Why does Christian music make people uncomfortable?

Kann 2019-01-28 02:31:51 UTC #25

Btw, speaking of hymns, I find some of them nice. I remember I used to like some more dramatic sounding ones, but can't remember their names.

*writes down artists names to check out later *

vothnthorvaldson 2019-01-28 03:14:44 UTC #26

Atheist here, from atheist parents and originally from a very secular country. But I'm not antitheist.

I treat religious music like all music: If the music is good and the texts not too offensive, I'll like it. I think I listen to religious or religion-theme music from most major religious traditions (and some more obscure).

In case of Christian music I mostly listen to "classical " from middle ages to some contemporary requiems. I'm avoiding all modern christian music though, as most irk me (like most popular modern music to be honest) and I don't have the patience to sort through it to find the few things I'd like.

I have no interest for music purposely made to sing at church as by definition it's pretty simple to be accessible to all to sing, and that kind of simple music is not my cup of tea.

The other thing is that I consider proselytism very morally wrong, so if I feel such vibes in any modern music, that's not going to work. For older music that obviously does not apply.

SilentHamster102 2019-01-28 11:36:18 UTC #27

Because christianity and all culture associated with that including music is acceptable target to hate. I'm not religious man at all and count myself as an atheist btw.

I don't know why, but some people just love to hate something, and in modern culture standarts some things became unacceptable target for hate, some is became acceptable (like christianity). And at the same time hating other religions is unacceptable thing. Always was curious about this fact btw.

So all anti-christian statements making me laugh actually because I know that these people (99% of them) won't say anything anti-islamic or anth-buddhistic things or about any other religion, or even will advocate these religions for the same things they hating christianity.

That just my opinion anyway.

skicoak 2019-01-28 12:00:51 UTC #28

To be fair, I've never had a buddhist or muslim pound on my front door at 8:05 AM peddling their literature so I feel okay about giving them a pass.

Azifri 2019-01-28 12:27:09 UTC #29

Probably because you live in a place with a small proportion of people who follow those religions and are fanatic enough to do that.

skicoak 2019-01-28 13:24:07 UTC #30

There's a mosque 4.2 miles from my house and a buddhist temple 5 miles away.

I live in pretty diverse port city on the eastern coast of America. The various sects of Christianity are the only ones knocking on doors and flyering the neighborhood like they're a new restaurant opening up.

But hey... I'm open to hear about the pushy buddhists in other places. Got stories?

SilentHamster102 2019-01-28 13:34:30 UTC #31

And I've never saw a religious propagandist (any religion) in my life, but I remember how in my region there was counter terrorist operations against radical muslim terrorists. And what then I should making anti-muslim statements in the internet and RL? Or start even hating them or their culture? No, I won't do that.

I'm completely fine with all religions in the world and my opinion that everyone should be respected about their beliefs, so I'm giving the pass to all of them.

My opinion is just that some people thinking about themselves that they're too "progressive" for the religious beliefs and all such things and they making anti-religious statements (as they think), but in reality all their statements is only anti-christian and they're not saying rude words about other religions. My opinion that is hypocrisy and I don't like hypocrisy at all

Azifri 2019-01-28 13:39:06 UTC #32

One thing I noticed during the years I lived in the US is that some evangelicals there can be very pushy and prone to knock on your door, so I'm not surprised that is your experience. Here in Switzerland, most religious solicitation I've experienced has come from muslims, some to the point of being derogatory to local customs and religions.

Back to the topic, christian music doesn't bother me as long as they are not trying to convert, guilt shaming, etc. If having a religion makes you happy and inspires you, cool! But don't go shoving your beliefs/superstition (or the lack of such) into other people's throats.

DokiDokiTsuna 2019-01-28 13:40:22 UTC #33

Ah, that's true...I think it's because it's the majority, and it has been for so long, and of course it has that whole terrible history with colonization and the Crusades and whatnot...sure, terrible things have been done in the name of other religions (believe it or not, there are violent Buddhists out there ^^; ) but not on the scale that we have to reckon with, unfortunately...

Still doesn't excuse the hate. But it makes it understandable...

BTW, I don't know if anyone cares, but evangelism ("spreading the Good Word") is an important part of Christianity; there are, like, 80 trillion bible verses about it. So that's a large part of why there are so many "pushy" Christians out there; it's kind of their job, depending on their sect.
And some people take it more literally than others...they may feel like they'll go to hell unless they try to convert everyone they meet. XD Personally, I think if you have to shove your religion down someone's throat to get them to accept it, something is up. But that's just me...

GamerPrincessXI 2019-01-28 13:42:47 UTC #34

That's actually a Jehovah witness and they tend to shun people like the Amish, if you want your kids to get a higher education. The Amish, however shun you, if you drift into the English ways and don't really like to protect women in their own community against domestic violence. In Amish country, if a girl doesn't marry at 18, she's a spinster.

vothnthorvaldson 2019-01-28 13:49:19 UTC #35

But you can only question the faiths you know well enough. That's normal (and healthy) to be more negative about what you actually know, what you have yourself experienced.

