Being a progressive Christian can be pretty damn irritating because youâll hear people that you otherwise politically and morally align with try to make a point against specifically right-wing Christians, but instead of doing that, they just insult Christianity in general.
I understand why. I understand that the main group of people (at least in the U.S.) bringing Christian imagery into their political rhetoric is right-wing fundamentalists who use their religion as an excuse to harm marginalized communities and strip away womenâs rights. Itâs sad but itâs true. So when Christianity comes up in a political context, the natural inclination is to associate Christianity with the right, especially if you arenât Christian yourself.
âHateâ towards Christians (again, Iâm talking specifically about the U.S.) is a lot like misandry in some ways. Itâs not, and probably never will be, a systemic force of oppression. Theyâre both also mainly spewed by people who A) donât fully mean it and are just making an ill-articulated point or B) do mean it, and are assholes for that, but have understandable reasons that point to a larger systemic issue in which theyâre ultimately more of a victim than the people theyâre hating on.
But the thing about hating on Christianity, as opposed to Christian nationalism and fascism, isnât that itâs just mean or annoying to those of us who are both politically progressive and devoutly Christian. Itâs that it plays into the hands of right-wing Christian nationalists. Their rhetoric depends entirely on framing their social and political adversaries as not just that, but enemies of the Christian faith itself. Giving them what they want, rhetorically, only allows them to further dehumanize and demonize you, and convince less radical/more politically neutral Christians to see you the way they do.
So the point Iâm trying to make is that in the United States, no, Christians are not oppressed, and yes, the real oppressors are a certain type of Christian, but they donât represent the faith itself. We shouldnât allow them to. Non-Christian progressives need to recognize that, and Christian progressives need to be louder about it.
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