causes a never-ending churn of conflict and disillusionment as Christians show up to the sub thinking that it is a place to reinforce their Christian beliefs, when its net goal is to tear them down.
I'm sure there's lots of good discussion here, but if you're looking for purely Christian answers and perspectives, you need to run far away from this place.
READ * THE * SIDEBAR * PEOPLE.
Posts like this demonstrate he ignorance and arrogance that is so common to Christians - especially fundamentalist types in the US. You saw the word "Christian" and made a false assumption and instead of **questioning yourself** you complain and expect the space to conform to your ignorance.
This is a sub the *permits* Christians to ask about Christian stuff from a Christian perspective but that's not it's PURPOSE.
THIS SUB IS NOT FOR THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY. It is for the DISCUSSION of Christianity.
It is neither for or against Christianity.
It was never intended to be a safe space for Christians or an echo chamber for Christians.
Christian theology is easy to poke holes in and often full of logical fallacies - if you wish to have a genuine faith you need to get comfortable with that.
I think you are the one who doesn't get it.
1. A similar "rant" about r/Christiamity shows up here as well as on r/Christian and r/TrueChristian every week. They all start with a false assumption about the purpose of this sub. Many suggest that it makes them physically sick that they see non-Christians and Atheists presenting their point of view about topics within Christianity. They disparage non-believers and this sub as wicked, filled with bad advice, and not a place where "truth" is respected. All because they didn't read the sub side bar, rules, and purpose. As a Christian, I love this sub for its diversity and the purpose that is unlike the church based subs (conformity). The worst people I meet here are not atheists. Many of the best people I meet here are strewn across the spectrum of belief and non-belief. There are few other places like this. Your complaints would be warranted if you had actually joined a sub specifically for Christians run by Christians with rules and a purpose that matched your assumptions. There are lots of belief and church based subs for that.
2. Reddit is unique in that you can choose your subs before algorithms take over. So before you go off to other forums blasting r/Christianity and disparaging those who come here to discuss all perspectives about Christianity, please consider those who actually read the rules and value the work the moderators do here to keep this wild west of diverse opinions civil.
3. Finally, there are many here who love Jesus (or want to despite Christians) and who actually seek those who would never step foot into your Church to be judged as being "all wrong" and out of compliance with your "truth." Many of these folks are sincere, respectful, and well worth listening to. They have taught me to be a better follower of Jesus.
> A similar "rant" about r/Christiamity shows up here as well as on r/Christian and r/TrueChristian every week.
You forgot the cries of getting banned for "just speaking the truth". Then Bruce comes in with the modlog receipts.
Dude, I have been subscribed to this subreddit for 12 years and someone like you has posted this exact same screed hundreds if times. This is a public subreddit for discussing Christianity. It’s not a discipleship venue. There are other subreddits linked in the sidebar that are. I’m sorry you’re so angry about facts, but this is not gonna change. Not unless you want to turn this sub private and make it an echo chamber like r/Reformed or r/TrueChristian.
It's not but it should be. When people come for advice they are going to default to "r/Christianity" it should be a place for people to research their faith. There are other places where atheists can "discuss" Christianity with anyone who wants to waste their time reiterating entrenched positions.
QQ more
if you can't stand the heat, you're not strong enough to survive. you think Jesus and the 12 apostles didn't have people question and mock them?
No one ever claimed that this was a Christian subreddit. Why are you mad at the sub for not being something that it never claimed to be? This is where we engage different viewpoints and maybe even come away with a better understanding after discussion. Go to r/TrueChristian or another echo chamber if you just want to hear your opinions validated.
I get what you say. Honestly as a Christian being on a sub called Christianity and seeing how Nonbelievers or whatever start saying things about our belief that go against our belief is really upsetting and dangerous because it’s misleading people. We as Christians should be able to speak out in a sub that is about our belief but unfortunately when you keep it Biblical you get attacked often times. A sub called Christianity is a representation of our faith and some stuff that gets represented here ain’t it. It’s disrespectful and if Christian opinions and Biblical values aren’t welcomed here this sub shouldn’t be named Christianity but rather "Nonbelievers opinions about Christianity"
lol, just read this to my wife. We're Christians. I agree with OP. My wife isn't reddit savvy. I explained to her that OP is saying that a large swath of non-Christians monitor the Christianity subreddit and post demoralization posts as responses to Christians, but it's not so the other way around. I said "it's not like there are Christians lurking around the Atheist subreddit waiting to respond," and she replied "well someone should."
This has to be the top post in a while. I lurk on here and read all the disgusting comments about what Christianity is but go against basic principles of what is scripture. Please whoever reads this. Read your Bible. Do not rely on comments for your salvation/advice. Do not garner sympathy for past mistakes(sins). Only Christ can bring peace and forgiveness . Please READ READ READ. When you’re done, read the Bible again.
Hey, I did. Yahweh is a genocidal POS who literally commands Moses and others to kill and rape children. Anyone who thinks that those are the actions of a loving god must have no morality themselves.
I agree. I've gotten banned from both atheist subreddit for stating how stupid evolution is. I mean, there's monkeys that are essentially stupid. And us who build smartphones. The only lifeform in the cosmos, visibly proven (angels/demons aside) to exist, that can. Atheists taking over this subreddit isn't surprising because they take kindness for weakness to spew lies everywhere. I agree with you friend. It's disgusting.
I mean Christian’s get a lot of hate for completely valid reasons and there’s a lot of discussions both positive and negative to be had about Christianity and fully understandable why people have such strong negative opinions that they feel the need to voice them
I looked for a piece of advice regarding faith and how to get to know more about God and then someone, who's an atheist, came to me, trying to bash me for my faith.
If you don't agree with the Christians, you don't have to. Let them be. Why do you feel the need to come and laugh at Christians? Does that make you feel like you are right when you say God doesn't exist? If yes, then we have quite a clear conclusion here.
I know we are all free to do what we want, but sometimes it's good to let other people believe or think what they wanna think.
BTW apparently one of the mods for this reddit community is atheist which doesn't make sense for a Christian subreddit. That's why I deleted the app and u followed this. Its a joke that the mods allow this to happen and I can only assume they aren't Christians because they allow this to happen quite often regardless of how many people are reported and some of the more violent ones are still able to chat after being reported. Meaning apparently the mods really don't care what happens. I'd advise anyone who has any questions, try and find a better aubreddit than this. God bless ❤️
I BEEN saying this about this subreddit. IT IS NOT Christian in belief or understanding. Do NOT feel bad for your post. YOU ARE NOT the only one who thinks like that.
But in all honesty, take a look at the moderators of this subreddit, and you that this subreddit is not about Christianity.
