re: #412 ObserverArt

There was a time when Christians were humble, meek, helpful, full of unwavering love and all that good stuff.

Lately they have become so full of themselves like they are the chosen, better than everyone, capable of judging and condemning, etc. Righteous to the point of just being in-your-face assholes. […]

Which all seems very different from “religion” as I remember it years ago. Maybe it is just the ‘net allowing them to be assholes, but I don’t think this is what the “Message” was all about. Seems to me this is all going to lead to something real bad. Just a feeling…a feeling that this is all so wrong.

In my experience many (most?) Christians still are like those you remember, but they get drowned out by the hateful ones. Being an insufferably smug, self-righteous, in-your-face asshole isn’t unique to Christians or even to religious people—just look at Anjem Choudary or Pat Condell.

It’s the ‘net. It serves as a combination magnifying glass + bullhorn for things both good & bad. The anonymity of it allows people to express sentiments they wouldn’t want to be associated with in “real life”, and those sentiments in turn feed others’ confirmation biases. Again, this is true for both good & bad things.