People giving your religion a bad name

[Celaena-Sardothian]

This is a bit of a rant I guess. But anyways . . .

Does anyone else get really annoyed at people 'giving their religion a bad name' for want of a better phrase?

Specifically I'm thinking about Christianity (since I'm a Christian) but I'm sure it happen with other religions as well. Christianity is not a lone case.

I try not to push my 'religion' (I prefer to see it as a relationship) down others throats, and I apoligise to anyone if I ever have - I just have very strong opinions about things, which are usually different to the majority of people's opinions, and it annoys me SO much when I see other Christians doing that and making people even more, I dunno, meh towards Christianity. I know it's not true, but I feel like maybe they think we're ALL like that.

What sort of things do people do that annoy you/give your religion a bad name?

(sorry if that didn't make much sense haha)

[CorrieUSMC]

I do not have a 'set' religion.

I respect people who chose to follow whatever they want; what pisses me off the most is when People get 'upset' when someone doesn't follow their religion. "You're going to hell". "You're a infidel", etc.

In the end, its like anything. People prefer different brands opposed to other things, People prefer other religions.

[Celaena-Sardothian]

Originally Posted by Remorse_Angel

I respect people who chose to follow whatever they want; what pisses me off the most is when People get 'upset' when someone doesn't follow their religion. "You're going to hell". "You're a infidel", etc.

This annoys me too - I don't feel like they have the right to say that to people, even though it may or may not be true.

[Accio]

Originally Posted by MovedByMercy

This is a bit of a rant I guess. But anyways . . .

Does anyone else get really annoyed at people 'giving their religion a bad name' for want of a better phrase?

Specifically I'm thinking about Christianity (since I'm a Christian) but I'm sure it happen with other religions as well. Christianity is not a lone case.

I try not to push my 'religion' (I prefer to see it as a relationship) down others throats, and I apoligise to anyone if I ever have - I just have very strong opinions about things, which are usually different to the majority of people's opinions, and it annoys me SO much when I see other Christians doing that and making people even more, I dunno, meh towards Christianity. I know it's not true, but I feel like maybe they think we're ALL like that.

What sort of things do people do that annoy you/give your religion a bad name?

(sorry if that didn't make much sense haha)

Agreed, a few people I know are Christians and they will shove The Bible down people's throats, and then they wonder why people get defensive.

[Honorary Pug Girl]

Originally Posted by MovedByMercy

This is a bit of a rant I guess. But anyways . . .

Does anyone else get really annoyed at people 'giving their religion a bad name' for want of a better phrase?

Specifically I'm thinking about Christianity (since I'm a Christian) but I'm sure it happen with other religions as well. Christianity is not a lone case.

I try not to push my 'religion' (I prefer to see it as a relationship) down others throats, and I apoligise to anyone if I ever have - I just have very strong opinions about things, which are usually different to the majority of people's opinions, and it annoys me SO much when I see other Christians doing that and making people even more, I dunno, meh towards Christianity. I know it's not true, but I feel like maybe they think we're ALL like that.

What sort of things do people do that annoy you/give your religion a bad name?

(sorry if that didn't make much sense haha)

I feel now a days its really hard for christians, because there are so many expectations for christians to be perfect people. Then when one makes a mistake and it comes out people are all in shock. I know my friends personally think because I'm a christian I must hate gay people which is far from true. I may not always agree with things or choices, but I will never hate a person for making them. I think a big one is the West Baptist Church, they make us christians look like such bad people and hyprocrits it's really sad.

Westboro Baptist Church gives Christianity a bad name. I realize they are an extreme case but their beliefs and ideals infuriate me. The things that they do make annoyed with organized religion in general.

Aside from them, I don't think anyone has the right to tell anyone what to believe or that if they don't believe in a certain religion they are going to hell. I don't like how Christians and other religions make people feel ostracized for being different. I think everyone should be embraced for who they are. Yeah, you might not understand someone's belief or something like that but that doesn't mean you should make them feel as though they are less than because of who they are.

[Jess~]

I absolutely hate it when, any religion, really, not just my own, shove their views and beliefs down everyone's throat. I once saw a car covered in Christian stickers like, "I'm with God! What's your choice?" Or "Christian in the heart, Christian in the mind, Christian in the soul." Or even, "I'm here for God. Not worldly pleasures." Like...can you not? That bothered me immensely, the way they make us Christians look like all we care about is our religion and that we're all total nutjobs.
However, when I see an atheist who only posts pictures on Facebook that make atheists seem like freaking geniuses over all other religions, that bothers me too.
Neither vibe the stickers or pictures gave off was true, of course. But still, greatly bothers me when people believe something and think its the best thing ever. I wish we could all believe what we want, and shut up.

[Jess~]

Originally Posted by BeautyWithin

I feel now a days its really hard for christians, because there are so many expectations for christians to be perfect people. Then when one makes a mistake and it comes out people are all in shock. I know my friends personally think because I'm a christian I must hate gay people which is far from true. I may not always agree with things or choices, but I will never hate a person for making them. I think a big one is the West Baptist Church, they make us christians look like such bad people and hyprocrits it's really sad.

This is so true. I have three atheist friends online who, once they learned I was Christian, criticized every thing I said. one of them is bi, and he finishes every sentence about that with, "oh but Jess must hate me since I like boys and I'm a boy." He posts all these articles discriminating Christians and trying to prove that Jesus approves of gays.
Like you said, I also strongly disapprove of the whole gayness thing, but I think some can be good people. At least...that's the only thing I can say about that without getting tons of hatemail.

[Zace]

I have two points on this topic really. I should probably mention that I'm an Atheist to start with, even though it's not a religion or even a group really I feel like some people give us a bad reputation. Which comes around to my first thought being that you'll really have the same problem regardless of the religion or topic really. I think it's just about a group of people having strong opinions and disagreeing that causes that feeling of your position on what ever topic being misrepresented to the public (which could be anything from politics to Star Wars). And I'll avoid ranting about the specific things that some Atheists do to piss me off since it's really unimportant to what I'm trying to say, but I have a long list of peeves.

The second thing I thought about was that these people who take things to the extreme with religion (WBC) or something else, are really just feeling the same emotion about people who accept homosexuals, for example. I'm sure they see other more moderate Christians as a misrepresentation of their beliefs.

Just a thought I figured I'd share.
On a side note, the best thing you can really do to help the "name" of your religion is to just explain it in a clear way to people who ask, and try to be a good person.