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Pikachu Zero confirmation? I beg to differ. You asked me point blank in one of your very first replies
“You think that most Christians are pedophiles and rapists?”And I answered that I would not say that most Christians are rapists. I am merely cautious and cynical about them.
My initial comment “Apparently they just dream about little boys instead.” Is a bitter sardonic quip based on my dislike and distrust in Christians.
I don’t quite understand how you could misinterpret that so literally. Especially when I clarified so early in the conversation upon being asked.
Over the course of the argument, what really seemed to bother you more then anything else; was my lack of willingness to subscribe to your more optimistic interpretation of the Christian population.
And in line with your optimistic interpretation of the Christian population. You also undersell and/or downplay the current severity of religious discrimination against the LGBTQ community and the massive negative political ramifications of it. Which surprised me; considering that you come off as left leaning politically yet you seem unwilling to accept the full extent of how Christian values have played a huge part in the widespread destruction of LGBTQ and women's rights in America.
I specifically have issue with these quotes of yours.
"I just don't think Christians have any more bad than usual, shitty religiously-motivated discrimination notwithstanding. But even that is going away these days."
"Mainstream Christianity is overwhelmingly more accepting of (for example) homosexuality than it ever has been."Oh really? More accepting then it has ever been?
Your argument about that can be paraphrased by this half hearted quotation I've invented to reflect how overly simplistic your views are.
“Well those are the bad Christians that discriminate. The good Christians don’t discriminate and there’s more good Christians then bad ones.” Or as you put it in your earlier replies "mainstream Christians" (whatever the hell that means, rather redundant terminology in my opinion)
I find your entire position about how Christian discrimination against the LGBTQ community is "getting better" to be rather juvenile. I expected a more cohesive evidence based argument backed by facts. So many of your arguments during this conversation; are based in blatant sweeping generalizations. You have this consistent habit of conjuring mass assumptions to fit your narrative while ignoring the nature of the current socio political landscape; which is filled with a surplus of evidence to the contrary.
A surplus of evidence such as Roe vs Wade getting overturned. Anti trans and anti gay bills getting passed into law across the country. Gay conversion therapy is still being practiced to this day by Christian organizations (I actually know of someone who very recently got sent to conversion therapy). And look I do not deny that good Christians are out there but I don't know how you can state that things are getting better when women's rights just got knocked back 50 years, when trans and gay rights are constantly under attack. When gay marriage is under attack. The people who are doing this are Christian politicians in power with Christian values.
Is that not...mainstream? How much more mainstream can you get then the very people who are in political office? Then the people who have positions of power in the federal government?
The people who are doing this aren't some far right, off shoot, fringe group like Neo Nazi's or the KKK. They are Christians in positions of power who uphold the traditional Christian values that have now gone on for centuries upon centuries. Perhaps even longer then that. I don't know what the hell your definition of mainstream is but I think your definition is fundamentally flawed and doesn't hold up under scrutiny. You seem to be confusing "mainstream" with "progressive". Being a progressive Christian is certainly not mainstream in today's political landscape. Especially if you're a conservative. So I'm completely perplexed by your opinion and how you can possibly justify it with real world contemporary evidence. Other then perhaps, maybe you've met a few nice Christians in your lifetime and you just naively assume most of them are like that. Which again, is naïve. Especially when you factor in how piss poor the current state of women's rights and LGBTQ rights are at this time.