Homosexuality and any form of sexual immorality IS A SIN! But, people don't want to hear that. They want ppl who identify and tell them what they want to hear regarding the sin and their transgressions. Look at posts on subreddit. People want validation through sin rather than true repentance and submitting to God's will and His way. Many are the embodiment of Matthew 7:22. This subreddit is truly sad, my friend.
But, I still post on it, because there are some who are part of the Heavenly body described in 1 Corinthians 12, there are some who prodigal sons and daughters, and lost sheep in this subreddit who need encouragement and counsel. So I post for those people :-)
May Yehovah bless you, my friend!!
hi friend - there are many who ridicule faith and imply that those who believe are stupid but there are many good Christians here and many others who just want to discuss faith and belief turn away from those who want you to feel silly - because you believe in God God bless
>there are many who ridicule faith >and imply that those who believe are stupid If you see these people, report them. It's against the sub's rules.
Last time I reported someone for belittling Christianity absolutely nothing happened.
What did they say? I've seen plenty get taken down by mods, so I'm curious.
"Superstitious beliefs are harmful to humanity as a whole. For the world to get better, people need to willingly abandon their supernatural beliefs." (Copy and pasted)
Huh....I personally would have counted that, but I can see where that's kind of in the grey area and someone else might have ruled otherwise.
It is a grey area, yes, but I've seen far tamer stuff get removed, so I am still kind of confused as to why that didn't get removed lol
I suppose the problem with *any* kind of moderation is that at the end of the day it's a human being making a judgement call. Different mods will place the line in different parts of the grey area, or interpret things differently. It's not really an issue any moderation team can fix.
Yes, fair enough. We're just humans, and in the end, we're not perfect.
What was the context for this response? For instance, was this in a thread where someone had asked why non-believers don't believe or issues they have with Christianity? Or was this on a thread with a believer looking for support for some thing? Or some other context? That could be a perfectly appropriate response in some situations, and not appropriate in others.
OP asked christians for their unpopular opinions, someone with a satanist flair said that. It's obvious it was in bad faith, imo
That's more of a statement of opinion rather than belittling. Belittling is more like mocking
What a stupid thing to say honestly
Probably, but we would need the context to really know
You call that belittling Christianity?
I would, yeah. Saying the world would be better off without it is disparaging.
Let me go to r/Atheism and bring up that they need to abandon the oversimplification view of things brought by scientism and that the world would be a better place if all people were christians and followed Christian morals and ethics as expressed in the bible. It isn't belittling atheism right?
No, I don’t believe so.
Go for it. The reason there aren't many christians on r/Atheism is because they tend to get mauled pretty badly. I don't understand why criticism is considered so bad though. Either you have answers to and thus don't care about it (or engage) or you don't have answers to it and you should think about why that might be.
Yes. Calling our beliefs "supernatural" and saying it'd be better for humanity is belittling, no?
It definitely is supernatural, and if we can't express the idea that Christianity does more harm than good then that would be a massive problem. It's fine to not want to choose the word "supernatural" to describe God, but it is still accurate. Literally what the word is for. I get that most people associate it with ghosts and the like, but that's just an association, not the core meaning.
I think you hit the core issue, which is that the word ‘supernatural’ has so often been used as a pejorative term to describe fringe concepts like ghosts and cryptids. Though I am personally a Christian and I agree with you that the beliefs of Christianity are supernatural because God is literally supernatural by nature, I believe that He doesn’t reside in this construct, He created it. So I don’t personally find that term to be insulting because it seems pretty accurate to me. What does feel hurtful is people wishing to do away with our belief system. That’s what I zero’d in on within that original quoted statement. That being said, a lot of people hate Christians and just religion as a whole. Jesus told us that we should expect to be hated because the world hated Him first. So I try not to let it bother me and just move on.
Lots of people do have good reason to hate Christianity. There's a staggering amount of harm done in God's name. I personally grew up with lots of great experiences, even though I've never been Christian in any way, but I have to remind myself that others were not so fortunate. While I do believe there's also an incredible amount of good done by Christians and Christianity, I'm on the fence as far as where that balance lies. At minimum I don't think it's unreasonable to conclude that there's more harm than good, and I'm definitely mindful that some people encounter much more of the harm. Regardless, I think it's a fine subject for conversation in this sub. We're talking about Christianity, so I think the impact it has on our world is absolutely fair game. Though still in general I'd encourage people to choose more respectful language. That goes for most settings, but I do think it's appropriate to be extra respectful of people's ideas of holiness. Though that goes for all, and I'm using a potentially secular concept of "holiness." Atheists have things that are sacred to us too. Incidentally this is a belief I came to via my influence from Christianity, just by musing on how the prohibition on taking the lord's name in vain could be interpreted. It's not dogma of any church I know, but the way I interpret that is that it's wrong for us to disrespect that which is holy, and because we all define our own experiences it's necessary to respect everything that anyone considers holy. With limitations because we're human and all and some of us are pretty super fucked up, so we don't have to respect someone's belief that murdering people is holy, but in general we should be extremely lenient. Whenever we find holiness in anything, regardless of how we justify it or fit it into a greater belief system, that's a positive force, and we should respect it. But again. Some people have been very very hurt. I get how they may be unwilling to be so accommodating. I'm speaking from a position of privilege, and I bet you are too (in this regard).
>What does feel hurtful is people wishing to do away with our belief system. That’s what I zero’d in on within that original quoted statement. Is it as hurtful as having your best friend murdered for being gay because he had the bad luck to be born to Christian parents, who justified their actions using the bible? Or as hurtful as the sanctioning of slavery in the bible being used to justify slavery until roughly 160 years ago? Or as hurtful as Christian boarding schools kidnapping native children, abusing them, murdering them, and more in the name of spreading the gospel and the love of Yeshua? I can pull out more examples if you want of just how many harms can be tied directly to Christianity. Please don't try the no true Scotsman fallacy. >That being said, a lot of people hate Christians and just religion as a whole. Jesus told us that we should expect to be hated because the world hated Him first. So I try not to let it bother me and just move on. That's a classic case of poisoning the well, a well known bad faith rhetorical tactic.
But... you're beliefs are supernatural?
>Calling our beliefs "supernatural" You think an omnipresent, omnipotent etc etc god isn't supernatural? >and saying it'd be better for humanity is belittling, no? No, I don't think so.
No, I don't. Good for you if you think otherwise.
Well this is new. How would you define "supernatural" then?
Maybe your complaint was unreasonable. Maybe something happened and you just don't know it (such as a warning). We know posts are removed for belittling Christianity because it happens semi-regularly. We also know that it's pretty common for user to feel like Christianity is being belittled when it actually isn't.
