A Christian journalist writes:
With oozing condescension, they lament that someone otherwise so smart and perceptive — i.e., someone who agrees with them on the issues — can’t let go of faith... I find it interesting that folks who would never judge a Muslim by the lunatics who share her faith are so ready to judge me by the lunatics who share mine.
He’s right. In academia, people find it easy to make the kind of asinine jokes and comments or to scoff openly in the face of a Christian colleague that they’d never do to a Muslim or Hindu one.
The reason is that a Muslim or a Hindu are seen as an irreducible other while a Christian is treated with the familiarity of a wayward sibling. The condescension and the idiocy stem from the residual guilt of having committed apostasy. I’m not saying anybody should feel guilt but that the attitude shows they do.
Clarissa's Blog 
Reblogged this on James' Ramblings.
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You’re right in academia, but for the average joe, it’s quite the contrary: where do the Trump’s Muslim travel ban come from?
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I find it interesting that folks who would never judge a Muslim by the lunatics who share her faith are so ready to judge me by the lunatics who share mine.
I have lots of people willing to judge me by lunatics with whom I share neither a claimed religion nor national origin nor ethnicity. This actually makes me less safe in my own country.
Why is he using an idiot Aussie yelling at a victim in the middle of an active shooter situation as a jumping off point to go on about how American liberals condescend to self-professed moderate Christians?
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It wouldn’t be hard to find someone more local to make the same points. I’m sure we all heard them many many times. I’ve personally had worse said to me by colleagues who’d never dare to do it to a colleague in a hijab. Which I kindly pointed out to them.
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I think it’s pretty obvious I don’t hang out with the folks who support the Muslim ban.
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I think it’s more, many US people have years of direct experience with lunatic Christians but only see lunatics of other religions on the news, so can be more moderate. Also (and perhaps key), many people were raised as quirky Christians and make ironic remarks because they’re still amazed that they used to believe certain things, or still recognize traces of a certain worldview in themselves.
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This is exactly what I said but worded slightly differently. 🙂
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I guess that’s true! 😀
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