Salon has an article this morning written by a “closeted” Christian in New York who’s afraid that her liberal, atheist Brooklynite friends will look down on her if they find out she’s a church-goer (which, presumably they now will unless she’s writing pseudonymously). I can sympathize with not wanting to be identifiedid with conservative strands of American evangelicalism; sometimes I wonder if it’s really worth trying to hold onto a religion that threatens to become synonymous with far-right politics. But, really, maybe this lady needs to get a better set of friends. I move in circles here in D.C. that are similar to the ones she describes (eductated, gen-x, liberal/progressive) but have never felt like I needed to hide the fact that I’m a Christian from my non-religious friends. Maybe the problem is that her friends are just a**holes.
"Man is but a reed, the most feeble thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed" – Blaise Pascal
5 responses to “Needed: better friends”
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I think she’s stuck in the fallacy that liberal, well-educated folks are not able to be jerks (or racists, or homophobics, et cetera ad nauseum) because of their liberal-minded education stuff has magically turned them into decent, sensitive, well-spoken people.
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Or maybe they would be more tolerant if she gave them the chance. In my experience, there is an unfortunate human tendency to bond by making fun of people you assume are not present (whether of a different religion, class, political view or whatever), but as often as not it’s more about shooting the breeze than deeply held beliefs. I would wager that many of her friends’ reaction would be “Huh. OK.” and a move onto another subject.
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That’s a good point. Maybe she’s not giving her friends enough credit.
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It’s like trying to be a “Confessional” Lutheran who isn’t also a vehement global-warming denier.
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Greg, so you aren’t a vehement global warming denier?
Huh. OK.
A Thinking Reed 
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