Which is better, to shut out all potential conflict or speak the truth in love?

[grandvizier1006]

For some background, I have an anxiety disorder, so I spend a lot of my time worrying and fretting when I don't need to be. With that said, this pandemic is starting to get to me psychologically and making me dread the future when it's over.

Things were fine during the month of spring, when it seemed like not much was going on. Then George Floyd was murdered and protests and riots swept the country, despite having been told before that we were all supposed to practice "social distancing". Apparently racism was an even worse "pandemic" than an actual virus.

I would have been fine with everything if the protests remained peaceful, even though it still would have prolonged the pandemic. But instead, there were massive riots, more unrest, buildings being burned down, incidents of police brutality and more black men getting killed, thus inspiring more violence in a cycle of revenge. And now there seems to be a campaign focused on erasing history and striking the name of every historical figure and his achievements due to not having the same values as we do today--and thus a new social narrative of self-loathing and a resurgence of "cancel culture".

I don't like any of it and I want it all to end. I want things to go back to 2019, when everything was peaceful. People may insist that wasn't a particularly peaceful year, but it was comparatively peaceful to the Hell on Earth that 2020 has been for everyone, even me, even though I've avoided getting covid so far and no riots have happened where I live. I want to be able to live my life ordinarily and peacefully.

But everywhere I go, and every time I try and interact with people, it seems like people only want to discuss these issues. I have numerous fears surrounding all of this. One of them is that by engaging with people in conversations about all this, I'm going to be exposed as a racist.

I say that because I used to have an issue of having hateful thoughts. As far as I can remember I've never insulted a black person to his or her face. I've just found myself afraid of black men who are much physically stronger than me (I'm a skinny, short white guy) and I've always been afraid that they could beat me up, rob me, or kill me out of revenge for the racism my ancestors inflicted on theirs, or hatred of me if they were so inclined. In the time I was in college, a lot of the black men around me (but certainly not all) seemed to be very loud, annoying, disruptive and disrespectful of the rules, which provided more stress to me in an already stressful environment. Looking back, I know that most people did not mean to harm me at all. I know that I was too bitter and saw things that mildly inconvenienced me as a personal attack on me. It's nothing compared to what black people experience in their everyday lives and certainly no "reverse racism", but it's thoughts I used to have that I'm ashamed to have had. It didn't really end until I was out of college and most of my peers were white once again, like they had been before college.

I knew before the riots happened that at some point, I needed to overcome however much racism was in my heart if I was going to be a proper Christian. But I put it off because I thought other personal issues I needed to improve on were more important. Then when the riots happened, it was around that same time my predominately white (but full of millennials) church opened back up and had a sermon on racism, featuring a black pastor telling his experiences with it. It was a good sermon and tried to be as neutral and reconciling as possible, but it filled me with anxiety. I agreed with most of what my pastor said, except for one phrase: "Black lives matter is not a political statement". Given all of the news I had seen about the riots, I can't agree with that statement. Black Lives Matter as a group is a leftist political group with a good ideal but horrible tactics. I know that the Church wants to help heal racial tensions, but they don't need to side with this secular, leftist group that will insist Christianity take a back seat for its own narrative about why racism exists. "Black lives matter", to me, IS a political statement, even though it shouldn't be. It became one when leftists insisted that saying "All Lives Matter" is racist. I know the mindset behind that line of thinking, but I disagree with it. But apparently disagreement isn't allowed. "White silence is complicit in the oppression", or something. I don't know just how racist America is, and I don't know what to make of the various books being promoted right now that insist that America is still inherently racist and all black people are suffering under it. I'm skeptical of the claims made, but I don't think the other side wants to have a debate. If I tried presenting facts, statistics, etc., to the contrary of the narrative, I could be labelled a racist.

I have a lot of friends who are Christians but also leftists. Unlike me, they have no problem harmonizing their belief in Christ with their leftist political beliefs. Some of them stop short of supporting abortion and homosexuality, but others go all the way. Unfortunately, my own church has some of these leftists. I was reassured by my pastor that he believes what typical Christians have always believed, and isn't a leftist. I believe him, but he seems to have no problems appointing leftists to prominent positions in the church. I don't know why he isn't willing to be assertive of doctrine, but it could be a denominational difference. This is a Nazarene church and I was raised Presbyterian (PCA). God hasn't called me to any particular denomination, but he did call me to that particular church because before all of this happened, they were immensely kind to me.

