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The Daily Tar Heel

Different kind of kvetching board

A different kind of kvetching board made its way onto campus earlier this month. Cornerstone, a Christian student group, placed a blank board outside the Pit to allow students to write down the reasons why they are not Christians.

The responses ranged from questions about hell to doubts about the veracity of the Bible.

But two simple complaints were written most frequently: intolerance and hypocrisy.

With those criticisms in mind, there is little surprise that last Easter’s Gallup Poll tracking religious identification posted record low numbers for Americans identifying themselves as “Christian” and record high numbers for those answering “None.”

The ironic thing about most of the kvetches is that, were Jesus on Earth today, he probably would have written many of the same things.

The Christian Church has unfortunately moved away from the core teachings of Christ, becoming intolerant and hypocritical.

This is not a new idea; Mahatma Gandhi saw the same disparity between the life of Jesus and the actions of Christians.

“I like your Christ,” he said. “I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

The ideas expressed on the kvetching board and a general negative view of Christianity is not unique to students at UNC.

According to numbers released by the Barna Group, a religious research firm, only 16 percent of non-Christians view the faith positively.

This is a dramatic change from a decade ago when the “vast majority” of non-Christians viewed the faith in a positive light.

While the numbers may be shocking, are they really that surprising? The truth is that the Christian faith has grown increasingly judgmental, political and, if radical steps aren’t taken, outdated.

Expecting the unchurched to ignore the bad example set by many Christians and instead learn more about the actual man who founded the religion is impractical.

Jesus himself left the spreading of his ministry in the hands of his followers, and sadly, modern-day Christians have dropped the ball.

The idea of a religion founded around Jesus becoming known as intolerant and hypocritical is unfortunate. Jesus of Nazareth was perhaps the most tolerant and non-hypocritical person of his time. He was actually criticized as being too tolerant.

The ranks of Jesus’ followers were filled not with the elite, but with all types of people, including former prostitutes, lepers, low-class citizens, rich and powerful citizens, non-Jews (a scandalous action at the time) and other taboo groups of society.

Today, the Church needs a new kind of Christian — those deeply saddened over the disparity between Christ and Christian, who are not on TV and don’t shout in the street (or the Pit), the type who commits his or her life to actually follow the Jesus they claim to believe.

The Jesus who not only condemned hypocrisy in his own religion, but touched people considered untouchable, accepted those considered unacceptable and loved without precondition.

 

Ryan Lee is a journalism and English major from Lewisville.  Email Ryan at leery@email.unc.edu.

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