Okay, so I'm not Facebook a lot, and I debate on the polls a lot, I'm a Christian and a hard right conservative. So the thing I here a lot about Christians, are that supposedly we're bigots. What do you guys think? I personally think that it is outlandish to think that a deeply faithful honest Christian would bigot.

bigot - One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ.


Based on that description most people are bigots, not just Christians.

However, if someone were to truly emulate the life of Jesus Christ then I would say that a Christian would not be a bigot.

However, I don't know of too many people who are even remotely at the level of compassion etc. that Jesus showed.

Yes you are bigots but that doesn't make others bigots to. I think anyone apart of some sort of label, whether your a christian or democrat or whatever your probably a bigot for the fact that you are extremely pro for whatever your following and everything else sucks. In my opinion best time to see bigots in action is during elections its really funny seeing both republicans and democrats bash the crap out of one another

Bigot reminds me of the word emo, I don't think anyone can ignore the fact that everyone is a bigot or emo in some fashion cause we all know people are emotional and have strong opinions on things. I think the only purpose to call someone bigot is to toss around a generic insult. Real word here is hypocrite you can't throw the word bigot around without having some sort of strong opinion yourself on the opposition.

One shouldn't generalize a religious belief as "bigots" or "more tolerant than those guys," because if you look you'll find bad apples in any group. Some Christians are bigots, some are not. Same with atheists etc.

I do think that geeogree hit the nail on the head; if you follow loyally the life and teachings of Jesus odds are you won't be a bigot.

"Christianity" is just a label anyway - it doesn't imply as it should that someone is really a Bible-believing born-again disciple.

Everybody's probably heard it said before, but I think a real christian would love everyone, or at least show love, but its the actions and the sin nature that we hate.

Well, I think that honest Christians should work hard to not be bigots... but we may (probably will) still mess up . That's not to say that we're not wrong for being bigoted, but a true Christian will try hard not to be. I think geeogree put it perfectly.

The problem is that many christians do not see fit to act how their religion tells them. many people are christians to the extent that they act how they wish and expect to be able to repent on their deathbed, if they have one. There are not many "true" christians, even though christianity is the prevalent religion in America.

Real Christians seem to be growing fewer and fewer. Its being replaced by organized superficial traditionalist religion.

Bobbynibbles : Very true. I've seen people who would say "Well, God will forgive me!" and keep on sinning, and judging, and generally being horrible people because they think God's forgiveness makes it perfectly alright.

Part of forgiveness is repentance, and I think we all know what repentance is.

There is a reference-type Bible called the "Evidence Bible," a quote from it concerning bigotry reads: The Christian is no better than a non-Christian, but he is infinitely better off. It is like two men on a plane, one of whom is wearing a parachute while the other is not. Neither is better than the other, but the man with the parachute is certainly better off than the man who is not wearing a parachute. The difference will be seen when they jump from the plane at 20,000 feet. Jesus warned that if we jump into death without Him, we would perish. Even harsher than the law of gravity is the Law of an infinitely holy and just Creator. scripture states that sinners are God's enemy (Romans 5:10) and that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews10:31).

That is a fascinating yet simple way to look at it. As Christians, we are still sinners, but we are forgiven for it, such as being forgiven of bigotry. Although that doesn't mean we should do it again.

Christians are not superior to any other person. A person who believes Jesus Christ is the only Son of God and proclaims that truth is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.

No, true Christians are no bigots. Unfortunately, there are many out there who label themselves as Christians, but live nothing like what a true Christian should. If one truly follows the Bible and tries to lead a life like that of Jesus like a Christian is supposed to, then no they are not bigots. Take the KKK for example, they are considered a Christian extremist group, but reality is what they believed in had no biblical foundation. It went against everything the Gospel preached. The KKK was all about intolerance, violence, and intimidation; Jesus' life was the exact opposite. The KKK's beliefs had nothing to do with what Christianity actually is, just something they distorted into tricking themselves that it was a righteous thing to believe in. Jesus taught tolerance, love, kindness, humbleness, etc. True Christians know they are no better than anyone else and thus they do things out of the kindness of their heart for others, not out of an egotistical urge.