I went away from that sermon, the first after things were starting to open back up (not sure whether that's a good idea or not, but that too has become politicized, which I hate), feeling alone, scared, and not able to trust anyone in my church. My fear was that if I admitted to having been racist in the past but skeptical of the BLM movement now, I would be deemed a racist and expelled from the church. I was filled with so much anxiety I had to run and hide away from the world, just like we've all had to be doing since the spring of 2020.

My fears go further, though. My other concerns are that if my church, in a desire to "fight racism", decides to be friendly with these radical leftist groups like Black Lives Matter, they'll adopt their secular leftist positions on homosexuality, abortion, and basically the entire DNC platform, in an attempt to be seen as advocating for kindness and equality in society. Christianity can't be reduced to just advocating for political and social causes, just like it can't be reduced to GOP talking points. Ironically, I see both sides complain about the other side of the church being too political without realizing how political they are themselves. My current church has been doing a great job of avoiding that, but now I don't know what the future holds.

I've had to witness my friends on Facebook turn into political machines, churning out "hot-takes" and sometimes outright propaganda about how black people are oppressed, police are evil, every statue or plaque honoring any historical figure from before the 1980s should be taken down because they were all racist, etc. These people are too ignorant right now to realize that technically, Christianity too has been spread by "racist" societies and governments through imperialism. Whether the individual missionaries themselves were racist is another matter, but I can see "cancel culture" targeting them next, and they won't stop until it all gone. Even Biblical figures like David can be interpreted as not worthy of honor under this new system "once you're racist, you're beyond redemption and recognition."

In addition to the fact that this likely includes me, given what my past thoughts and attitudes that I mentioned earlier, I'm worried so many of my friends will become liberals and eventually leave the faith altogether due to being influenced by secular political culture. I already had one friend block me on Facebook long ago without even telling me. I feel awful at having alienated a friend and wish we could still be friends, but I haven't even been able to talk to him on the phone. It's as if he doesn't even exist anymore. But at the same time, the idea that I need to change my opinions on things without discussion, debate, or careful consideration to both sides of the argument, all because one side is supposedly bigoted and the other isn't, and I'll lose my friends if I don't, isn't appealing to me. I value the truth more than anything else. And if something is the truth, it remains true no matter how inconvenient, troubling or unfortunate that it is.

So, having said all of that, I don't know whether it's a good thing or not to air my opinions, even if I leave out my past racist thoughts. But I'm scared of these riots, I don't like that everyone is constantly talking about them, and how if you're not you're apparently a racist, and how this combined with the pandemic means Trump could lose in November. I know Trump isn't a Christian, but at least he claims that he will protect Christians instead of treating us with condescension and disdain like Obama did--unless, of course, those Christians vote Democrat and agree with them on everything, even if it means going against the Bible.

If we have another Democrat now of all times, it's back to a government that penalizes and dislikes conservative Christians, but much worse, now that the culture agrees with them even more. We already have social media censoring and suppressing any right-leaning or conservative thought and ideas, even if they are presented politely. Leftists came out in full force to whine about the Prager University ads on YouTube, for example, and those people were as polite as possible. So it makes no difference how polite and kind I am, I could hated just for having the wrong opinion and people on the left, even people who are supposedly my own fellow Christians, might justify it.

I don't want my beliefs forced out of me because I don't see me saying, "I'm not sure if black men are being killed by the police that often, or "I believe marriage and sex is between a man and a woman" as being hateful, or bigoted, or anything at all like someone who supported segregation, which tends to be the typical strawman comparison. I'm just trying to be a Christian, and my faith can't "evolve" into what other people want it to be, only what God wants it to be.

In the meantime, I started up a blog where I could give my thoughts on most of this, because I felt like it would be better than my Facebook to do so (my Facebook is set to private so only my friends can see what I post, but even then I have to wonder how many mistakes I've made by doing that in the first place). Right now, my friends are respectful with their opinions and in disagreeing with mine, but things could change the longer this pandemic goes on, the more politically-charged incidents happen in the news, the more dumb things Trump says, etc.

So I don't know whether it is more godly for me to engage with other people, or to shut them all out. I've tried shutting out the world before, and it just leads to me being miserable, anxious, and lonely, just like spending too much time interacting with others on the Internet does. I don't know what God is calling me to do.

 

[Rachel20]

speaking the truth in love is fine if anyones listening, otherwise, I think it's best to close doors that don't energize the right spirit in us

 

[Dansiph]

For some background, I have an anxiety disorder, so I spend a lot of my time worrying and fretting when I don't need to be. With that said, this pandemic is starting to get to me psychologically and making me dread the future when it's over.

