I have seen some speculation about why Christians are disliked. I've noticed that many of those speculating do identify themselves as Christians. I wouldn't mind sharing my thoughts on the topic, but it seems like there's a question we'd want to address first. Are Christians disliked?
Most of the speculation I've seen has come from Christians living in the United States. Are Christians in the United States disliked? And if so, who dislikes them? Are we to imagine that most non-Christians dislike them? I haven't seen much evidence that leads me to think this is true.
Should we have a narrower focus than non-Christians? How about we pick on atheists instead? Do most atheists dislike Christians? Many Christians seem to think so. Are they right?
I don't dislike Christians as a group. I don't dislike individual people because they are Christian either. But I do often dislike certain kinds of Christians.
Christian nationalists, dominionists, and extremists top the list. They aim to abolish the separation of church and state. The fundamentalist Christians who work so hard to take rights away from others come next. Together, they are trying to remake the world into something I wouldn't like. They've been open about viewing people like me as their enemy. If they come to power, I wouldn't expect to survive for long.
But what about conservative Christians who don't do these things? I find them far more tolerable. I disagree with their religious beliefs and political views. I don't necessarily dislike them.
What about liberal to moderate Christians who are tolerant of others? Many of these Christians share some of my humanistic values. I may find their need to inject gods into everything unnecessary, but I don't dislike them for doing so. In fact, I like many of them. I count some of them among my friends.
I'm not sure if what I've described is typical for other atheists or other non-Christians. If it is, then it does not seem accurate to claim that we dislike Christians. I'm sure some atheists and other non-Christians do dislike some Christians. Like me, they may even dislike some types of Christians. This is very different from claiming that people dislike Christians.
Now we can speculate about why some people dislike some Christians. It has to do with their behavior. Christians can (and do) believe whatever they'd like. That isn't the problem. The problem is that some Christians decide to meddle with those of us who don't share their beliefs. Many of us don't like that. Our rights should not be subject to the whims of someone else's superstitions.
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