Would you wear a cross necklace as a fashion item?

[Stabilosaregreat]

So I really like cross pendants but am not an enthusiastic church goer.

If I wear a cross pendant will people automatically assume that I am a religious person hope not?

I wear a silver cross every day. It's small but noticeable against my skin tone and chest.

It's not religious, but some people have presumed I am. Never in a bad way, and it doesn't bother me at all.

No I wouldn't want to be mistaken for a Christian. I wouldn't want to risk people acting differently around me if they thought I held deep seated views around certain issues. I wouldn't wear a turban or burka either, no matter how pretty they were.

I would in the same manner as Anyfucker says. I have little regard for organised religion when i watch the news so it doesn't really mean anything more to me than any other religious iconography

"I wouldn't want to risk people acting differently around me if they thought I held deep seated views around certain issues."

A couple of my colleagues are gay and I wonder if they'd think the cross represented anti gay views which I do not hold. I would wear it simply as the necklace is really pretty but still not sure.

No, neither would I wear one as a Christian.

I'm still thinking about this... If you remove the religious connotations from the cross, you've got something which stands for capital punishment. Crucifixion was a pretty grim way to die no matter what they say in the Life of Brian.

filly interesting thought re capital punishment... I work in media and guess I always think about the meaning of symbols and icons.

Well, that's what a cross is, isn't it? If you're a Christian, it's a symbol of remembrance that Jesus died for you. If you're not religious, a crucifix is a historical method of torture and death.

(And if you're religious it's still a historical method of torture and death, too.)

I wouldn't wear a crucifix, or any other instrument of torture.

I wouldn't. I wish people wouldn't crosses are horrible and were used to kill in a horrifying way. Why do you want to wear that? You wouldn't wear a little noose would you.

Going back to the original question. If you do really like crosses then you should wear them. I don't feel comfortable doing so but I'm not against anyone else wearing them. If I saw someone wearing one I'd think there was a good chance that the wearer was a Christian but quite possibly just wearing it because they liked it.

A quick google shows me that people do wear noose necklaces and electric chair necklaces. Utterly bad taste.

Crucifixion was really a horrendous way to die. All that time up there, waiting for your lungs to collapse and your organs to fail. It's the slowness of the death that is particularly cruel.

From what you 've said I think if you did have one you wouldn't wear it because it would make you feel uncomfortable, so I would look for something else you like.

I think some people are overthinking this

It's all personal choice though, innit. No one is forced to wear an item of jewelry, no matter what the symbolism of it. Wear it, or don't. FGS, don't judge others as upholders of crucifixation though because they wear a present that has a lot of sentimental (non organised murder stylee) value to them, though.

Perhaps I should have handed it back at my 40th birthday party and said "how dare you accuse me of Christian atrocities!"

We have other instruments of torture in our house; knives, scissors, toe nail clippers to name a few...

No. Because I wouldn't want anyone to think I was a Christian.

The cross as a symbol pre-dates Christianity by several thousand years. Also, crucifixs and crosses are not the same thing - a pretty cross I'll happily wear with no religous intent (and if someone is nosey enough to ask I'd start talking vampires) , a cross with a little man embossed on it I would not because, eww.

I wore one in the 80s, mind you was a practising Catholic - and also a bit Goth in style. I prob wouldnt wear one to work as though I am a Christian I would feel it insensitive in my line of work to seem to promote religion.

I would not - I'm not Christian and there are plenty of other shapes for pendants anyway. Entirely personal but I just wouldn't feel comfortable wearing one. Yes, I probably would assume that a grown-up wearing a small cross pendant was Christian, not that it matters.

As a Christian, I am infinitely more saddened to hear some people won't wear a cross 'because someone might think they were a Christian' than by someone wearing it as an ornament. I feel very sorry for anyone who really is surrounded by such mindless casual prejudice about what all Christians think on "certain issues."

It is a cultural symbol as much as anything else by this point. I really, really don't give a shit if an atheist wears a pretty cross and neither do most Christians apart from the loony fringe. Anyone who doesn't wear one because they think they will offend Christians if they do is being absurd.

Some Christians are against the wearing of crosses by anyone or the use of them as a Christian symbol but that is a different kettle of fish.

The cross has multiple meanings in Christianity itself. It's not about glorifying death or torture. It's a reminder to us of the Resurrection - that with Christ death is not permanent - and for some Christians (not me incidentally) it's a symbol of Jesus' self-sacrifice. It's also a reminder that God will overthrow the existing social order of the world - all those who are despised most by society (the poor, the ill, the disabled, the powerless, the humble, the persecuted, those who suffer humiliating deaths like Christ) will enter God's new world first. It's saying that our priorities and world view are fundamentally different from those of society.

"As a Christian, I am infinitely more saddened to hear some people won't wear a cross 'because someone might think they were a Christian' than by someone wearing it as an ornament. I feel very sorry for anyone who really is surrounded by such mindless casual prejudice about what all Christians think on "certain issues."
Don't feel sorry for me. I don't wear a Conservative badge because I wouldn't want people to think I was a Conservative either.

And I would be grateful if you would withdraw "mindless casual prejudice". It's extremely offensive.

Hakluyt I was actually talking about Merel's post, which I quoted from. She said that "I wouldn't want to risk people acting differently around me if they thought I held deep seated views around certain issues." I am talking about those people she mentions. In my opinion it is prejudiced and lazy to assume that all Christians hold "deep-seated" views on "certain issues" (by which I assume she means homosexuality, sex, the status of women etc). I don't assume that people of other religions or of no religion hold a homogeneous set of views on anything and I'd appreciate it if people could do the same for Christians.

Sorry if it was unclear and you interpreted it as being about you but that is not what I meant.

Well, with respect, it is rather Christians' fault if people think they have "deep seated views around certain issues"

What with them being so outspoken about them and all................