Things were fine during the month of spring, when it seemed like not much was going on. Then George Floyd was murdered and protests and riots swept the country, despite having been told before that we were all supposed to practice "social distancing". Apparently racism was an even worse "pandemic" than an actual virus.

I would have been fine with everything if the protests remained peaceful, even though it still would have prolonged the pandemic. But instead, there were massive riots, more unrest, buildings being burned down, incidents of police brutality and more black men getting killed, thus inspiring more violence in a cycle of revenge. And now there seems to be a campaign focused on erasing history and striking the name of every historical figure and his achievements due to not having the same values as we do today--and thus a new social narrative of self-loathing and a resurgence of "cancel culture".

I don't like any of it and I want it all to end. I want things to go back to 2019, when everything was peaceful. People may insist that wasn't a particularly peaceful year, but it was comparatively peaceful to the Hell on Earth that 2020 has been for everyone, even me, even though I've avoided getting covid so far and no riots have happened where I live. I want to be able to live my life ordinarily and peacefully.

But everywhere I go, and every time I try and interact with people, it seems like people only want to discuss these issues. I have numerous fears surrounding all of this. One of them is that by engaging with people in conversations about all this, I'm going to be exposed as a racist.

I say that because I used to have an issue of having hateful thoughts. As far as I can remember I've never insulted a black person to his or her face. I've just found myself afraid of black men who are much physically stronger than me (I'm a skinny, short white guy) and I've always been afraid that they could beat me up, rob me, or kill me out of revenge for the racism my ancestors inflicted on theirs, or hatred of me if they were so inclined. In the time I was in college, a lot of the black men around me (but certainly not all) seemed to be very loud, annoying, disruptive and disrespectful of the rules, which provided more stress to me in an already stressful environment. Looking back, I know that most people did not mean to harm me at all. I know that I was too bitter and saw things that mildly inconvenienced me as a personal attack on me. It's nothing compared to what black people experience in their everyday lives and certainly no "reverse racism", but it's thoughts I used to have that I'm ashamed to have had. It didn't really end until I was out of college and most of my peers were white once again, like they had been before college.

I knew before the riots happened that at some point, I needed to overcome however much racism was in my heart if I was going to be a proper Christian. But I put it off because I thought other personal issues I needed to improve on were more important. Then when the riots happened, it was around that same time my predominately white (but full of millennials) church opened back up and had a sermon on racism, featuring a black pastor telling his experiences with it. It was a good sermon and tried to be as neutral and reconciling as possible, but it filled me with anxiety. I agreed with most of what my pastor said, except for one phrase: "Black lives matter is not a political statement". Given all of the news I had seen about the riots, I can't agree with that statement. Black Lives Matter as a group is a leftist political group with a good ideal but horrible tactics. I know that the Church wants to help heal racial tensions, but they don't need to side with this secular, leftist group that will insist Christianity take a back seat for its own narrative about why racism exists. "Black lives matter", to me, IS a political statement, even though it shouldn't be. It became one when leftists insisted that saying "All Lives Matter" is racist. I know the mindset behind that line of thinking, but I disagree with it. But apparently disagreement isn't allowed. "White silence is complicit in the oppression", or something. I don't know just how racist America is, and I don't know what to make of the various books being promoted right now that insist that America is still inherently racist and all black people are suffering under it. I'm skeptical of the claims made, but I don't think the other side wants to have a debate. If I tried presenting facts, statistics, etc., to the contrary of the narrative, I could be labelled a racist.

I have a lot of friends who are Christians but also leftists. Unlike me, they have no problem harmonizing their belief in Christ with their leftist political beliefs. Some of them stop short of supporting abortion and homosexuality, but others go all the way. Unfortunately, my own church has some of these leftists. I was reassured by my pastor that he believes what typical Christians have always believed, and isn't a leftist. I believe him, but he seems to have no problems appointing leftists to prominent positions in the church. I don't know why he isn't willing to be assertive of doctrine, but it could be a denominational difference. This is a Nazarene church and I was raised Presbyterian (PCA). God hasn't called me to any particular denomination, but he did call me to that particular church because before all of this happened, they were immensely kind to me.

I went away from that sermon, the first after things were starting to open back up (not sure whether that's a good idea or not, but that too has become politicized, which I hate), feeling alone, scared, and not able to trust anyone in my church. My fear was that if I admitted to having been racist in the past but skeptical of the BLM movement now, I would be deemed a racist and expelled from the church. I was filled with so much anxiety I had to run and hide away from the world, just like we've all had to be doing since the spring of 2020.

