Good intentions turn ugly

Monday, August 5, 1996

Aggressive Christianity turns off those it tries to saveThe
other day on my lunch break in Westwood, I noticed this girl who I
faintly recognized walking towards me with a friend. I smiled and
said hello. She stopped, and I thought she was going to going to
congratulate me on graduating or comment on one of my columns, but
as soon as she said, "Hi, I’m so and so and this is …," I knew
it. I knew I was about to be sucked into the whirlpool of Christian
evangelism.

For those of you who don’t know, there are Christian
denominations that practice "street outreach." I grew up with
often-taught, seldom-practiced, Christian values. My mother was a
Baptist preacher’s daughter and gospel singer, and I went to
Catholic school for six years. When I was a saved and practicing
Christian, I even participated in "Recruitment." At the age of 11,
I walked door-to-door with elders in the hood trying to talk
(scare) people into getting saved. I left my salvation years ago
and am not currently a practicing Christian. But my interest has
been rekindled in a different type of way by a class that I just
finished on the Bible as English literature. Anyway, my point is
that I am very familiar with how average Christians and Jesus
freaks think.

As a result, I was prepared for this attack in Westwood.
Although I thought the girl was really sweet, I had to pop her
bubble immediately: "Are you about to invite me to church?"

"Yes."

"I’m not interested, but thanks." I made a move to leave, and
they blocked me. From having worked in both telemarketing and
direct sells, I know selling techniques. Let me tell you that these
Bruin evangelists were well trained. Their next strategy would have
been to find out why I didn’t want to go and then to melt my solid
objections in mush. In order to avoid going to church, I cut to the
chase and lied. "I’ve been to your church, but I have a church
home. Thanks anyway. I really have to go," and before they could
rebound, I power-walked down the block in the opposite
direction.

That time was easy, but I’ve had much worse. The first time a
Jesus freak came up to me, I was just a naive freshperson, and the
woman went after me like a hound. She smelled my newness and said
she wanted to be my friend. We chatted about miscellaneous Bruin
stuff and I gave her my phone number. Our first conversation ended
with her invitation to go to church. I almost said yes, but someone
saved me and told me that this particular church takes you in a
room and intimidates you until you admit that you are a sinning
heathen ­ even if you are a Christian ­ because you are
not a part of their church. The girl called me every night to
re-invite me until I politely told her to forget it. Stop.

The time I told one of them that I was an atheist epitomizes my
run-ins. She backed away as if my evil would radiate onto her.

Why is it that some religions respect your right to chose while
others try to force you into theirs? I have never had a Jew, Muslim
or Baha’i person chase me while I was walking. I have never seen a
Buddhist or atheist screaming at the top of their lungs on Bruin
Walk. Well, despite the fact that I called them "Jesus freaks,"
there really is a logical explanation.

Christianity is the most powerful religion in the world, because
it takes total mental control over its subjects. To make a really
long story short, it began when a small group of Jews began to
wonder if they had misinterpreted their covenant with God ­
that perhaps the restoration of the Holy Land was not supposed to
happen here on Earth, but rather in a mystical place ­ a place
after death. Before Jesus, there were people preaching this new
ideology. Jesus came along, refined it, brilliantly preached it,
and became very popular for it.

The new ideology forced a shift from just following the laws of
the Old Testament to living the spirit of the law. For example, one
of the Ten Commandments states,"Thou shalt not kill." Jesus came
along and said not only should you not kill, but you should not be
angry or insult someone. If you do, you will be liable to judgment.
Translation? Hell.

Christianity creates this never-ending strife. It tells you that
as a human, you are born into sin, but your mission in life is to
escape it by calling on Jesus. You never know exactly what you have
to do to get into Heaven ­ but just try your hardest to get
there. In addition to always trying to fulfill this vague goal,
Christians are taught that, "there is salvation in no one else, for
there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we
must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Most Christians truly believe that the
only way to get to Heaven is to claim Jesus Christ as your savior.
That is, no matter how good of a person you may be, if you know
about Jesus and have not accepted him, then you are doomed. And
since the Bible clearly says in several places to "love your
neighbor as you love yourself," Christians feel that they are
showing love when they attack me on Bruin Walk. In their minds,
they are just trying to save me from burning in eternal hell. If I
just knew better, I would do better. Or so they think.

Well, I do know better. I know that according to the Bible if I
smoke, swear, drink, have sex, lie, steal, disrespect my parents,
disrespect my neighbor, have evil thoughts, don’t give money to the
pot, don’t claim Jesus, don’t ask for salvation ­ and
everything else under the sun ­ I very well may meet a red
monster beneath the Earth. I know that. Now please let me burn in
peace.

I realize that I sound bitter and cynical, but the
self-righteous attitude of Christianity amazes me. The God that I
identify with would not set their son or daughter on fire for not
having accepted Christianity. The God I believe in would never
create a Hell, because s/he doesn’t have to scare people into doing
what’s right. I’m in Hell when I feel guilt over doing something
wrong or emptiness from ignoring my spirit and soul. You see, God
gave me a conscience as my guide and a brain to decide whether or
not to follow it. Certain people may think my way is silly and
unfounded while others may think it’s just right, but the reality
is that it doesn’t matter because my connection to a higher power
is personal. I don’t need evangelists dragging me to their
conclusions.

Shauna Robinson will graduate this summer with a degree in
Afro-American studies.