bad publicity

at small group we're reading a book on christian identify. i was curious if any in our group publicly said they were christians. not that these are closet christians, or ashamed of their religions beliefs, but they don't, like, first thing, especially in secular environments, identify themselves as christians.

it's because of the crazies they said. they're nervous that outright declaring their religious beliefs would somehow brand them as being one of the religious crazies. they were also worried that non-christians would challenge their beliefs or ask theological questions they didn't know the answers too, which would probably make the non-christian very smug. and no one likes a smuggy buggy.

i think that's sad. the crazy religious make far too much noise. they also get far too much air time. this is, of course, because crazy is as crazy do and crazy makes for good media. but it's sad for the regular tho devout religious. they're shamed into hiding their identities because aggressive idiots will say inappropriate things to them. but the regular joe believer should try to make more noise than the crazy believer. that way idiot non-believers will be like, hey, not all religious people are nuts. i know that competing with crazies isn't usually a great idea, but believers need re-branding!

i'm not saying that believers should go back to shoving their religions down everyone's throats. i mean, i fucking hate it when i do something nice for someone and they say "god bless you." exactly, fucker, god blesses me, not you. just say thank you so i know you appreciate it. you're not in the position to be rewarding me with god's gold stars anyway! but maybe they should talk about their beliefs more openly. instead of "i can't make it saturday morning, sorry" they can say "i'm volunteering with my church on saturday so i can't make it, sorry." or instead of "i don't want to watch that movie" say "my church said this movie has a really bad message so i'd prefer to watch something else." and, as a bonus, i think both my alternatives are more likely to lead to discussion / questions about your beliefs. hopefully they won't lead to arguments tho!

at small group someone said that they hope to behave / live life in such a way that someone will eventually think "oh wow, bob is such a great guy. there's just something special about him." and ask bob what his secret sauce is. ...this is clearly unrealistic. and i don't like that it seems as tho your religious identity should be some sort of guessing game. you've dedicated your life to your beliefs. so do it loudly and proudly!