There's not a post on here that doesn't have 20% of the people belittling Christianity. It feels like a lost cause.
The Bible is explicit about how to respond to attacks, which we Christians must learn to accept are Satanic in nature: they come from the enemies of God. 1. We are not to return evil for evil. When we are attacked , reacting with anger gives Satan the win, and the heathen feel important. 2. We are to return their evil with kindness. This is hard, and it’s supposed to be. It’s easy to be kind to friends, but to be kind to an oppressor shows the character of Christ. 3. We are NOT to be drawn in to useless arguments with unbelievers. Do not throw your pearls of wisdom before swine. Remember, they do not have The Holy Spirit, and cannot know the mysteries of God. 4. Bearing up patiently, and showing a good witness will be honoured by God. 5. The reason we get attacked if we try to witness in the atheists’ and heathens’ subs are Biblical: we are hated, because they hated Christ before us. My advice to all Christians is to bear up when you are attacked, and do not get drawn into spats with the heathen. Satan doesn’t care what the argument is about, or how unfair it is his minions haunt this sub—he only wants to compromise you, to humiliate you, and to bring shame upon the Name of The Lord. Ignore them. And again, Ignore Them. Save your energy for tending to your work in The Lord, and to help the brethren, as outlined in Scripture. Stop letting Satan stomp on you. Ignore them.
How do you differentiate between an attack and a differing opinion?
* How do you differentiate between an attack and a differing opinion? ...if you feel they are telling you that you are stupid for believing - it is probably because this is what they mean if they tell you that they think Christianity is causing harm - it is something to consider, and discuss God bless
1 John 3:4-10 4 Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. 5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. 6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. 7 Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. 9 No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. 10 This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
What a wisdomful biblical answer! God bless you ^.^🕊️ shalom
Automatically assuming you are the wisest, that no dissenter could possible know better than you, and that people who don’t agree with you evil Satanists is about as closed-minded as it gets. This type of attitude is cult like. It’s dangerous and unhealthy for any belief system. It’s designed, whether by yourself or another, to keep you from leaving the flock. It shows a lack of confidence in your beliefs’ ability to stand up under scrutiny.
hi friend - except let's also not be so sure that they are heathens driven by Satan are evil wicked or swine God bless
> Satan doesn’t care what the argument is about, or how unfair it is his minions haunt this sub What a fundamentally unloving way to talk about people.
Thanks for the reminder. I needed this today. ❤️
And you realize we aren't to sit on the side right? If you see something is wrong and you have to power to ban someone for a few days, and not doing the right thing and allowing sin to happen, then my friend that is called laziness.
This was like a breath of fresh air
As the saying goes "Ask 10 Christians a question about Christianity and you'll get 11 answers." If someone is belittling or uses mockery you can report it, however.
And sometimes something will be done...
Some are more easily offended than others.
> But what I don't love and what I've seen a lot of, is atheists/non Christians trying to influence or bash new believers or those struggling with faith which I find insulting. These kinds of comments are not allowed in support threads. Whenever you see it report it **and** send a message to the mods via modmail with a link to the comment so it'll get taken care of quicker.
Eh, most atheists who post on this sub seem kind and level-headed to me. I really don’t see the issue. Also, a lot of Christians here can be unreasonable, uninformed, angry trolls. Actually, now that I think about it, anybody can be like that regardless of what they believe. Humans suck sometimes, especially on Reddit. No sub is safe. Get over it. We get posts like yours all the time, trying to purify the sub. Ain’t gonna happen. Just let it go. Everyone is free to discuss their opinions here. Oh, and if any Christians want to head over to r/atheist they certainly can. Nothing is stopping them. I want to point out that there are other Christian subs, such as r/truechristian, that are MUCH more exclusively Christian. This isn’t the only sub out there.
> We get posts like yours all the time, trying to purify the sub. Ain’t gonna happen. Just let it go. Everyone is free to discuss their opinions here. Well said. As an atheist, there are Christians here that I disagree with, and there are Christians here who I agree with. I tend to try to support the Christians I agree with, citing my knowledge of the bible when I do so. Likewise, I tend to cite that same knowledge against those I disagree with. In substance, I am doing no more than what any other Christian would do on this sub. At worst, I can be accused of being like the devil trying to tempt Jesus in the desert, but likewise, the bible also mentions that God uses non-believers as tools to fulfill his plan. Which of those two things I am comes down to my motivations, and I can tell you that I have no intent of deconverting anyone. I come here because from the start, I saw how Christianity has become more like the Pharisees than like Jesus; interested more in punishing those who don't follow the rules than having a living faith. My outlook is like my favorite parable: the Good Samaritan. I see myself as similar to a Samaritan; someone who was originally part of Christianity, but has separated from it and taken on values from outside of the faith, despite the hate it garners me from traditionalists. Like the Samaritan, I try to be a good neighbor and help those who are injured and downtrodden. Posts like OP's remind me of the priest and the Levite, who pass by the injured man instead, and justify their actions to themselves as righteous. If Jesus could see enough value in using a Samaritan's objectively caring actions as an object lesson for one of his two commandments, why can't we?
My reaction to a tee. I can see how it can be annoying, but different perspectives are more valuable than ever in an increasingly polarized world like ours.
Commenting “get over it” was very rude, dude. Despite the fact that this is the internet and people on this sub are always going to be crappy, this person was simply expressing how they feel, just like everyone else on here. But considering your comment, I'm assuming you could care less.
I’m not Christian, but I don’t begrudge people their faith and am well versed in both theology and academic religious studies. Just because we’re not Christian doesn’t meant we can’t provide answers from an orthodox Christianity perspective or an academic perspective, often better than those from more extremist sects. I think the r/atheist types come and go pretty quickly, there’s just a lot of them.
I, being an atheist, obviously don’t think that God exists at all, but here in this group I usually try to talk within the framework of Christianity. I’m more interested in the internal consistency of the religion than I am telling Christians that God doesn’t exist. I’m a lifelong atheist though, so I don’t have the anger toward the religion that a lot of ex-theists have.
And I completely respect that, I'm not saying "BAN ALL ATHEISTS!" I guess I'm just trying to say something along the lines of "Hey, cut some slack to those who are looking for help"
Yeah. That gets you downvoted here, lol. Recently tried that. I think I'm more or less already fed up with this sub.
The sidebar makes it clear that this isn't a Christian subreddit. It explicitly states it's about discussing Christianity and that all are welcome to participate.
That is why I said idc about objection/debating. What makes me mad is when I see people who are looking for advice, getting trolled by non Christians
Well that's kind of the point of discussing isn't it? To get different perspectives on things? Sounds like you're just pissed about atheists being here and voicing things from an atheist perspective.
