Toxic Christianity and why Christians Need to do Better

Welcome back to the West Side Bohemian!

Before I start talking about what I want to talk about today, I want to start by saying that I grew up very conservatively. Both of my parents are pastors in a Christian church, and I grew up going to church every Sunday, going to church camp every summer, and doing music lessons at the church one weekend a month. I always volunteered at any church soup kitchen or any church fundraiser. My whole life was based around the church when I was younger, and even today I still carry a large amount of those beliefs I got from the church. I'm a lot more liberal now than I was then, and my relationship with religion and God has changed overtime, but I would still consider myself a Christian.

As a Christian, I am starting to really be troubled by a lot of the stuff I'm seeing from other Christians and other pastor's kids who I know or who I have grown up knowing. Some days, I can't help but wonder why people who would consider themselves "good Christians" would act the way they do and say the hurtful things they do publicly or on social media.

The first thing I've seen that is so blatantly hurtful is this phrase plastered across an old acquaintances instagram: "If you're a truly good Christian, you won't have any anxiety because God doesn't let good christians have anxiety."

This is extremely problematic because this phrase is perpetuating stigmas around mental health issues and, more specifically, mental health issues in the Christian church.

This phrase is like a backhand to all those Christians who are trying their best, but suffer with anxiety, depression, OCD, or PTSD, all things that aren't in their control. It's even worse because it's even more of a backhand to Christians who take medication or use outlets other than religion to deal with their mental health (which it totally okay by the way). Getting prescribed medication or seeing a therapist are both great ways to deal with mental health, and it's not okay to say that if people were good Christians they wouldn't utilize these things.

It is also super unrealistic to believe that mental health issues disappear the second someone asks God to be in their lives. It can be a super great way for people to have a spiritual outlet and relieve some anxiety in some people, but it isn't a cure all. As a Christian, it is our job to have a relationship with God, but that doesn't mean we have to have all of our life together, or our mental health.

Something else I saw recently was from a pastor's kid I know.

They posted a screenshot from an article talking about how Christians cannot have secular beliefs or interests. It really dove into why Christians shouldn't be listening to secular music, watching secular movies, or reading secular books. The person also ended the post by saying essentially that you're not doing good as a Christian if you enjoy secular things.

About a week later, I saw this person person posting about how they, and a few of their also Christian friends, were going to see the new Spiderman movie. This really frustrated me because as much as they always post about not partaking in anything secular, they still went and saw a secular movie (no shade to the new Spiderman movie, it was great). I was even more frustrated though because the article they shared just a week before was clearly written with the intention of hurting people and making them feel guilty.

I feel like this tactic of guilt tripping seasoned Christians or new Christians into acting a certain way is just wrong and honestly turns a lot of people away from the Christian church. I've had countless friends at university tell me that they left the Christian church because people were always trying to make them feel bad about themselves whether that be intentionally or unintentionally.

Another example of Christians guilting people is in this image below. This happened a while back, at the beginning of my college semester, but essentially what happened is a large group of extremely conservative, spiteful Christians came to a campus made up of most-likely more-on-the-liberal-side college students and harassed them in an anti-choice crusade.

Even though I am a Christian, I am personally on the pro-choice side of the abortion debate. I have my own personal opinions on what I think is right, but despite any of my personal beliefs on how I think things should be or what is right or wrong, I believe that everyone should have bodily autonomy and the choice to do what is best for them when it is best for them, and I definitely don't think anyone should be made to feel condemned for doing what is best for them.

I think, as Christians, we need to do better. We need to do better because we keep putting hate into the world when we were called to love. We weren't called to judge others, and we weren't called to make them feel bad. We were called to support others, love them, and treat them with the respect that we want to be treated with.

When we judge others, we often end up being hypocritical in one way or the other because none of us are perfect, but not only do we end up being hypocrites, we often end up turning people away from the Christian church or even just putting a bitter taste in people's mouths when they hear of Christianity in general.

As a Christian, I find the hate repulsive and undignified, and I truly believe there is a lot of work to be done as a community to better understand others' worldview, their struggles, and their stories. I think we need to do better, be more tolerant, and love like God called us to love.

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Also, I want to make it clear that there are a lot of good Christians out there; a lot of good people who are doing their best to love others, and thriving in their faith and relationship with God, and that just because there are some intolerant Christians does not mean that the large majority aren't amazing and inspiring people.

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