Modern Christians and the Stereotypes They Battle

In today's world, being a Christian is becoming more difficult. Of course, the difficultly of being a non-Christian is still much greater, but times have changed. The cultural arena has attached certain negative stereotypes to the Christian community. Christians are regarded in several social circles as ignorant, backwards, close-minded, oppressive, and hateful people. However, I am here to prove that stereotyping is still wrong and wholesome Christianity is not dead.

One of the major stereotypes revolves around an inability for Christians to show kindness to those outside of the Christian community. No one can deny that extremist Christians are behind the majority of hatred towards homosexuals, Muslims, and other groups that have minority status in the United States. A few bad apples have apparently made it impossible for more accepting Christians to even entertain the idea of being open-minded individuals.

College campuses often contain hordes of liberals and free-thinkers, but free speech zones have made it possible for hate speech to reach college campuses across the United States. The less than honorable "Brother Micah" has taken advantage of free speech zones to rail against homosexuals, masturbators, girls showing cleavage, and other sinful individuals. Brother Micah is the poster boy of ignorant Christians. Many reports have claimed that Brother Micah travels to campuses to provoke students into hitting him so that he can sue the school for not protecting him. Again, this is the poster boy for ignorant Christians. However, nothing unites students on a campus like a man shouting hate speech while standing on a bench. Students at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia recently chased Brother Micah away thirty minutes before his free speech "permit" was set to end. Students were shouting the Lord's Prayer and delightful questions to drown out the sound of the self-appointed prophet's speech. Christians and non-Christians alike were disgusted by the less-than-holy displays of the Florida man.

During this particular episode on the Columbus State University campus, one distressed student started crying when she heard the things that Brother Micah was saying to the gathering crowd. She was upset by the image that Brother Micah was creating for the general Christian community. She said, "I'm not like that. Most other Christians aren't like that." This particular student realizes the difficulties of defying stereotypes in a world with men like Brother Micah and Fred Phelps, the leader of the hateful Westboro Baptist Church.

On another occasion in Columbus, Georgia, an Episcopal church performed the play The Laramie Project. This play is about the reactions of the community of Laramie, Wyoming after Matthew Shepard, a homosexual university student, died after being tied to a fence and savagely beaten. The fact that a church was hosting this performance surprised quite a few individuals around the community, but this specific church had a goal. Integrity, an organization for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender individuals in the Episcopalian church, contributed a great deal to the performance. The organization, along with the church, hoped to spread a message of God's love for all individuals regardless of sexual orientation or other factors.

There will always be ignorant Christians pushing a message of hate. However, a few individuals should not taint an entire religion. Good, wholesome Christians do exist, but the media tends to ignore wholesome individuals as a rule. Stereotypes serve an evil purpose and do not benefit anyone. As a non-Christian, I might not agree with the church on several matters, but I have met several good Christians that could represent a religion with honor and compassion. As humans, we should define such groups by these remarkable individuals.