Evangelical Christians superiority complex???

[headache]

Let me try to explain this, I work with a few young Christians which is fine, great I have absolutely no problem with religion (FWIW I am an atheist married to a RC, my DC raised RC) I am happy for anyone who finds comfort in religion the work is a hard enough place and if religion brings you peace great.

What I do find strange is that they seem to have this superiority complex that unless you are a Christian you are a lesser person. Jim wouldn’t do that he’s a Christian, Sues a lovely person she’s a Christian etc. In addition, their whole personality/life is based around being a Christian, attending lots of events etc and they will only socialise with other Christians. They have said they won’t marry someone who is not a Christian and they don’t agree with gay/trans people. They also seem very intolerant of other religions which I found very surprising as I thought Christianity was about peace and love. With it being Eid recently I was talking about it and was immediately shut down yet they talk constantly about Christianity.

I was brought up culturally Christian, went to Sunday school etc and it wasn’t never like this so is it evangelical churches or just these few or a new thing?

I follow some American v religious but v trendy Christians on social media out of fascination and yes, extreme smugness, arrogance, disdain of others and strong whiffs of prosperity gospel. So so different to the ‘gentle Jesus meek and mild’ angle I was taught!

Jesus and John Wayne is a good read.

They are also highly competent, much more capable’ day to day parents than I was (in that many seem to parent up to a dozen children well), stay fit, work hard at their marriages, cook from scratch, keep down debt - very commendable. It’s just the ‘oh WE are the righteous, we must avoid those sinners’ - it’s all a bit Sadducees and Pharisees in the temple for me!

This does seem prevalent among evangelicalscin particular. I remember once chatting to evangelists from our local church about some good deeds my atheist father had done for complete strangers. They seemed really puzzled that he had gone out of his way and asked why. I said it was his moral code to help others. But he's not a Christian, one of them said. She admitted to being amazed that a non-Christian even had a moral code, and said she had no idea that people without faith had any sort of ethical viewpoint on life. It made me realise that a lot of evangelical Christians I know are not very nice people. They are more than averagely self-serving, judgemental, intolerant and use Christianity to both keep them in line and also allow them to feel like they own a moral high ground.

This person sounds so brainwashed and intolerant.

They do have a habit of pitying others in a somewhat condescending way, which doesn't endear them to me all that much.

I remember when I was at uni my friend told me her nan had asked her if she'd made any Christian friends and I said did you tell her about me and she smirked at me and said, 'really?! No sex before marriage!' As I wasn't a virgin she didn't accept I was a Christian at all.

I find it to be a very brittle faith. No room for doubt. Also are they new to the religion. I often find that people who are new to a religion are often a lot more fundamentalist than those who've been religious for all of their life.

It’s this utter disbelief that someone may believe something other than what they believe and if they do they are a much lesser person.

Some of the evangelicals I’ve known have been quite inflexible and much too sure of themselves.
Amongst both my atheist and anglican/catholic non evangelical friends, there is fairly deep suspicion toward the evangelical born agains, on account of their … zeal?? and massive certainty that their interpretation of the bible is ultimately the correct one.

it’s also unfortunate that much evangelism is closely tied to quite rich, affluent outfits. Vineyard, Hillsong, etc.

personally I do not find it illogical that evangelists don’t accept same sex sexual relations, sex before marriage, etc. That seems pretty logical given bible teachings. I mean personally, I think it’s absolutely hateful and to be ignored.

Always makes me laugh when Christians assert Christianity, less than 2000 years old, is what taught humanity, circa 300,000 years old, fundamental morality.

Humans sure as hell weren't highly ordered moral beings 300,000 years ago.

I’ve noticed this whole “She’s a lovely person; very churchy” thing. I’ve been a bit uncomfortable with it for a while. I’m sure it’s the case with some christians, but it doesn’t always follow. The person who bullied me so badly for such a long time, and drove me to seriously consider suicide, is an evangelical Christian, and very well respected in her church. She’s a very different person behind closed doors.

@ThisUniqueDreamer that’s what I wanted to say
Christianity helped us treat each other better. We could do with more of it
I have a friend in a Church in UK, but allied to Vineyard Church. Is that one of the mega Churches in USA?
Im RC, and don’t mind what anyone is, but do find Evangelical’s hard to cope with. They are very sure of themselves - but with two different people I have found that they lose their faith quickly/ blame God, when things go wrong.

No, but they evidently were for eons before Christianity ever appeared. It's not as if Christianity is actually responsible for it's own particular brand of morality in any case, because much of it is clearly co-opted from pre-existing non-Christian systems and religions.

What about all the human sacrifice that went on in earlier civilisation?

"all"?

Which civilisations beyond a few Mesoamerican actually practiced it?

Do you really want to go down the road of morality top trumps to defend Christianity?

I always wonder, if people who are anti Christianity actually read up on it. Or if they just speak from New Athiest knowledge. That doesn’t give a balanced argument.

The Egyptians sacrificed many servants to help Pharoahs in their after life.
The Romans sacrificed people in the Coloseum for public entertainment

Just googled - Carthaginians sacrificed their children

I am absolutely sure theirs multiple examples. Or are we sticking to AD

What exactly is an evangelical? Sorry if that’s a stupid question but I’ve met people before who have referred to others or themselves as ‘evangelical Christian’s’ and I’ve never actually known how it’s different to a regular Christian

Go back as long as you like. I'm just curious as to how you are going to reconcile the existence of ancient civilisations that did not practice any form of ritual sacrifice with the implication that Christianity is either superior for not indulging in it, or somehow responsible for ending it in those which did.

And for the record, I'm in no way suggesting that ritual human sacrifice is in any way a morally acceptable practice, merely that it's one aspect of pre-Christian civilisations we judge by modern standards of morality, while certain groups of Christians are currently advocating for practices which more liberal societies, both past and present, would find abhorrent.

Again, we can go down the route of morality one-upmanship if you like, but Christianity isn't going to come out of that looking squeaky-clean either.

I always wonder where in the bible it says anything about no sex before marriage. i have never seen it, if it exists at all.

This is hardly unique to either evangelicals or Christians.
Are they the only ones who speak in positive terms about the values of other members of their religion and prefer to only speak about what they know, that is their faith? Similarly, fo any other religious practices encourage their members to marry each other and hold less than positive views about none heterosexuals?
Not sure if these attributes are unique to that one faith or even that denomination.
How do you find members of other faiths present their views? In my experience they link everything into their religion, possibly as they may see it as an opportunity to share it

Yes I agree with you. A lot of these people are completely delusional. I’ve seen some horrible behaviour and disgusting judgmental thoughts and expressions of discrimination from these types. But they genuinely believe that they are good and holy and that is their self identity.

I was looking into Christianity, exploring if it was right for me. I attended a few different churches . I do believe in god and I think there is some truth in the bible.

I went to an evangelical church for a few weeks. During this time the London Underground bombings happened, and lots of people were traumatised and died. I was completely horrified when I went to our Sunday morning church service and the minister said:

Let us thank god that our religion doesn’t make us go around killing innocent people

I was completely horrified! What a bunch of complete morons. And them evangelicals basked in their own feelings of righteousness. I’m not very good with words, but I hope you understand