Why is 'Evangelical' an insult in the UK?

[Flangelica]

I've lived abroad for a few years now, but from what I've seen online, 'Evangelical' seems to be a very loaded word, which i only see used as an insult or in a negative way

Can anyone tell me why?

Especially keen to hear from people who belong to this type of church, their feelings about this.

I am Christian and I hate the word “evangelise” / “evangelize”

no you cannot evangelise me, piss off.

🤣

Also, Evangelical in the UK tends to make people think about the purity culture which is just grim.

Because people hate being evangelised, perfectly understandably. Tbh I can't see any reason why it wouldn't be viewed as a negative thing!

Ah yes, another reason lots of people don't like Evangelicals. The persecution complex.

It’s not.

In my town centre, evangelicals sing happy clappy songs and preach about how anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus is going to hell.

They have every right to do that. I have every right to stay well away.

Even the Evangelical Alliance don't tend to be the same as US Evangelical church culture which is very difficult for Brits to understand.

As an ex-evangelical Christian, when we had Americans over on a church exchange, we thought they were weird. And that was in the 90s, they've only got worse since.

However for the average Brit, it's not OK to be mates with someone who is being perfectly nice to you and then straight up be able to tell you that you are going to hell as you are a sinner.

Comes over that they just think they are better than you however much they may make out you are one of the lads the rest of the time.

I think it's probably worse in America with all the televangelists - although they are usually grouped under Christian Fundamentalism these days.

"“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (Words of Jesus)"

Not gonna lie reading this made my brain hurt

"When the British arrived, we had all the land and all they had was bibles. When they left a hundred years later, they had all the land and all we had was bibles" that was said by an African leader whose name I can't recall, apologies to him, but I've never forgotten his meaning. Britain went through a fervent Evangelical period in the 1800s. We're not so keen on it now.

Because they tend to be the sort of churches who don't agree with the ordination of women (though some do - 'open evangelical'), have a complementarian view of men and women, don't (always) agree that being LGBT is ok, or that being in a same sex relationship is ok... Often they believe that the bible is the unchanging, infalliable, literal word of God, that we are 'fallen' and in need of God's salvation (and through death on the cross and resurrection is the only way are saved) and that Jesus will return again some day.
It's not just CofE churches that can be evangelical - they exist in many denominations. Sharing your faith with others is a key part of a lot of evangelical churches, but they also often share the same, more conservative, views outlined above.

Has anyone on here mentioned what's happened with abortion in US? That's courtesy of the Evangelical movement. I doubt many people here think that's worth celebrating.

There's been a few occasions in my life where I've experienced a shared trauma with someone whose response has been to Shanghai me into a prayer (which consisted of childishly begging Jesus to make the bad thing go away), or hand me a leaflet that coyly invited me to join the brethren. It's weird and presumptuous. I don't know why it matters so much to them that the rest of us are going to hell.

It also seemed to me at the time to be quite a head in the sand response to the situations, though I can understand the compulsion to beg a higher power to intervene, even if it makes no sense whatsoever.

At university we used to get invitations to afternoon teas posted in our pigeon holes, which said things like, "FREE CAKE!", then some Jesus stuff literally in the small print. Why the need to trick people into joining by luring them with cake? What's it to you whether other people believe in this stuff?

He sounds like a right emo

Most of us don't believe in God and find over enthusiastic happy clappy (autocorrect wanted claptrap...) worship embarrassing and ridiculous

I share my faith mostly in actions and occasionally words and would consider myself an evangelical Christian, in that I take the bible seriously.

Jesus had some choice words for us religious types and saved most of his grace for those who weren’t the church (temple) going types. So I reckon I have more to worry about than you do in terms of Jesus’s opinion.

I love it. But thankfully being a Christian doesn’t require you to play guitar and wear a chequed shirt. You can wear a headscarf and light a candle or go to a wood and pray around a fire. The C of E at its best is a motley crew and even those on the happy clappy end are usually pretty happy to laugh at ourselves. It’s definitely ridiculous 😁

Evangelical means to spread the message of the faith. It absolutely has negative connotations outside of the UK.

It’s surely because they are wrong, isn’t it?

I mean, have you heard some of the stuff they come out with? Talking directly to God, without going through an intercessory priest, or alleging that the host’s transformation to the body of our lord Jesus is a metaphorical rather than literal one?

That’s just crazy, anyone would surely be wary of that sort of thing!

There's been a few occasions in my life where I've experienced a shared trauma with someone whose response has been to Shanghai me into a prayer (which consisted of childishly begging Jesus to make the bad thing go away), or hand me a leaflet that coyly invited me to join the brethren. It's weird and presumptuous. I don't know why it matters so much to them that the rest of us are going to hell.

Best Christian/worst Christian time. When I suffered a bereavement one of the people at work tried this shit on me. My lovely Christian friend at work talked to me about it and I, fighting back the tears, said, "keep her away from me". He did. Nicely, because he's a lovely person.

He has offered to pray for me when stuff has happened. We've negotiated this as; he prays, with permission, I see it as 'nice thoughts for me', he thinks it's an actual thing. That's how decent people behave.

Wow, this is really interesting. Thank you for the replies!

So from these replies it seems that for some people the dislike is connected to Christianity, whereas for others its a dislike of being preached to about anything.

• some people are offended by is the claim that Hell is for everyone who doesn't accept Jesus. Is this because you find it upsetting/insulting or because you think it is wrong, or both?

• For others, they don't like the literal following of the bible i.e. certain teachings which offend them or they feel are wrong (like the abortion case)

• Some people just don't like or understand the happy, joyful side of Evangelical churches and find it uncomfortable to see

• Some people just don't like being told about Jesus at all for personal reasons

• Others just don't like people attempting to convert them to anything (not limited to religion - interesting that veganism was mentioned too!)

Do you feel the same way about people trying to convert you to any religion or cause? Or is there something about Christianity and/or the way that some Christians portray it that you dont like?

Hello, thank you for your reply!

I'm a little confused by this post.

So you feel that having a personal relationship with God and communicating with Him through prayer is odd? It's better to have a relationship with God under the guidance of a priest? Is that right?

And i didn't understand the second part, sorry (its early here, I havent had my coffee yet, brain isn't working!) Could you explain the second part? I'm really interested in your thoughts but I want to make sure I understand correctly 😊

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (Words of Jesus)

I love this verse, thank you for posting!

I grew up in an Evangelical church and I have the emotional scars to prove it.

As a woman most evangelical churches see me as taking second place behind a man (and don't bother giving me any crap about equal in the eyes of God but women just have a different way of serving).

Religion.Shouldnt.Hurt - have a read of some of the stories on this instagram account about the many, many people who have been hurt by these evangelical religions.

It’s synonymous with a narrow view that Christians are right (except in evangelical Christianity - they are also the ‘rightest of all the denominations’) and everyone else is wrong.

Add in fighting for peoples souls and all the battle language and the thinking gets more entrenched.

It undermines personal responsibility for one’s own life - (does something that took talent/hard work) it’s not me but God working through me. (Something bad happens) - We must pray against the devil in this situation- we are in a battle . (Wants to do something) Takes no action because we are waiting on God’s timing.

In the U.K. - this is perpetuated by middle class people with financial independence who can ‘wait on the Lord’ because of their pensions and private incomes and well meaning couples who run these churches, who live on a shoestring because of giving ‘everything up for the Lord’, whilst their congregation lets them (same congregation who are in the top 1% income bracket) and no one seems to sees how wrong this is.

I see, thank you all for your thoughts!

Can I ask how many of you are also Christians?