# I say "Christianity" What's the first thing you think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2012, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128 "2012-08-30T10:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/61 "2012-08-31T14:04:25Z")
> [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](#): > > I’d tell you but it would be too unexpected. …And 24 hours later, I get it. Nicely played, Cardinal Fang. ---
**Author:** ![Kiyoshi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e19adc/32.png) [@Kiyoshi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiyoshi)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/62 "2012-08-31T14:40:12Z")
The Pope. And then the Space Pope from Futurama. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/63 "2012-08-31T16:45:10Z")
The cross. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/64 "2012-08-31T16:52:15Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The cross. > [@PandaBear77](#): > > The cross. Yep, just a cross. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/65 "2012-08-31T18:34:01Z")
A cross, no Jesus on it though. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/66 "2012-08-31T19:49:32Z")
Jessica Hahn. I try to be positive. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/67 "2012-08-31T21:34:28Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > First thing I think of is I really don’t want to get entangled in another thread about religion. So, um, why did you post? The first thing that the word Christianity brings to mind is the King James Bible. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/68 "2012-09-01T00:46:11Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > My first and most visceral personal response is usually fear. I believe Christianity, especially the American strain, bolstered by its political arm the Republican party, is just about the most abrasive, destructive, and yes, evil force in the world today. I fear its influence is increasing and, unchecked, will ultimately bring about a new dark age rife with the glorification of ignorance, the dissolution of rights, and the open persecution and oppression of dissidents. > > The first words I think of to describe Christianity are: bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, willful ignorance, and justifiers of evil acts. > . So you fear christianity will become entwined with government and codify it’s worst aspects into law, that it may one day do evil acts like sentence the rape victim to prison time rather than the rapists, that it may one day deny homosexuals any right to cohabitate, that it may kill those who stand up for leniency for someone speaking about another religion in it’s midst, that it may riot and kill over the burning of a bible say, or the naming of a teddybear as Jesus? You fear it will replace science books with only vetted religious texts? You fear it being the most expanding of religions? Me too. I fear it becoming like the religion that already does those things too. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/69 "2012-09-01T01:56:00Z")
Jesus. Nuns, Catholic school. > [@Johanna](#): > > One Sunday night when I was about 8 or 9, when attending a church social in the church basement, there were a lot of children gathered, and someone opened up doors that were usually shut leading to corridors of considerable length, mostly of storerooms, utility rooms, whatnot. The children used the open space of the corridors to play and romp and run around in. It was a sector of the building we normally never got to see. > > So this one girl and I were chasing a boy down the hall and they stopped, and I kept going around a corner by myself to explore, and got pulled up short at the open door to one room. I saw a man lying on his back just inside the door, his head and shoulders nearly protruding out into the hallway, wearing some white linen garment. His eyes were open and dead, staring upwards. His skin had a ghastly waxen pallor. He was not breathing. > > Oh. My. Fucking. God. :eek: > > It took me about 1.5 seconds to process that I was looking at some Catholic saint’s old discarded statue. You know those Catholic statues all painted in living color. What a relief! But within that brief moment, I was deeply frightened. I don’t know why that’s the first thought that arose upon your OP question, but there it is. That happened to a kid in band once, when we were in fifth grade. There was a [pieta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pieta) statue in a cupboard, and he opened it, and for a split second he thought it was a dead body. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/70 "2012-09-01T10:33:19Z")
It’s interesting to me that people in this thread seem much less abashed about their negative reactions to Christianity than about their negative reactions to Islam. The first thing that sprung to mind for me was fundamentalists. And then a feeling of sadness. ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/71 "2012-09-01T10:38:58Z")
Singing in chorus at Mass in high school. ---
**Author:** ![Onomatopoeia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/onomatopoeia/32/4145_2.png) [@Onomatopoeia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onomatopoeia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/72 "2012-09-01T11:50:24Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > My first and most visceral personal response is usually fear. I believe Christianity, especially the American strain, bolstered by its political arm the Republican party, is just about the most abrasive, destructive, and yes, evil force in the world today. I fear its influence is increasing and, unchecked, will ultimately bring about a new dark age rife with the glorification of ignorance, the dissolution of rights, and the open persecution and oppression of dissidents. > > The first words I think of to describe Christianity are: bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia, willful ignorance, and justifiers of evil acts. > [@scratch\_llll](#): > > So you fear christianity will become entwined with government and codify it’s worst aspects into law, that it may one day do evil acts like sentence the