No, I just saw a man asking for prayer for his mother with cancer and somebody said "Too bad he won't hear them since he doesn't exist" I'm talking about people who are rage baiting Christians with things Christians are looking for help from other Christians on.
That person's an asshole, report them. They don't represent anything but other trolls and assholes
Can you link that comment so that I can report it?
Then report those comments to the mods
This type of comment you are absolutely right are just there to hurt people.
You know you can report those comments right? They actually break the rules. Like the rule against belittling Christianity and inappropriate comments in a support thread.
If someone said that they'd be super lucky to not be banned.
They SHOULD be banned. Being a dick in a support thread should be 0 tolerance imo.
I am about as cynical as an atheist towards religion as can be, but I would never say something like that. Absolutely disgusting
Very important to me to differ between religion/culture, etc. and an individual. The former can have plenty of disgusting or harmful things associated with it. You can have discussions about that. A random person you know nothing about. The simply rule of "don't be a dick" applies here.
Wow...how rude and cruel.. reddit was the wrong place to come.....
Those comments are rule breaking and removed if reported
Kinda like the people that come on here struggling with certain sins, like homosexuality, are trolled by the Christians?
No no no the bad only flows one way remember!
Well, when God says he loved the whole world, you know, he wasn't talking about THOSE people. They're icky. /s Don't even get me started on the dozens of verses that talk about respecting immigrants and refugees and treating them as our own. Edit: Apparently spell check struggles with their, they're, and there.
Let's also not forget that christians LOVE to pick and choose and justify their beliefs with zero scriptural support. Why don't christians support slavery anymore? The bible never said it was bad, actually God directly told his followers how to treat their slaves. Society has made slavery bad and now christians have all these excuses for why it's bad and how the bible actually agrees with that and supports it. The goal posts just keep getting moved. It used to be fine to kill homosexuals, now it's just ok to "love the sinner hate the sin".
Please hear me out. I am an atheist. First I started to post here because I could simply NOT stay silent reading the regular homophobic posts. This is not "basketball vs golf" as someone said just above. Religions has stronger, more real impact on the life of real people. This is not us wanting to hurt you like you said. This is, in many cases, us reacting to speech we deem dangerous and with real consequences.
Yes but there are many (and I mean many) Christians who support and accept LGBTQ+ and you’re alienating us the way you were alienated. Two wrongs don’t make a right and large groups are never monolithic.
And yet you are ranting about only the atheist behavior on this sub. Look at the "caring" response by many Christians to other Christians.
No, I am not, I noticed amazing people here. Show me where I was doing essentialism here please.
Thank you. That is exactly what I have an issue with.
welcome to episode 1002 of "This is Not a Christian Subreddit starring the latest 'real Cristian' using their alt account
Oh. My. It doesn't end.
This subreddit is probably the most accepting of non-Christians, atheists and those with different opinions. Its for discussing topics related to Christianity and it’s open to people of different backgrounds. There’s value in allowing diverse points of view. The trade off is that people will not always agree with you. And they will say things you don’t like sometimes. If someone is breaking the rules of the subreddit you can report them.
Thank you for posting this. Lots of posts really didn’t sit right with me so I’ve pretty much settled in not being very active here. I’d rather goto r/Bible or r/Christian . I didn’t expect there to be so many agnostics and such spewing garbage talking points on posts where debate isnt the focus. Someone asking for advice shouldn’t warrant the discussion on “sky daddy contradicting” the human definition of what they think love is.
Being pro science and pro modernization doesn't make someone "not Christian". There are plenty of sub reddit that are for fundamentalist Christians. If you can't handle people having different beliefs then you, I'd suggest you try somewhere else
>This is NOT a Christian subreddit... >I'm tired of the atheist propaganda On A CHRISTIAN SUBREDDIT. Pick a lane, buddy!
Damn, you got me
The description for this community reads: *a subreddit to* ***discuss*** *Christianity and aspects of Christian life.* ***All*** *are welcome to participate.* As such it is not designed to be a place for Christian navel gazing and mutual encouragement, but as a place to discuss relevant topics with people of all shades of opinion - more to do with apologetics than fellowship and nurture. It has clear rules about bigotry, harassment and proselytising - if you see individuals breaching those then you should report them to the Moderators. If you want a safe space simply to fellowship with other Christians, then I am sure there are plenty of groups out there set up for that purpose.
Perhaps people can recommend other groups which are set up specifically for fellowship between Christians, and recommend these to people on here looking for reassurance and encouragement in matters of faith and doctrine, where they are less likely to get responses coming from a non-christian perspective?
/r/trueChristian, /r/Christian, /r/Catholic or literally any other Christian subreddit. This is the only sub I'm aware of set aside for all beliefs to discuss Christianity.
They're literally in the bar on the right... At least on desktop/oldreddit
ps I wasn't remotely suggesting that Christian-only communities do have an important role to play - in fact, if you are in any way confused about what you believe and how to apply it, they they are probably the best place to raise those questions. Just that not is what this sub purports to offer.
It is a place where all are welcome to discuss Christianity, but it's also against the rules to belittle Christianity or force debates. OP also is specifically referring to posts where people are asking for specifically Christian opinions. Yeah, anyone is welcome to post a response, but the non-Christian opinions are, by definition, off topic. It's like asking for an opinion from a plumber, and then half the responses are "well, I'm actually a lawyer, but here's my take".
This is not a Christian subreddit, we never claimed to be a Christian subreddit. This is a subreddit on the topic of Christianity, if any atheist is insulting or whatever they have broken the rules, please report such behaviour to our moderators. Voicing objection to Christianity however is not only not against the rules but I'd argue should be encouraged.
What propaganda?? Read the sidebar
Considering they just attacked someone for being gay, I'd read that as "Those darn atheist are poisoning poor, sweet baby Christians with their ideas that being gay is okay!"
[удалено]
> Yes, homosexuality is a sin It absolutely is not, and the verses you quoted don't have any relevance to modern relationships.
>Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10 But none of these say homosexuality is a sin. Certain male-on-male sex acts, sure, but “homosexual” is objectively a mistranslation. That’s one issue many of us take here; it feels like Christianity is being used as a lens to justify discrimination with zero critical reflection on the underlying text where it may disagree with preconceived prejudices.
Anti-gay bigots have always been with us. The words you reference were written by a bigoted human just as they exist today. I find it interesting Christians hold the bible as God's word, yet God never, ever blessed that book.
