This article brought this thread to mind. To paraphrase Robbie Burns (because I never could remember the exact wording) may we find the gift of seeing ourselves as others see us. It's fascinating to see how some folks see others as mocking God, yet fail to see how they themselves mock others.
What Non-Christians Want Christians To Hear
Reactions to a few quotes:
However, in their eyes, I was nothing but a sinner who needed to be saved.
This is one of the biggest problems with conservative (in particular) evangelism. The constant harping on sin and the need to be "saved" by their version of Christianity is off-putting to many and, unfortunately, puts a lot of them off the faith as a whole, not just the part of it that talks and thinks like that.
Once Christians know I’m gay, the conversion talk usually stops.
Points up, once again, how much the conservative agenda shapes the perception of the faith as a whole. No qualifier like "conservative" or "fundamentalist" or whatever, just "Christians hate gays". I don't know what liberal/progressive Christians, who are largely LGBTQ-friendly or allies can do to deal with this perception, but a way needs to be found. And the onus is on the pro-LGBTQ Christians, not the gay and trans communities, to do it.
When did it become that being a Christian meant being an intolerant, hateful bigot? I grew up learning the positive message of Christ: Do well and treat others with respect, and your reward will be in heaven. Somehow, for a seemingly large group of Christians, that notion has gone lost
Of course, the problem is that for too much of Christian history, the intolerance has been the norm and the "positive message" has been the one that has been lost. From forced conversions to heresy trials, Christianity has a history of using bully tactics to deal with diversity rather than accepting and engaging with it.
General Reaction:
When I was still a Christian, I was constantly fighting the notion my atheist friends had that to be a "real Christian", I had to side with and defend the nonsense being spewed by televangelists and similar. And, to be honest, it's not an entirely unfair assumption. They are the public face of the faith and there isn't really a prominent liberal/progressive counterpoint that is really getting the same amount of airtime, in spite of the best efforts of Spong, Borg, and others.