Response to Anti-Christian Sentiments

First off, let's just get this out of the way.  This blog is not a message to those holding anti-Christian sentiments.  This is my advice on how Christians should respond.  If you're someone who holds anti-Christian sentiments and are curious of what I have to say, you can read on.  If you're a Christian wondering how to respond to anti-Christian sentiments, read on.  Otherwise, have a nice day, and I wish you peace and love.

Although statistically, our society has Christians in the majority, in a lot of social circles, and in our industry, you may see quite a bit of anti-Christian sentiment.  Christianity is looked upon as hateful, homophobic, bigoted, illogical, ignorant, and the list goes on.  In Adam Sandler's movie, Little Nicky, there is an extremely paranoid street preacher.  Kanye West had a picture depicting him in a divine Christ-esque way, with an upside-down cross in front, and... let's just say that there's a lot to it.  Other examples might include songs by Marilyn Manson, and some of the jokes George Carlin has made.  There have also been groups of people putting up Satanist statues and handing out Satanist activity books.

How do I respond to that?

To be honest, I don't.  At least not directly.  I frequently see other Christians getting scared and paranoid that the antichrist is coming, and they makes claims that we're all in grave danger.  A couple of major cases have been when my friends saw the Kanye West image or news about the Satanist statue being put up.  The antichrist?  Really?  Others might make very defensive comments about how this is rude and hateful (which I'll admit that I recall doing once or twice in some scenarios).  I'm definitely not a Christian who gets paranoid or scared about the devil, but one who makes big comments fearing the devil ends up looking overly scared.  Making defensive comments will make one come off as a whiny brat, and when openly oneself to yourself as a Christian, one is, in some regards, also speaking on behalf of Christianity itself.

When I see anti-Christian sentiment expressed, I typically try to roll my eyes and ignore it.  My response to all of it in general, however, is to be a positive example of a Christian.  To be loving and compassionate, to be well-read, to help others, and to have humility.  The reason anti-Christian sentiment exists is because of the large number of Christians that have given Christianity a negative image.

There's a punk bad called Bad Religion, and their logo is a cross with a prohibition symbol over it.  Something to point out is some of the words in "Sorrow," one of their songs:

When all soldiers lay their weapons down
When all kings and all queens relinquish their crowns
And when the only true messiah rescues us from ourselves
Well then I do imagine there will be sorrow no more 

In all honesty, I think of those words as having an extremely Christian message.  However, when that sort of message is looked upon as an anti-Christian message, it just goes to show how Christianity has become misrepresented.

It is up to Christians to be a positive example of the religion, and it is up to Christians to bring an end to the many problems that have caused the anti-Christian sentiment.  If we're going to look at the sentiments from non-Christians, we should think about why it exists.  If we're going to look at it all with honesty, Christianity is under attack... from within.  Street preachers, bigotry-promoting televangelists, homophobic groups, etc. are the main problem.  Non-Christians with anti-Christian sentiment are the victims here.

Shalom!