That being said, some people speak only about Christianity because the political correctness in North America is reaching the point of being true censorship, but they feel can still speak about Christianity if they are /were Christian themselves.

Also, I don't think most atheist are 'too progressist' for religious beliefs. That's not how it works. Some people are just not spiritual at all. You can't force someone who has not interest in spirituality to believe in something just because it's the tradition of their community...

GamerPrincessXI 2019-01-28 13:53:16 UTC #36

I know a Buddhist, I've lived with one. She was my cousin and that experience of living with her was terrible. She was a neat freak who was nice to me, when she was drunk. She had a really high powered position where I used to live, which was nice. I loved working in Milwaukee, I hated going home to her. When I asked for a ride to work, she forced me to take the bus. I had to leave the house at 5am to wait for a bus that came at 6. Work started at 7:30. I had my driver's license just not a car. At the time, I couldn't rent one nor have my own brought up. When I turned 25, my dad bought me a TV. She flipped out since she didn't have a TV and no internet. Whenever her friends came over or her boyfriend, she would treat me like anyone else. But when they're gone, I stayed out of her way. I managed to put up with her for six months. I wanted to stay a whole year. But, she forced me to resign from my job and called my parents to get me.

DokiDokiTsuna 2019-01-28 13:55:35 UTC #37

Oh...I was thinking more along the lines of violent extremists with weapons. But I suppose every horror story counts. ^^; Glad you got out of that situation...

SilentHamster102 2019-01-28 13:56:50 UTC #38

About "progressive" thing. I'm an atheist myself so yeah, of course I'm same as you about this subject.

When I'm saying about "progressivists" I mean those people who making a "pose" of that and playing on the public with their position, I don't know how many people acting like that, but I've encountered some of them in the Russian Internet

punkarsenic 2019-01-28 14:01:38 UTC #39

oosh. OOSH. i have so much to say about this whole evangelism thing

a great deal of (european) christianitys tenet of evangelism is actually a lot younger than christianity itself, and a lot of the biblical sources (like the classic 'only through me can you get to heaven' thing) are misinterpreted - often intentionally, for the purpose of colonialism. bringing christianity to the world was a big excuse for the colonisation of north america and australia, and for the abduction and abuse of aboriginal children. its also been weaponised heavily against jewish and muslim ppl throughout history.

in the modern day, evangelism continues to be used for covert imperialism and poverty tourism in many places, can aid in the development of christian cults (there is the 'us' who are going to heaven, and the 'them' who are going to hell) and ive known lots of christians literally driven crazy by the idea that non-christians are going to hell. its a judgemental, evil, inhuman, and unbearable belief to carry.

so yeah, like, a lot of christianity has historically been evangelist, but its not an original tenet of christianity and to have a healthy religion it must be done away with.

sorry for this tangent djhfjd - also, damn this thread for getting 'we welcome you with praise' constantly stuck in my head

GamerPrincessXI 2019-01-28 14:02:51 UTC #40

It got worse, her boyfriend died and she called me crying. She dragged her aunt and father to see my house in Kansas. They complained about everything when they got here. My mom and I tried to dodge them. My cousin showed up to my job with my dad and started taking pictures of me. I'm so glad they went back home. I still can't believe that I was willing to pay rent directly to her so I could keep my job there. She said rent wouldn't fix our living situation. I never had an issue with her, she had one with me. I was willing to stay another six months with her crazy ass.

TAMAnnoying 2019-01-28 14:19:36 UTC #41

I’m gonna take a weird stance in this argument and say that most music is relatively mediocre or bad and you really only find the good underground stuff if your lucky. I hate a lot of pop music, lot of rap, lot of metal, but I still have all these genres in my playlist and muse box. I’ll agree that a lot of Christian music is shoving a veiw down your gut but it’s not too diffrent from my teenager years of some rock bands shoving down the “fact” that society is crumbling and we’re all becoming fish people again.

Ultimately your dealing with a lot of peeps that get to run with their first draft of a music sheet before they get it published on thei Christian websites and that’s just bad music no matter what genre your talking about. Good music and lyrics are really what matter in this discussion as I’ve also downloaded many satanic songs as well as Christian songs cause.... well, they’re f*ink well made! Most Christian songs are not, but if you stop looking you’ll never find those gems.

To be fair, I honestly feel like you just gotta find the good stuff to appreciate any kind of genre

I also appreciate a lot of really good bands getting shout outs <3 was in love with skillit when I was in college

skicoak 2019-01-28 14:30:59 UTC #42

The Jehovahs only bicycle through once every couple of months.

In this area it's mainly Baptists, Lutherans and a few Catholics that troll the neighborhood.

GamerPrincessXI 2019-01-28 14:34:15 UTC #43

XD, troll...I'm sorry but when I think of Trolls I think about Billy Goat Gruff or internet trolls.

skicoak 2019-01-28 14:38:00 UTC #44

Ha! In my youth, it was more of a D&D thing.... way before the internet.