askchapo

you have a few forces, plus or minus stuff you require non-materialistic understanding to take seriously, with religion.

We should identify what Christianity is, actually.

**Christianity is - **A movement started by the word and actions of a Galilean Jewish man probably named something like Yeshua.

Yeshua is very likely a real historical person, there's enough documentation to support the idea that he was at the center of some kind of religious/political movement. There are a lot of different speculations on the nature of the Historical "Jesus" - but one I tend to favor is that he was possibly a genuine rebel against Roman occupation and the puppet dynasty ostensibly ruling over Judea at the time. He was killed, his movement dies, his followers are martyred or driven into hiding. At this point the memory of who he was starts becoming fuzzy, and the theology of Christianity starts diverging massively from whatever that Yeshua-driven message was, though a lot of it may actually survive. ** Christianity is a religious and political institution** - It was always intended to be, if you follow the narrative above, and always was in a certain sense. But when Constantine legitimizes it as a state backed religion, it becomes a tool of statecraft and the management of people. Which means that the priorities shift, especially so divorced from origin, from the justification and establishment of a socio-religious polity, to being direct machinery of the state (of the people who killed him no less). Even through the reformation and all the way to the present moment, its prime role has been political and behavioral justification. ** Christianity is the art of reading, interpreting, and applying the message of a handful of books and letters**, and reinterpreting materials made outside of it as an institution and movement.

There is more, but im moving on - what Christianity is, and therefore what Christians are, exist at the confluence of these factors. Because everything from the nature of how it started, to who/what is legitimate, to what it means to be Christian, to how to interpret its holy books and materials, are all points of contention - what a Christian is is actually fairly fluid.

Because of this, it's not actually helpful to frame this sort of nonsense as indicative of Christians being Christians, or there being some essential nature to a Christian we can dissect from the events in the OP.

In the united states, though, is a kind of protestant Christianity that:

a) has zero interest in unpacking "The Bible" or any other Christian materials. For anyone that isn't whatever passes for clergy in a given congregation, it's mostly social, and where thought is concerned, the relationship is receptive. This isn't a place of learning how to think about things. It's not a place you learn about the social impact of your behavior, except that Evangelism is Good, and Public, Narcissistic Acts of Prayer Show Piety. Understanding isn't a priority.

b) finds historical context and philosophical deconstruction of the source materials to be almost like, anathema, to the belief itself. Because this version of Christianity is so, utterly detached and unlike what it claims to be, most folks are not going to be able to understand the words in the book except by their own idiom and "common sense" - that the gospel of John is literally dripping in neoplatonic thought, and that the Apostle Paul is clearly like, an actual fucking mystic talking about esoteric and occult matters is not only lost on this group, it's heresy. It's satanic influence. It's so unlike what it says it is, there's no reconciling what's actually in those books with anything they prioritize.

c) is very specifically keyed to the interests of a very specific kind of powerful person. It has to fit into this idea of itself that serves the state, which is about instilling low information, emotionally driven action, and validating these experience through pretty basic psychological manipulations. I got to learn how the sausage is made for Charismatic and Pentecostal groups because I was being courted to join my friends in a school meant to create future pastors and church leaders. It nearly left me an atheist. It's all about guiding minds, terminating thought, and getting people who have nothing to cough it up so Pastor Fuckboy can buy a ferrari and has the clout to run for local, state, or national office. Or to be in a position to play kingmaker for such positions of power.

d) expects public displays and affirmation of belief, and is increasingly in a siege mindset that means each group prayer at your job is actually a fucking struggle session and loyalty test. To fail to participate sufficiently is to out yourself, and find yourself out of a job.

is this actually Christianity? As a huge fucking religion nerd - No. Absolutely not. Not really. Not in the sense that it has much of anything in common with whatever traces of the Jesus Movement as it really existed survives for us to compare to - in that way it's damn near a complete inversion of the tenets.

So to answer you finally, "Christians" aren't necessarily full of themselves, but in a lot of places these days, you will find people professing a christian faith that gleefully feeds narcissism such that "winning the football game" or "making a lot of money" are signs of favor and divine glory, is morally, inexplicably more akin to Norse larping than traditionally Christian views and behaviors, that is increasingly less interested as an entity in being anything more than what it's supposed to be - a mass manipulation tool.

Christians are like this because they're either mindfucked real deep. just a gaping hungry butthole in their brains desperate for a rod or to spew shit everywhere; or they're climbing. they're using this monstrosity to increase their own corporeal power.

I personally hate it.