My fears go further, though. My other concerns are that if my church, in a desire to "fight racism", decides to be friendly with these radical leftist groups like Black Lives Matter, they'll adopt their secular leftist positions on homosexuality, abortion, and basically the entire DNC platform, in an attempt to be seen as advocating for kindness and equality in society. Christianity can't be reduced to just advocating for political and social causes, just like it can't be reduced to GOP talking points. Ironically, I see both sides complain about the other side of the church being too political without realizing how political they are themselves. My current church has been doing a great job of avoiding that, but now I don't know what the future holds.

I've had to witness my friends on Facebook turn into political machines, churning out "hot-takes" and sometimes outright propaganda about how black people are oppressed, police are evil, every statue or plaque honoring any historical figure from before the 1980s should be taken down because they were all racist, etc. These people are too ignorant right now to realize that technically, Christianity too has been spread by "racist" societies and governments through imperialism. Whether the individual missionaries themselves were racist is another matter, but I can see "cancel culture" targeting them next, and they won't stop until it all gone. Even Biblical figures like David can be interpreted as not worthy of honor under this new system "once you're racist, you're beyond redemption and recognition."

In addition to the fact that this likely includes me, given what my past thoughts and attitudes that I mentioned earlier, I'm worried so many of my friends will become liberals and eventually leave the faith altogether due to being influenced by secular political culture. I already had one friend block me on Facebook long ago without even telling me. I feel awful at having alienated a friend and wish we could still be friends, but I haven't even been able to talk to him on the phone. It's as if he doesn't even exist anymore. But at the same time, the idea that I need to change my opinions on things without discussion, debate, or careful consideration to both sides of the argument, all because one side is supposedly bigoted and the other isn't, and I'll lose my friends if I don't, isn't appealing to me. I value the truth more than anything else. And if something is the truth, it remains true no matter how inconvenient, troubling or unfortunate that it is.

So, having said all of that, I don't know whether it's a good thing or not to air my opinions, even if I leave out my past racist thoughts. But I'm scared of these riots, I don't like that everyone is constantly talking about them, and how if you're not you're apparently a racist, and how this combined with the pandemic means Trump could lose in November. I know Trump isn't a Christian, but at least he claims that he will protect Christians instead of treating us with condescension and disdain like Obama did--unless, of course, those Christians vote Democrat and agree with them on everything, even if it means going against the Bible.

If we have another Democrat now of all times, it's back to a government that penalizes and dislikes conservative Christians, but much worse, now that the culture agrees with them even more. We already have social media censoring and suppressing any right-leaning or conservative thought and ideas, even if they are presented politely. Leftists came out in full force to whine about the Prager University ads on YouTube, for example, and those people were as polite as possible. So it makes no difference how polite and kind I am, I could hated just for having the wrong opinion and people on the left, even people who are supposedly my own fellow Christians, might justify it.

I don't want my beliefs forced out of me because I don't see me saying, "I'm not sure if black men are being killed by the police that often, or "I believe marriage and sex is between a man and a woman" as being hateful, or bigoted, or anything at all like someone who supported segregation, which tends to be the typical strawman comparison. I'm just trying to be a Christian, and my faith can't "evolve" into what other people want it to be, only what God wants it to be.

In the meantime, I started up a blog where I could give my thoughts on most of this, because I felt like it would be better than my Facebook to do so (my Facebook is set to private so only my friends can see what I post, but even then I have to wonder how many mistakes I've made by doing that in the first place). Right now, my friends are respectful with their opinions and in disagreeing with mine, but things could change the longer this pandemic goes on, the more politically-charged incidents happen in the news, the more dumb things Trump says, etc.

So I don't know whether it is more godly for me to engage with other people, or to shut them all out. I've tried shutting out the world before, and it just leads to me being miserable, anxious, and lonely, just like spending too much time interacting with others on the Internet does. I don't know what God is calling me to do.

I can tell you are worried. What are you doing to combat your anxiety? I'm guilty of it too but this type of thinking doesn't solve anything. How many of your worries actually happen? If they do is it ever as bad as you think?

 

[grandvizier1006]

I can tell you are worried. What are you doing to combat your anxiety? I'm guilty of it too but this type of thinking doesn't solve anything. How many of your worries actually happen? If they do is it ever as bad as you think?

Not very often. But they feel real. The best things I've tried doing to combat anxiety are to either face the fears, or try and distract myself from them. The latter is easy to do but sometimes leads me to be unproductive, and the former isn't always possible. A lot of times what I'm worried about is what OTHER people will do that could potentially make my life worse.

