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Christians think gay people are trying to convert people to being gay because Christians try to convert people to being Christian. (lemmy.ca)

submitted 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) by someguy3@lemmy.ca to c/general@lemmy.world

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Christians literally go door to door: "Knock Knock Knock. Have you found Christianity? I've chosen a christian way of life and I think it's a great way of life. I think you should choose to be christian. I think you should raise your children to be christian. I think we should teach christianity in school. I think we should elect christian leaders. I think we should have a christian society."

So they think gay people go around going: "Knock Knock Knock. Have you found gayness? I've chosen a gay way of life and it's a great way of life. I think you should choose to be gay. I think you should raise your children to be gay. I think we should teach gayness in school. I think we should elect gay leaders. I think we should have a gay society."

Which is of course as ridiculous as thinking: "Knock Knock Knock. Have you found left-handedness? I've chosen a left-handed way of life and it's a great way of life. I think you should choose to be left-handed. I think you should raise your children to be left-handed. I think we should teach left-handedness in school. I think we should elect left-handed leaders. I think we should have a left-handed society."

(Now it's not just gay, it's trans too.)

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[–] Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 14 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, there's a lot of history to this, but it's a part of why there's so many unusual or distinctive off-shoots of Christianity that come from the US: Jehovah's Witnesses, LDS, Seventh Day Adventists, Evangelicalism, etc...

It's not just the Puritans, in fact, it's mostly not, though they've given us plenty of other cultural baggage.

Because we weren't our own nation, we didn't have our own bishop in the church of English, so for ministers to get ordained they had to go to England to be trained and then come back.

This gave rise to a conflict between the New Lights and Old Lights. The New Lights were basically proto-evangelicals and they determined that the proof of qualification to be a minister wasn't a degree, education, or some church approval from overseas, but the ability to gather a church.

This meant that charisma became the defining trait for a successful minister. This is why evangelicals have such terrible theology. There's all these ideas that are mainstream evangelical ideas that never existed before this period.

The rapture was created during this period. That's right, for nearly 1800 years Christians wouldn't even know what you meant if you said "the rapture" and now evangelicals wander around telling everyone to be prepared.

[–] TheaoneAndOnly27@kbin.social 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Do you have any recommendations for a book on this topic? I'm super intrigued.

[–] Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 1 points 9 months ago

I don't know of any. It's just an aggregation of research over the years. If you find something let me know!