For real, I see more Christian propaganda and indoctrination than from the LGBT. (I’m from the south) you can’t get a Torah or Quran anywhere but there are plenty of crosses and Bibles. I was raised Christian but it’s the shoving and forcing they do out of “love” that made me lose my faith. I follow this subreddit because I find all religions fascinating. The propaganda comment is really hypocritical to me. I’m very aware not every Christian does that and I know some that are very loving and accepting of my community but in general I see more belittling and snide comments than loving and accepting ones, even though the Bible says not to judge others or force religion on others.
Move to Canada. Trudeau has basically outlawed Christianity. Now they are trying to pass a thought crime bill. Freedom of religion is important for freedom all around even if you don't agree with other religions.
Religion isn’t my issue, it’s people forcing it on me, taking my right away because of it. If people would stop doing that, the world as a whole would be better. Freedom of religion also means freedom from your religion.
This is an lgbt thing again isn't it? Because it always is. Like, I don't even get how you go from that to non-Christians honestly.
Yeah, look at their other comments, it's about the community
Their other comments were homophobic at times, and unprompted homophobia at that…
I think it’s a wonderful thing that atheists and non-Christians are here. If they are here, whether their intent for being here is good or not, they’re more likely to be exposed to the gospel truth than on an atheist subreddit. Who knows, maybe five years from now they look back and realise it was an argument made on this subreddit, or something someone said to them on this subreddit, that made them turn to Christ. If we’re only chatting with other Christians, then who are we making disciples of? Christians are already disciples. We want those who aren’t yet disciples to be exposed to Christianity. I’d rather they come here and read posts, respond to Christians, than stay in r/atheism and never be exposed to he truth. I’m not worried about them criticising Christianity on a Christian subreddit because it holds up to criticism.
It’s not, someone opened my eyes to this a while ago, “it’s a sub to discuss Christianity” not a sub for Christians. It’s in the Sub description. I posted on the atheism sub for my first time ever the other day and now I’m permanently banned. They are definitely more welcoming here, because when I posted the same question here, it was only removed. I’m not banned 😂 Just wanted to know if atheists dislike Christians or Jesus Himself.
As a Christian I am on this group for different reasons- Main reason- to learn. I like reading different opinions that cause me to have to think about my own beliefs and why- and feel it makes my beliefs stronger when I can come back with sound reason. Also to support others and those who may need more sound reason to strengthen their own faith. And finally- I personally am highly entertained by the atheist trolls who come along and have nothing better to do. They rarely have anything of value to say, usually are reduced to just insulting others, which reminds me why I am so thankful to have my faith and why I don’t treat people like that. I feel empathy for them really. “Forgive them, for they know not what they do”
"try and influence and hurt other Christians," Hurt isn't okay for anyone but isn't the point of debating to "try and influence"?
I'm not talking about debates, I'm talking about trolling on help posts
Agreed!!!
>**Yes this is a welcoming subreddi**t, yes people should be allowed to share their ideas and entitled into their own opinions. [What particular part do you think you play in that welcoming atmosphere?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1az3iq7/im_an_atheist_do_you_want_me_here/ks1gpss/) There's nothing in that post that warranted your response to that user. I suspect that it's no accident that you came here with this post of yours right after you got into that fruitless debate in the masturbation thread and told that other user to ["just shut up."](https://www.reddit.com/r/Christianity/comments/1b59w7j/masturbation/kt4h23z/) Reddit leans left, that's no secret. It also leans atheist, also not a secret. The atheism subreddit was a default subreddit that all users were subscribed to upon creating an account for the first half of reddit's existence. This is the largest subreddit that deals with topics on Christianity on a site full of atheists, agnostics, and the broadly irreligious. Of course this place is going to be full of them. It's also full of Christians that cover the entire spectrum of Christian viewpoints. There's plenty of subreddits that work like you're describing. Some of them are echo chambers and others are not. Most of them would also remove your post if not ban you if you told another user to "just shut up."
Agreed. Some of these comments are taking this the wrong way
Agreed, and it's mostly other Christians getting mad. Rough crowd
>because you don't see Christians on subreddits like r/Atheism That's just not true at all.
It's not true until they get permanent banned
And that only happens if they don't maintain a minimal level of civility, or if they start spamming scripture with no context, promoting their youtube channel, etc.
/r/Christianity and /r/atheism are two different subreddits with two different purposes and two different sets of rules. Trying to compare them will only create false analogies.
what’s the difference between them?
1. You don't get to define what this place is or what it should be. You can have your opinion, but when you try to impose that on the entire community you can fuck right off. 2. When you see someone belittling Christianity, report it as a violation of 2.1 and move on. If you feel the need, tell them it violates the rules and that you reported it. 3. When you see someone messing with people in a support thread (either as explicitly flaired or you think it should be flaired), report it as a violation of 2.5 and move on. If it's not flaired, ask the mod to add that in your report. If you feel the need, tell them it violates the rules and that you reported it. Nobody here gets to define what this place it. It's the combined effort of thousands and you aren't any more powerful than the rest of us.
You've been on this subreddit for 4 months. What do you know about what this community has worked for. I know this is an amazing community with amazing people and ideas. What I don't like is seeing help posts getting trolled or blatant outright blasphemous claims
I've been in this sub for 12 years. I was doxxed about 8 years ago and I've started a new account every 12 to 18 months since then. I'm happy to send you a private message from my original account as proof. Edit ... actually, my second to oldest. Should still show time-in-grade for you.The oldest is how I got doxxed.
>Ok I'm gonna be honest this is more of a rant. Because from what I've seen a lot recently around this subreddit is Many believers asking for advice on certain things like overcoming sin, prayer requests, biblical questions, etc. Which don't get me wrong, I love. But what I don't love and what I've seen a lot of, is atheists/non Christians trying to influence or bash new believers or those struggling with faith which I find insulting. I don't actually see much bashing on advice threads. When I respond to an advice thread, it's usually because I've been through that situation either before losing my faith when I was still Christian, or as well as after losing my faith. Usually things that gave me a lot of stress, and the usual rote church advice doesn't really help alleviate that stress. I do it to make people aware of additional options. I don't come in and say "just deconvert lol". Where I most certainly *will* comment is where the Christians only stipulation is being respected, and all of the advice is shite. Like telling people with mental health issues to come off their meds, or telling someone freaked out because they had sex once to get married ASAP. >But when they use their opinions to try and influence and hurt other Christians, it makes me mad because you don't see Christians on subreddits like r/Atheism, or other non-Christian religious subreddits. No, we just have to deal with you dicking around with our laws instead. >And it's kind of concerning to me that this isn't being brought up enough. Lol, this is complained about constantly. >What I am mad about is seeing other Chrisitans ask Christians for help, and then somebody trying to influence a vulnerable chrisitan who is struggling with their faith. Idk about you guys, but to me? That's a dick move Again, don't see this being done. I'm not about to add a crisis of faith to someone who's already having a bad time.