 

[Jeshu]

Good to see you around brother. Yes i can understand that we all have to do some deep soul searching when it comes to racism. The debate is a loaded shotgun so it is best to stay away from there but with your brothers and sisters in Christ i think we can all believe. God loves all people, no matter their colour or culture. Bad treatment doesn't warrant dishing bad treatment out but is an example how damaging it is. For us it is to seek for answers that are truthful and peaceful not caving in to the demands of left or right but to the love of God.

Politics, by its very nature is worldly, and should be treated like that. Loving truthfully is a challenge we all face in Christ. Lets remove the beams out of our own eyes firstly before we start on the splinters in our neighbours.

Please hand all your worries, sins, shortcomings and fears over to Jesus and let Him teach you how to deal with the pressures of this world. Do step into God's Rest about this. Soon the great persecution will break out in full fury, we best be well prepared to survive this current rebellious time by letting Jesus teach us how to love truthfully. It is only then that we Christians can witness effectively about our Lord Jesus Christ.

He will come to put things right and although everybody is invited not one sinner will sit at the wedding feast with soiled garments.

Peace.

Psalm 22:25-28
"From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!


All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations."

 

[timothyu]

What struck me about your mention of 'cancel culture' is that tearing down statues and cancelling Christianity is remarkably similar to what fundamentalists in the middle east are doing. Should this be overlooked? Is this movement more about race or about a sleeping million strong religion within the black community? If it is the latter, the separation of church and state has overlooked what is going on with people thinking that usually means Christianity and state, while another religion is using state to strengthen itself under the guise of race. Should this be shut out?

 

[Dansiph]

Not very often. But they feel real. The best things I've tried doing to combat anxiety are to either face the fears, or try and distract myself from them. The latter is easy to do but sometimes leads me to be unproductive, and the former isn't always possible. A lot of times what I'm worried about is what OTHER people will do that could potentially make my life worse.

There's a word there... "Potentially". Too much thinking of the future or the past is harmful. Negative self-talk is harmful. I was going to post some Bible but I remembered an article with a quote from Theodore Roosevelt:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

You're giving the critics control before anything has even happened.

 

[public hermit]

My guidance for you would be to take some time away from social media, news, all of it. You have so many voices impinging on you, as we all do. Much of what is going on is far beyond your control.

Just take a day away from it and focus on the moment, focus on your work or hobbies, whatever. Find a mantra, like, " He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world." As soon as your mind starts to thumb through your playlist of worries, start repeating your mantra until you're focused again. Try that for a day. If it helps, keep doing it. And, whatever you do remember, you are not your thoughts

Free your mind, make room in it for Christ. Then, possibly, you will be in a better place to engage others with grace. Honestly, we have all got to take a step back and calibrate. It's not just you.

 

[paul1149]

>Which is better, to shut out all potential conflict or speak the truth in love?

I put a high premium on Body unity. That is why I don't get too involved in politics here. I don't go looking for fights, but if I have no alternative I will stand my ground. And sometimes conscience dictates that there is no alternative.

You have every right to disagree or be concerned about the political direction of your church. You also are free to find a church which either steers clear of politics altogether (not easy to find and in my view, not necessarily a good thing) or shares your outlook on things more closely.

 

[Silmarien]

I would recommend against deliberately seeking out conflict, especially since it seems to me that you have a lot of issues, both with the left and with your own history with racism, that you need to resolve before it would be safe to engage in any sort of political discussion at all with the other side. You're clearly afraid of being judged, which I think is likely to make you defensive and reactionary, and that's a bad way to approach a topic like this.

It's also useful to think about the recent protests and riots within the context of the larger pandemic, since I don't believe that the two things are unrelated events. People were already extremely stressed out because of the shutdown, I suspect that there were a lot of mental health issues that erupted into an instance of absolute mass hysteria. I would take everything that's being said and done right now with a grain of salt and a lot of compassion, since I think everyone was already half mad going into this crisis.

If people are trying to rope you into conversations about the protests, I would just tell them that the chaos makes you anxious and that you don't want to talk about it. You have options besides shutting everyone out and getting into potentially dangerous arguments.

 

[Jeshu]

 

[CaspianSails]

Words of comfort, "Lo, I am with you even to the end of the age". Christ.

 

[Tolworth John]

have an anxiety disorder, so I spend a lot of my time worrying and fretting when I don't need to be.

The only answer to anxiety I know is to consider what is the worst that could happen and what is likely to happen.

