This is really the issue, and allow me to give an example from a terrible novel I read once.Kanastrous wrote: Yes, I realize that I was confusing the laudable actions of a few churchmen, with the direction of the church itself.
The protaganist was once in some stupid fan club for some stupid TV character or something, and paid money for stupid fan club shit. They had a good time, the local organisers were into scouting shit and cooking etc, and it was cool fun for a kid. However, it turns out this was a front organisation for funding and recruiting into separatist terrorists, and thus the character's career is troubled by these links to a 'terrorist cell', because the reality of the organisation was massively different from the low-level, grass-roots experience.
Most christians in my experience tend to react to criticsims of christianity with personal examples of good shit - which may be actual good things, like local charities, liberal and progressive ministers or congregations, etc. For them, this limited local experience -IS- 'christianity' and when you say 'lol they are horrible cunts', they can't imagine -THEIR- christianity doing that stuff, and so reject it. They don't understand that they might be doing harmless, hands-holding rights-for-gay-people stuff, but the bulk of the organisation and it's leadership are NOTHING LIKE THEM, and are in fact HORRIBLY EVIL. Your experience, all the christians you've ever met, is NOTHING. That's NOT christianity; christianity is the book, the organisation leaders, and all the bad shit that happens safely far away from your cook-outs and lamington drives.