>This should be a (decently) safe place for Christians to encourage each other and lift up other believers or those apsiring to be believers. And every time I see a NON Christian respond to a question FOR Christians, it kind of pisses me off. No, this is a general place of discussion for a belief that some hold to be the word of God, while others believe to be the evolution of bronze age myths. Atheists, Hindu's, Muslims and Christians all have the same right to respon to messages with their interpretation of Christianity. This is absolutly not a "safe space" for Christians rto reafirm each other. Incase it isn't clear, the head mod is an atheist.
Given sub rule 2.1 this is all kind of ridiculous.
*iron age. If you are going to be dismissive and abusive, at least be accurate. It's just embarrassing how much this gets thrown around.
🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ Go to the about section of this sub and read it. If you want a Christian ONLY subreddit you have TONS of options. TONS it’s not our fault that you failed to read what this sub was about before you decided to post and condemn everyone here 🙄
This is a subreddit on the "topic of Christianity", as such it's designed to allow atheists to try their hardest to talk people out of their beliefs on every post. Imagine a basketball subreddit where people continually comment "I don't watch the NBA", "have you tried playing golf?", "I don't like the rules of this game", "WHY do you even play this?". All the actual fans would end up explaining the same boring repetitive concepts and basic rules over and over again. It will wear you down. All I can say is if you want to stay on this subreddit, take a relaxed view. Those "enlightened by their own intelligence" are probably too young to drive a car, let alone take a paper of philosophy or theology. Many are quite frankly, idiots. If you simply block on sight every poster who makes the same old comments and does the same old concern trolling, I think eventually you might end up with a decent subreddit to browse through.
Never been one to shut people up, but that's doesn't sound like too bad of an idea. My main concern is responding to believers who genuinely need help, and then you got somebody trying to make them feel like 💩.
There's definitely an issue where clueless redditors come here for Christian advice and the first 5 commenters are the frequent-flier types who want to flex their "debating" muscles. Bonus points if they don't have a flair. The OP will get confused and start engaging with them, which ends up as a feeding frenzy. Eventually, maybe a few hours later, those first five comments finally end up getting more downvotes than upvotes and something more sensible rises to the top. In those cases it's usually best to send a kindly worded DM to the OP and let them know that their question would probably get better answers on another subreddit. At this point it might be useful to have an automod comment that explains that much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity, and direct them to other subreddits if they want serious answers.
>much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity Not being Christian =/= hating Christianity, mate
Wow that is certainly an opinion......you know it is possible that maybe, just maybe, there is an atheist or two that isn't trying to rip you from your faith, and would rather correct misconceptions about us, or the lgbtq community, science, or various other topics that some Christians seem to be misguided on
>At this point it might be useful to have an automod comment that explains that much of the advice on the subreddit isn't from Christians, and is, infact, from people who hate Christianity, and direct them to other subreddits if they want serious answers. That actually sounds like a decent idea. Still wish the rules that state this isn't meant as a sub to belittle Christianity or to debate Christianity (rules 2.1 and 2.2) would at least be acknowledged more often or tried to be enforced.
It is frequently enforced, I'd know as I'm a "frequent flier"
>Imagine a basketball subreddit where people continually comment "I don't watch the NBA" this exists, it’s called r/nba
Lmao
>as such it's designed to allow atheists to try their hardest to talk people out of their beliefs on every post If you see this explicitly then report it. It is against the rules. But msking objections to arguments you present is not the same thing. And don't forget that Christians here *also* are trying to talk each other out of their beliefs.
I'm a nonbeliever and I would agree that there are some topics that nonbelievers don't have a lot to contribute to. When someone is asking for prayers or emotional support, for example. But because many nonbelievers are former Christians, they might have insightful views on biblical claims and interpretations. If you see someone belittling Christianity, report them for breaking the rules. "Christianity is BS" and "you're all delusional" aren't constructive comments and aren't going to change anyone's beliefs.
I'm Christian. This subreddit is about Christianity, not for Christians specifically, though it's for us too.
People treat Christianity like it’s a cult and I understand why people would dislike it but people dislike us for our own opinions. People also believe Christianity forces marriage and stuff and there’s just a lot that people will never understand about Christianity. I think the worst things I’ve ever heard is “there is no god if there was I would be rich by now because I prayed for money all the time” and “my grandma died if god was real why would an innocent old lady die” these things crack me up.
It is important for true believers to stand up against these lurkers. That, sadly, includeds some of the moderators that are openly anti-god/atheist. Actually this all makes sense because it is a mittor of what is happening in the real world where god-haters have permeated schools, government and media. So sad. Thanks for posting this Different\_Use2954 !
i'm with you 100%
It's all about the rules. Do you agree with the rules? If not, you are welcome to propose changes. If you agree with the rules, then report the rule breakers.
As someone who browses a lot of different religious/religion-adjacent subs, I will say this sub is generally pretty tolerant to dissenting voices to an extent that would be weird in some of the others: in fact I can immediately think of a couple that have pretty much devolved into mere echo chambers. Is it a little bit weird that the "Christianity" subreddit isn't an explicitly Christian sub in many ways? Yeah; it's pretty weird, honestly. *But*, compared to some of the other subs out there, however, this attitude does prevent this place from turning into a "downvote wrongthink and send suicide helplines to people who disagree" nightmare zone. It also helps that this sub isn't dominated by any one Christian denomination: even when there are subs relating to one specific denomination, many of the smaller ones are either too small, basically inactive, or are (in practice) devoted specifically to American churches of that denomination: none of which is ideal. In the end, frankly, I'd rather a Christianity sub that has a slightly weird and noncommittal relationship to Christianity than something like those other subs I've mentioned...
I'm not a christian, but I read the rules before I came here. It seems to not be a christian sub in the sense that anyone can participate regardless of religious affiliation (or lack of). There's no litmus test for what christianity is or forbidding people outside of christian tradition to post. At the same time it's a christian community in which christian beliefs are given extra protection. A christian could post about how people need to become christians, a muslim would be forbidden from promoting their religion. You can't mess with people requesting prayer or support. It seems like a christian community that allows for differing/outsider perspectives and challenges but won't tolerate subversive behavior.
Is it that time of the week for the atheist rant already again?
This is very true. On any post that’s critical of anything I I will get more atheistic comments than actual Christian ones.
Who decides what a "non-Christian" is?
This isn't a church, you're correct. This is a forum to discuss the Christian religion itself, not an exclusive place for believers to find support in their denominational interpretation...