Race riots, what is the worst that could happen? Your home destroyed, your place of work and worship destroyed and you along with many others are homeless!

Is that likely to happen? Realistically you may have protest matches down your street, they may be violent, windows being broken etc but buildings burnt down!

If this still worries you, prepare a panic bag, with a change of clothing, documents you need, cd's of vital information, some emergence cash and a list of places you can run to plus how to get there.

Also on a practical note, f the news makes you anxious stop watching it.

 

[grandvizier1006]

The only answer to anxiety I know is to consider what is the worst that could happen and what is likely to happen.

Race riots, what is the worst that could happen? Your home destroyed, your place of work and worship destroyed and you along with many others are homeless!

Is that likely to happen? Realistically you may have protest matches down your street, they may be violent, windows being broken etc but buildings burnt down!

If this still worries you, prepare a panic bag, with a change of clothing, documents you need, cd's of vital information, some emergence cash and a list of places you can run to plus how to get there.

Also on a practical note, f the news makes you anxious stop watching it.

There aren't many places I can go. Nothing has happened yet that would be bad enough for me to actually leave, and probably won’t. But the world is very hostile to Christians as a whole, either with persecution or just a social and cultural hatred of our beliefs.

 

[timothyu]

But the world is very hostile to Christians as a whole, either with persecution or just a social and cultural hatred of our beliefs.

Funny how that perception has come about only in the last 20 years. God and Jesus were freely spoken of on tv, in movies, even pop/rock music, in a positive light before that.
Since that time the secular gospel of self interest has caught on where rights have overtaken acting responsibly and people see anyone disagreeing with them as trampling on their sensitivities as if it was some constitutional right to not to be disagreed with, and Christianity tends to set off their allergies.

 

[Tolworth John]

There aren't many places I can go. Nothing has happened yet that would be bad enough for me to actually leave, and probably won’t. But the world is very hostile to Christians as a whole, either with persecution or just a social and cultural hatred of our beliefs.

May I ask just how is this hostility to Christians being seen in your town and state?

What evidence do you have of active hostility towards Christians in American?

I am asking for you to evaluate how accurate your statement is.

It also follows that unless there have been riots in your street that the situation is no where near as bad as you fear.

 

[grandvizier1006]

May I ask just how is this hostility to Christians being seen in your town and state?

What evidence do you have of active hostility towards Christians in American?

I am asking for you to evaluate how accurate your statement is.

It also follows that unless there have been riots in your street that the situation is no where near as bad as you fear.

Right where I am, no riots, no hatred, no hostility. This is all concerns for the future. I’m in one of the states that is supposedly spreading covid more because some (but certainly not all) people here don’t care to wear a mask or socially distance. People are just sort of seeing covid as inevitable and expect to be just fine. Regardless of what actually happens, though, many people where I live are nominally Christians and likely support Trump and his insistence that churches should remain open. Christians could be seen as “disease spreaders” by the non-Christians in this country, which outnumber us significantly despite whatever demographics and statistics may claim (many of the people who claim to be Christians aren’t, of course). Of course, their reasoning for not fearing covid has nothing to do with Christianity and everything to do with American culture—simply put, we don’t like people telling us what to do. If there weren’t an infectious disease going around I’d be ok with that mindset. But right now people in my community are looking in the short term instead of the long term. Just yesterday at church some guy wasn’t wearing a mask and approached me. He only said one word, but he could very well have infected me with covid and I won’t even know until next week or so. And if Covid doesn’t kill me or cause any serious health issues, which it likely won’t as I’m young, then post-pandemic there may be an intense hatred or American Christians by the non-Christians, or the world at large. As much as I understand that Trump is incompetent in a lot of ways, if he loses the election then Christians may start being actively disenfranchised, restricted, etc.—any legal means to weaken us. I knew that would happen after Trump left office, but I thought we’d get four more years.

So to answer your question, nothing has happened yet. But I can see that resentment is brewing in other parts of America where people believe differently from me, and in other parts of the world.

 

[Tolworth John]

So to answer your question, nothing has happened yet. But I can see that resentment is brewing in other parts of America where people believe differently from me, and in other parts of the world

You have basically said there is no valid reason for your anxiety.

What will happen tomorrow neither of us know. Solar can do is seek to live for the Lord.
In church use your arm to keep unmasked people away from you, or have a walking stick or umbrella you can use to keep them at a distance.

If religious perscution comes would your neighbours work colleagues know you as a Christian, worry about that and about the quality of your witness to Jesus.