rape victim to prison time rather than the rapists, that it may one day deny homosexuals any right to cohabitate, that it may kill those who stand up for leniency for someone speaking about another religion in it’s midst, that it may riot and kill over the burning of a bible say, or the naming of a teddybear as Jesus? You fear it will replace science books with only vetted religious texts? You fear it being the most expanding of religions? > > Me too. I fear it becoming like the religion that already does those things too. I’m glad you agree. An important difference, though, oh bringer of straw, is one of influence. Islam, [the second largest religion in the world](http://www.infoplease.com/toptens/organizedreligions.html) doesn’t have anywhere near the level of global influence proportionate to its population. Christianity, with its [largest concentration of adherents now in the United States](http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/19/christianity-goes-global-as-worlds-largest-religion/), has seemingly taken on Islam in an attempt to diminish its influence and reach further. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no supporter of Islam, or Judaism, or any other new age or bronze age religion. I simply see Christianity, with its outsized influence, and its resurgence as a promoter of regression, especially in the United States, as a negative and powerful authoritarian force that we handwave at our peril. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/73 "2012-09-01T12:23:09Z")
A crucifix. How lame is that? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/74 "2012-09-01T13:01:23Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > It’s interesting to me that people in this thread seem much less abashed about their negative reactions to Christianity than about their negative reactions to Islam. One reason might be that many (most?) Dopers are US residents, and in much of the US Christian crap is routinely shoved down our throats, while Muslim crap rarely is. Another (related) reason might be that US residents are used to thinking of Muslims as a “minority” in a sense that most Christians are not, and so it’s just the polite thing to do (or “politically correct”, if taken too far) to hold back a little on the Islam-bashing. Finally, yet a third related reason is that there is so mcuh more awful anti-Muslim vindictive out there (in the US) than there is anti-Christian vindictive, that even we atheists/agnostics feel like our energies are better spent contributing to the latter than to the former, if we feel compelled to do one or the other (rather than gently mocking religion as a whole.) ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/75 "2012-09-01T14:26:58Z")
> [@Onomatopoeia](#): > > I’m glad you agree. > > An important difference, though, oh bringer of straw, is one of influence. Islam, [the second largest religion in the world](http://www.infoplease.com/toptens/organizedreligions.html) doesn’t have anywhere near the level of global influence proportionate to its population. Christianity, with its [largest concentration of adherents now in the United States](http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/19/christianity-goes-global-as-worlds-largest-religion/), has seemingly taken on Islam in an attempt to diminish its influence and reach further. > > Don’t get me wrong, I’m no supporter of Islam, or Judaism, or any other new age or bronze age religion. I simply see Christianity, with its outsized influence, and its resurgence as a promoter of regression, especially in the United States, as a negative and powerful authoritarian force that we handwave at our peril. Straw man? Those are only used in arguments. I agree with you that a particular egg may trun out to be a rattlesnake and bite you. I was only pointing out that there was already a full grown rattlesnake at your feet. If the rattlesnake is a fraction smaller than the egg then what difference does it make about which you should fear most? And oh no the egg may eat the snake. How terrible. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/76 "2012-09-01T14:34:09Z")
the second most hateful and hypocritical major religion in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/77 "2012-09-01T14:35:07Z")
> [@Cornelius Tuggerson](#): > > I’d tell you but it would be too unexpected. > [@Friar Ted](#): > > Surprise! Great, now he’s going to have to come in again. I thought of all the religious conflict on this board. Then my brain potted out. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/78 "2012-09-01T17:06:16Z")
Holier-than-thou, rabidly bigoted cult members is my first thought. Well-meaning, brain-washed, gullible, meek followers who will believe anything is my second thought. Then again, those are my same, exact thoughts when mentioning any religion. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/79 "2012-09-02T01:51:25Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > It’s interesting to me that people in this thread seem much less abashed about their negative reactions to Christianity than about their negative reactions to Islam. That was pretty much my thought as well. And it’s somewhat amusing and depressing at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2012, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128/80 "2012-09-02T02:03:33Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > It’s interesting to me that people in this thread seem much less abashed about their negative reactions to Christianity than about their negative reactions to Islam. On an American dominated board like this one, there’s far less danger that criticizing Christianity will be taken as approval of a murderous crusade against Christians. Nor do Christians here need more people to defend them all as something other than monsters; they have plenty already. Since we are on a “what do you think of when you hear -” kick, I’ll say that when I hear harsh criticism of Islam, my first thought is “someone looking for an excuse to justify bombing some brown people and invading their country”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-say-christianity-whats-the-first-thing-you-think-of/633128.md?page=5)