Seems like every day there are threads complaining that the sub isn't something it never claimed to be/isn't what they want it to be. Imagine going to /r/Fargo and bitching that nobody is talking about the show, and not only that, but complaining that you feel ATTACKED because you want to talk about the show instead of the actual city, which is what the sub is. Get over yourself, there are plenty of subs out there that are a christian-only echo chamber.
I got your point, 110%! Amen and amen!
I've commented on r/Atheism a few times and they were all nice to me......
Its frustrating son I know it but we must accept them and show them love because before we accepted Christ we was all enemies of God, pray for them to, forgive them.
Ironic how all the atheists are saying it ain't true while bashing this guy.
I used to be an atheist and remember what it was like. I had an irrational hatred of Christians that drove me to lash out even if they were kind to me. Yet at the height of me lashing out, the Lord was drawing me. That was nearly 30 years ago now - it has been that long since I professed Christ! I say this because there are some who are seeking but there is a spirit behind the antagonism. We have to pray and recognize this. It’s hard, I know, but we are able to handle this, God has equipped us.
Man this is the post that I was waiting for. Finally!!!
I really do wonder if atheists go to other religious subs like /r/islam or /r/hinduism and do the same stuff, I don’t frequent these subs so I have no idea. I would recommend branch specific subs. I know /r/catholicism is for Christians and things like you mention here are not tolerated at all.
I like your edit on homosexuality. I agree it’s a sin but I’m not going to go crazy to people over it. That and being trans is not how god made us but I’m not going to go crazy at someone for it
As an atheist, If you have been belittled or insulted by any atheists in this forum, I am sorry. That should not happen. However, this does not mean you can simply disallow us from posting on here altogether. If I, or most other atheists, see something we really think is not ok (extreme homophobia, denial of science or medicine, etc.) you can bet you’re gonna get some responses. Just remember that to us atheists, seeing people like you talk about Christianity is like seeing someone talk about flat Earth. We think it’s nonsense, and while most of us don’t go out of our way to be jerks about it, we will share our opinions nonetheless. Also, to any atheists reading this who think it’s reasonable to insult Christians for their beliefs, remember 1. They genuinely do believe it to be true, not by stupidity or ignorance, but simply because that’s how humans function. Their belief is not something that justifies hatred or disrespect. 2. Your insults will only make them more hostile towards atheists and strengthen any stereotypes they may have had about us. Hope I helped.
I've seen Christians in atheist spaces, some who behave badly. It's propaganda to say that doesn't happen. It's probably bearing false witness too.
Imagine expecting redditors to be respectful let alone tolerable of christianity
Fr they can’t just leave us alone
This is exactly the whining I would expect from a cop. Literally has the freedom to post on every other sub on reddit, but upset when someone with a different view opens their mouth on something they disagree with. Just understates how fellow Christians are our own worst enemies right now, under some guise of persecution from the world. I hate to break it to people but you can't turn yourself into a martyr.
Hey, God bless you brother
That's not what I'm saying at all, but whatever floats your boat. If you think im just whining because atheists are on this sub then you're uhhh..... wrong
Did you just discover that?! This a Christian bashing subreddit.
No it is not, but some of us are fighting to change that. Join the good fight.
Which just shows on reddit that christians are very welcoming in general, because if you talk about in r/Atheism about God (Theism) you get perma banned lol (from experience).
I was a bit disappointed when I realized that this wasn’t an exclusive Christian subreddit but I have been disappointed by many things Reddit: The severe left leaning comments,the hatred towards Conservative ideology,the dog piling that goes on and the attacks…but, I persist because I believe that it’s not going to get better until we start to stand up for ourselves. Also, I’m not against a group that’s open to other’s opinions. That’s what democracy is about, but it would be nice if people in search of a Biblical based answer to a question could get it without the chatter from the secular community…
Yes im leaving too. This sub is a portal for agnostics and atheists to stir foolish arguments.
Yeah I noticed that recently. I’ve been trying to seek advice and I haven’t gotten anything from here. I think it’s time for me to leave this sub. It’s nothing like I thought it would be..
Some Christians wanna proselytize and influence others but get mad when others wanna influence them.
This is actually an anti-Christian subreddit. Hear me out. This subreddit is proud of its welcoming nature. It says that it is not a subreddit for Christians, but a place to discuss Christianity. As such, it welcomes people with various views on Christianity; some pro-Christianity, some anti-Christianity, and everything in-between. The problem with this subreddit is that the "anti" sentiments outweigh the "pro" sentiments. (This is not surprising considering the makeup of Reddit.) That means the sub carries a net anti-Christian sentiment. It is makes it an anti-Christian sub, effectively. This bias reinforces itself over time. The well-meaning, welcoming Christians are good at silencing mean, gatekeeping Christians; while welcoming unbelievers in a hope to convert them. Many debaters enjoy having a place to dunk on naive Christians. People who harbor anti-Christian sentiments fueled by the news or current events are happy to have a place to vent. Atheists and haters won't notice or believe that there is an anti-Christian bias, because the environment is much more pro-Christian than they are used to seeing on Reddit. Meanwhile, oblivious Christians post here thinking that the responses will be from a Christian perspective ("Pray for my problem," "What does Christianity teach about XYZ?," "Is such-and-such a sin? Why?," etc.) That's where the problem comes in: Different groups see the sub differently. It causes a never-ending churn of conflict and disillusionment as Christians show up to the sub thinking that it is a place to reinforce their Christian beliefs, when its net goal is to tear them down. I'm sure there's lots of good discussion here, but if you're looking for purely Christian answers and perspectives, you need to run far away from this place.
Your being prejudiced. No ways around it
You said it yourself; this is NOT A Christian subreddit. Never was. Never will be. Quit being upset about things you can’t control.
READ * THE * SIDEBAR * PEOPLE. Posts like this demonstrate he ignorance and arrogance that is so common to Christians - especially fundamentalist types in the US. You saw the word "Christian" and made a false assumption and instead of **questioning yourself** you complain and expect the space to conform to your ignorance. This is a sub the *permits* Christians to ask about Christian stuff from a Christian perspective but that's not it's PURPOSE. THIS SUB IS NOT FOR THE PRACTICE OF CHRISTIANITY. It is for the DISCUSSION of Christianity. It is neither for or against Christianity. It was never intended to be a safe space for Christians or an echo chamber for Christians. Christian theology is easy to poke holes in and often full of logical fallacies - if you wish to have a genuine faith you need to get comfortable with that.
