My Battle with Stereotyping Religious Folk

I stereotype- I'll just confess that right now.  We all stereotype, even if we claim not to. We're all fed loads of crap by peers, media, and our own misconceptions and whether we acknowledge it or not, we end up absorbing some of this crap as truth.  

I have friends and family members of various nationalities, backgrounds, and beliefs whom I deeply love and yet I stereotype those outside my circle- people I've never met personally.  Good or bad, when we think of certain people groups, we instantly envision a bent image of reality. It's simply easier for our brains to pre-package people and maybe, just maybe, later look inside the package.  Or not.  Unopened packages are nice and clean.  Once you open them you have to clip the jagged top closed to maintain freshness.  It's just messy.

photo: pixabay

The stereotyping I've struggled with lately is in regards to religious, spiritual, and church-going people.  


I stereotype church people as straight-laced, judgmental, anti-fun, etc.  We could insert a number of descriptors here, but we won't.  I try not to think of church folks like this, since I grew up in church and still attend.  In fact, I love my church peeps.  Besides, I've met plenty of people who fit this salty description and would never attend church.

I stereotype religious people as those who do the 'right' things for various reasons- one of those reasons may have to do with God. Or maybe not.  They try to appease their own guilt, erase their own past sin, earn the love their angry god, or somehow attain goodness.  I tend to think of religion as a whole lot of striving resulting in a whole lot of exhaustion.  

I stereotype spiritual people as wispy, stone-wearing, tent-dwellers.  They find enlightenment in the nearest sidewalk crack or the odor of their hairy armpits.  Weird.

Now, I'm not a hater.  I absolutely realize that it's extremely healthy for my soul to practice routines and spiritual disciplines, be around other Christians regularly, and open my eyes to the beauty and wonder found in nature.  Minus the armpits.   I have much to learn from all these folks.  

photo: fancycrave

I also deeply admire and respect others who are passionate about seeking deeper meaning in life, who question their faith or all faiths, who wrestle with truth and are burdened to understand their purpose.  I've wrested with and continue to wrestle through many of these subjects myself, resulting in more clarity at the conclusion of each wrestling session.  Ideally.  These are the very subjects and questions that keep life interesting.  These are the very questions that I get giddy about discussing.  But I digress....

The reality is that we are all spiritual.  We all worship something - physical comfort, financial status, romance, power, honor, placement, titles, money, praise or acceptance of others, possessions, sports, entertainment, technology, social media, or _____ (fill in the blank). We dedicate a whole lot of our time, energy, thoughts, resources, and affections to the things we worship.  Now granted, there are a whole lot of good things that are good and it's not bad to appreciate good things.  We should enjoy the good things in life!  It's when the good things turn ultimate and consuming that we become worshipers.

photo: pixabay

Perhaps I'm struggling with this stereotyping issue because I'm often referred to as religious, spiritual, and church-going person.  While in themselves these aren't bad descriptions, they often lead to me being shrugged off as ignorant, narrow-minded, judgmental, unloving and weird. I may struggle with my flaws and humanity (don't we all?) but hate being labeled.  Needless to say, when I think of one person embodying all these descriptions, taking into consideration the negative connotations, I think, 'Ew.'    

 I like to think that I'm a little different, 

but then again, don't we all?  

photo: pixabay

For the sake of providing clarification to my three blog readers, here's what I have to say about myself:


*I don't usually refer to myself a Christian.  There are a whole lot of folks who call themselves Christian because they were born in the South, they are American, their parents are Christian, they go to church once in a while, or they believe there's a god.   I consider myself a friend and follower of Jesus Christ and will accept the term "Christian' for the sake of ease. 


*And yes, I'm spiritual in that I try to recognize when my own heart is weak, my soul is weary, and my mind is fragile.  I know that God listens to my spoken and unspoken words and replies and heals me through his presence, his Word, his people, and his creation.  I feel tremendous freedom and joy when I praise and thank God for his goodness and I love the fact that he invites me to present him with the burdens and requests of my heart.  No request, burden, pain, or amount of brokenness is too much for Him.

*I don't consider myself a church-goer.  It doesn't define who I am.  It's something that I do.  I spend less time at church each week than I do washing laundry, scrubbing dishes, cleaning my house, running errands, or chasing my kids around.  Granted, in our culture we use this term to define someone who is an overall 'good person with good spiritual habits.'  I get it. 

*I go to church to be sharpened and encouraged in my relationship with God.  I don't earn points with God, attain goodness, or erase my own guilt or sins when I go to church.  God doesn't work that way.  His affections can't be bought or earned.  When I go to church, I'm challenged to love various people on a personal level.  I can encourage them in their weakness and hardships as they do with me.  Let's face it- some people are harder to love than others but the factors change tremendously when you both love a mighty God.

photo: fancycrave

*I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.  I believe he lived, died, and rose from the grave to save humanity from sin and death.  


*Because of Jesus' tremendous sacrifice, I choose to be a person who lives my life as a gift back to God out of respect for who he is, out of gratitude for the life he's given me, and out of awe for the love he freely extends my way regardless of how flawed I am.   I cannot earn the love he's already given me.  I simply give mine in return.

*I've experienced too many intersections of Heaven with my current reality for me to not believe that there is a God who deeply loves me.  He reveals his love, grace, power and might to me daily.  Sometimes I'm just not paying attention so I wallow in despair.

I have a long way to go with regards to stereotyping people in general but I find that I'm less likely to do so when I'm slow to speak and quick to listen.  



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What type of people are you too quick to stereotype?