Unfortunately in today's society, there truly are fewer and fewer of these types of Christians. Speaking from a United States perspective (but is true in almost every other country now as well), with the minority population being athiest/agnostic seeming to get their way in government, which in turn enacts secular policies into our daily lives which takes away what our country was founded on, the Judeo-Christian values that made us the great nation we are today. Honestly, without any offense to any secularists or those of other faiths on the board, most of the media and those on television seem secular and are the biggest bigots I've see. They attack Christians on a daily basis because they know Christians are too polite and kind to attack back. It's their way or the highway in other words. You rarely see them attacking another religion such as Islam in fears that they could get attacked by a radical Islamist. You don't see them attacking Hindu's or Buddhists either because the population in America just isn't there to make an impact on anybody or to offend. Instead they go after the largest group in America and try to make Christians out as bigots and hate-mongers when we who truly follow Christianity and live our lives based on the Gospel are not.

darsves : I believe you hit the nail on the head. Religion is full of bigotry and tries to label itself as christian. The sad thing though is that too many people see Christianity as a religion.

Hoochman : Thank you. I agree, every religion has it's bigots, but that doesn't mean it's what it actually teaches. Too many people label themselves as Christians just for the heck of it, and then go out and live their life however they feel without thinking twice. I also agree that too many people see Christianity as a religion. It's not, it's more a way of life, a guideline to live the best life you can and to remain true to the morals and values that God set for us while having a close, intimate relationship with Jesus.

It's funny how so many people in the media and elsewhere jump on the "bash Christians" bandwagon. True Christians are some of the most kind and generous people on the earth. For instance, if you ever turn on the news after a natural disaster hits (such as the tsunami back in 2004 in Indonesia, or the Haiti earthquake early this year), who is the first aid group you see there? It's the Christian aids who are there first, putting their own lives behind them so they can serve and help those in need. Also, we just recently had the 10 members of a Christian medical group over in Afghanistan get murdered cowardly by the Taliban because they said they were spreading Christianity and spying for America which is absurd. Some of those people had been there for 30+ years and knew the rules of the area. All they were doing was providing those in need with glasses, medical help, etc. The media just tries to crush our values in an effort, I believe, to change society as we know it.

Oh well, some people just turn a blind eye to all this and just keep believing what they want to believe and that's fine. It's up to them, it's not up to us or anyone else to shove our beliefs down others' throats. I do know though, is that I'd rather believe in God and find out there isn't one when I die, than die not believing and finding out there is one. That wouldn't be a very nice start to the rest of my eternity. X] And sorry if I write too much, I seem to have that problem. XD

Christianity is a religion since religion is a "set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a supernatural agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs."

I don't like to label whole groups based on some of the people in them. there are true Christians who are not bigots, and those in name only who (sometimes) are. and i don't see why anyone would think Christianity is not a religion, it is a religion. That's why people who are deep Christians say they are religious.

Yeah I don't get that why some people think Christianity is NOT a religion. If its not a religion then what could it possibly be? Christianity is a sublable to religion just like mcdonalds is a sublabel to fast food.

JigSaw : Every thing you said there has a truth to it except for "ritual." That word is what separates religion from Christianity. Sure, we live by a moral code but we don't make a ritual out of it.

The only thing that would come close to a ritual is the observance of Communion, which in effect isn't supposed to be a ritual, because it isn't essential for salvation; it only serves as a demonstration to the Lord, because no one is "good enough" to partake of it.

Religion tells us mankind can reach God through works and rituals, Christianity tells us mankind can never reach God through works and rituals. There is a difference between devotion and ritual. One is self examination and the other is self righteousness.

With religion, you have infinite mankind on earth trying to reach an infinite God in heaven. That's impossible. You can never start with a finite being and reach an infinite one. Christianity is an infinite God reaching down to earth to touch mankind.