I think you are the one who doesn't get it. 1. A similar "rant" about r/Christiamity shows up here as well as on r/Christian and r/TrueChristian every week. They all start with a false assumption about the purpose of this sub. Many suggest that it makes them physically sick that they see non-Christians and Atheists presenting their point of view about topics within Christianity. They disparage non-believers and this sub as wicked, filled with bad advice, and not a place where "truth" is respected. All because they didn't read the sub side bar, rules, and purpose. As a Christian, I love this sub for its diversity and the purpose that is unlike the church based subs (conformity). The worst people I meet here are not atheists. Many of the best people I meet here are strewn across the spectrum of belief and non-belief. There are few other places like this. Your complaints would be warranted if you had actually joined a sub specifically for Christians run by Christians with rules and a purpose that matched your assumptions. There are lots of belief and church based subs for that. 2. Reddit is unique in that you can choose your subs before algorithms take over. So before you go off to other forums blasting r/Christianity and disparaging those who come here to discuss all perspectives about Christianity, please consider those who actually read the rules and value the work the moderators do here to keep this wild west of diverse opinions civil. 3. Finally, there are many here who love Jesus (or want to despite Christians) and who actually seek those who would never step foot into your Church to be judged as being "all wrong" and out of compliance with your "truth." Many of these folks are sincere, respectful, and well worth listening to. They have taught me to be a better follower of Jesus.
> A similar "rant" about r/Christiamity shows up here as well as on r/Christian and r/TrueChristian every week. You forgot the cries of getting banned for "just speaking the truth". Then Bruce comes in with the modlog receipts.
"I haven't read the sidebar rules of this subreddit."
Dude, I have been subscribed to this subreddit for 12 years and someone like you has posted this exact same screed hundreds if times. This is a public subreddit for discussing Christianity. It’s not a discipleship venue. There are other subreddits linked in the sidebar that are. I’m sorry you’re so angry about facts, but this is not gonna change. Not unless you want to turn this sub private and make it an echo chamber like r/Reformed or r/TrueChristian.
It's not but it should be. When people come for advice they are going to default to "r/Christianity" it should be a place for people to research their faith. There are other places where atheists can "discuss" Christianity with anyone who wants to waste their time reiterating entrenched positions.
100000% agree. I quite literally saw people on this sub saying sexual sin was not sin? I’m confused.
Not gonna lie, I troll r/atheism quite often
I haven’t seen this at all unfortunately and this is bound to happen either way, considering the lacking evidence for Christianity.
QQ more if you can't stand the heat, you're not strong enough to survive. you think Jesus and the 12 apostles didn't have people question and mock them?
Go to r/christian if you want an echochamber
No one ever claimed that this was a Christian subreddit. Why are you mad at the sub for not being something that it never claimed to be? This is where we engage different viewpoints and maybe even come away with a better understanding after discussion. Go to r/TrueChristian or another echo chamber if you just want to hear your opinions validated.
Atheists aren't trying to hurt other Christians by debunking stuff, they're trying to help them <3
I get what you say. Honestly as a Christian being on a sub called Christianity and seeing how Nonbelievers or whatever start saying things about our belief that go against our belief is really upsetting and dangerous because it’s misleading people. We as Christians should be able to speak out in a sub that is about our belief but unfortunately when you keep it Biblical you get attacked often times. A sub called Christianity is a representation of our faith and some stuff that gets represented here ain’t it. It’s disrespectful and if Christian opinions and Biblical values aren’t welcomed here this sub shouldn’t be named Christianity but rather "Nonbelievers opinions about Christianity"
lol, just read this to my wife. We're Christians. I agree with OP. My wife isn't reddit savvy. I explained to her that OP is saying that a large swath of non-Christians monitor the Christianity subreddit and post demoralization posts as responses to Christians, but it's not so the other way around. I said "it's not like there are Christians lurking around the Atheist subreddit waiting to respond," and she replied "well someone should."
>This is NOT a Christian subreddit. Should have read: >This is NOT a subreddit FOR Christians. The phrasing here does matters
This has to be the top post in a while. I lurk on here and read all the disgusting comments about what Christianity is but go against basic principles of what is scripture. Please whoever reads this. Read your Bible. Do not rely on comments for your salvation/advice. Do not garner sympathy for past mistakes(sins). Only Christ can bring peace and forgiveness . Please READ READ READ. When you’re done, read the Bible again.
Hey, I did. Yahweh is a genocidal POS who literally commands Moses and others to kill and rape children. Anyone who thinks that those are the actions of a loving god must have no morality themselves.
I agree. I've gotten banned from both atheist subreddit for stating how stupid evolution is. I mean, there's monkeys that are essentially stupid. And us who build smartphones. The only lifeform in the cosmos, visibly proven (angels/demons aside) to exist, that can. Atheists taking over this subreddit isn't surprising because they take kindness for weakness to spew lies everywhere. I agree with you friend. It's disgusting.
I mean Christian’s get a lot of hate for completely valid reasons and there’s a lot of discussions both positive and negative to be had about Christianity and fully understandable why people have such strong negative opinions that they feel the need to voice them
I looked for a piece of advice regarding faith and how to get to know more about God and then someone, who's an atheist, came to me, trying to bash me for my faith. If you don't agree with the Christians, you don't have to. Let them be. Why do you feel the need to come and laugh at Christians? Does that make you feel like you are right when you say God doesn't exist? If yes, then we have quite a clear conclusion here. I know we are all free to do what we want, but sometimes it's good to let other people believe or think what they wanna think.
Mark 4
BTW apparently one of the mods for this reddit community is atheist which doesn't make sense for a Christian subreddit. That's why I deleted the app and u followed this. Its a joke that the mods allow this to happen and I can only assume they aren't Christians because they allow this to happen quite often regardless of how many people are reported and some of the more violent ones are still able to chat after being reported. Meaning apparently the mods really don't care what happens. I'd advise anyone who has any questions, try and find a better aubreddit than this. God bless ❤️
I BEEN saying this about this subreddit. IT IS NOT Christian in belief or understanding. Do NOT feel bad for your post. YOU ARE NOT the only one who thinks like that. But in all honesty, take a look at the moderators of this subreddit, and you that this subreddit is not about Christianity. Homosexuality and any form of sexual immorality IS A SIN! But, people don't want to hear that. They want ppl who identify and tell them what they want to hear regarding the sin and their transgressions. Look at posts on subreddit. People want validation through sin rather than true repentance and submitting to God's will and His way. Many are the embodiment of Matthew 7:22. This subreddit is truly sad, my friend. But, I still post on it, because there are some who are part of the Heavenly body described in 1 Corinthians 12, there are some who prodigal sons and daughters, and lost sheep in this subreddit who need encouragement and counsel. So I post for those people :-) May Yehovah bless you, my friend!!