Ok to hang out with anti-christian liberals?

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ellam25

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Hi everyone so hear me out. My cousin in law (husbands cousin) is holding a “writers meeting” at her house and invited me to join as I love to write. We are only aquanted over facebook but I really wanted to go, as I have been looking for a group I can share my stories with. However, this cousin (We’ll call her Ashley) is very vocal about her atheism and support for planned parenthood and homosexual marriage on facebook. I have looked at the other people going (also family members of my husband, mostly) and many of them have the rainbow colored profile pics or stuff on their page that says “I stand with planned parenthood” and what not. Now granted, this meeting is not about our political or religious standpoints, but I am not sure if it is “allowed” per se to hang out with people with these point of views. I would not be swayed to their standpoints, but idk. What is the church position on situations like this, or what is your suggestions/views?
 
Go ahead and check it out. My guess is that the discussion will be about writing in the beginning, but after a while the conversation will turn to more liberal topics. This might be an opportunity for you present the Church’s position on the issues and maybe give them something to think about. If it gets to be too much, you can always fid an excuse and drop out later.
 
Yes. It is morally permissible to hang out with people who don’t believe in what the Church teaches. Whether it’s wise or not depends on the circumstances. However, if you are strong in your faith, you may end up being a powerful witness to the other members of the group, or at least manage to dispel some anti-Catholic myths that float around out there.
 
I would go once to see what it’s like. If they stick to writing, fine. If they start spouting off about their political views, probably best not to hang out with them.
 
ellam25 said:
Hi everyone so hear me out. My cousin in law (husbands cousin) is holding a “writers meeting” at her house and invited me to join as I love to write. We are only aquanted over facebook but I really wanted to go, as I have been looking for a group I can share my stories with. However, this cousin (We’ll call her Ashley) is very vocal about her atheism and support for planned parenthood and homosexual marriage on facebook. I have looked at the other people going (also family members of my husband, mostly) and many of them have the rainbow colored profile pics or stuff on their page that says “I stand with planned parenthood” and what not. Now granted, this meeting is not about our political or religious standpoints, but I am not sure if it is “allowed” per se to hang out with people with these point of views. I would not be swayed to their standpoints, but idk. What is the church position on situations like this, or what is your suggestions/views?
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If you feel that you are well equipped to defend your faith with charity IF you are asked about it then why not.
We are supposed to go out and change the world not to close ourselves in our little cocoons.
After all, the Apostles converted a whole Roman Empire. Surely we can do better with the knowledge and tools we have at our disposal today. Remember never say I do not know. When you do not know something say. “I don’t have an answer for your question now, but I’ll find out and come back to you”.

…
 
Why do you have to defend anything? Just because a liberal expresses a view in my presence contrary to Church teachings, it is Not My Job to make sure that person is aware of how they are wrong.

Paul, as compared with Peter, reached out to non-Jews more. He would go in under the radar to win the people over. He would act like them, without wearing a badge on his forehead for Full Disclosure of Religious Group Identification. In fact, identification with the “correct” religious group, was routinely mocked by Jesus in His parables. So just because you’re Catholic and you know the Church’s teachings, you don’t get to presume you have the “right” way even though you know you do. This is called “manners” and only applies when there are two or more people involved. Manners are specifically designed so that humans may engage in social interactions without having to first go through some kind of assimilation of each others’ beliefs. Make yourself a slave to them, is what Paul does. Not try to be their teacher and Explain Everything Clearly.

1 Cor 1:17-25
For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the learning of the learned I will set aside.”

Where is the wise one? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not come to know God through wisdom, it was the will of God through the foolishness of the proclamation to save those who have faith. For Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.​

Turn the other cheek works for words even better than fists. If they say things against your religion, do you think they don’t know that? Rejoice and be glad, as in the Beatitudes. You do not have to tell them How It Is, in order to refrain from adding on or consenting.

Ask questions. Say, well, what about this? And not in a snide fashion just like you really are curious and that’s how you should be. Listen more before trying to preach, expands you range of empathy with the human condition and unites you to Jesus.

Check out 1 Cor 9:19-23
Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.

You’re not going to hear that from Peter, because his world deals with those already inside the Church. 😉
 
colour me cynical…I’m guessing here that your cousin knows your position(s) on the subject; thus, it seems to me to be an awfully convenient invite given the overt nature of your cousin and the other guests as you’ve described them.

If you go, then go with the understanding that the topic may very well turn to the GLBTQ agenda. You are going to stand out like the preverbal “sore thumb” and that’s a temptation that many cannot resist.
 
It’s one thing to be a non-believer who doesn’t mock religion and express a vulgar, taunting hatred for it, the way the “Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted” facebook thing does. I could be friends with a quiet non-believer who simply doesn’t believe, but doesn’t seem to have a violent hatred for it. Your cousin could be just one of many who simply follow the herd and are easily brainwashed. I’m not saying for sure, because I don’t know her, but from what I’ve seen, many of these kind of people just follow blindly along the wide path. They’re all the same. They hate babies, but think you’re mean if you don’t think Mr. and Mr. or Mrs. and Mrs. should be “married.” Go figure.
 
Other than the cousin-in-law who you know to be an atheist, how do you know the others are “anti-Christian?” I see you went to their Facebook pages and found that some hold different views from you but that doesn’t make them anti-Christian. For all you know, they spend their spare time working with the poor and sick.

You may find that, although you disagree with them profoundly on some issues, they are some of the finest people you have ever met. Of course you won’t know that if you don’t actually meet them and instead judge them based on their Facebook pages. Who knows, unless you are completely sin-free, this may be an opportunity for you to grow spiritually-to learn not to judge others without getting to know them.
 
Used to be friends with one of these types. Super-liberal dude who would bash me over the head because of my pro-life stance. I’m good, as Jesus said, those who hear you, hear me, if not, treat him like you would a publican or tax collector.
 
Go! And thank God for the chance to evangelize through your gift of writing! We have have gifts given to us to share. You have a chance to evangelize to the hardest of hearts through the beauty of written words. Even if it does turn political and you end up needing to eventually leave, one seed planted may someday bring at least one of the people there to truth. Good luck and remember to stay rooted in prayer asking for the Holy Spirit to guide your interactions! We must evangelize through relationship for even Christ used this way.
 
As a political progressive who mingles with the irreligious crowd, I warn you now that abandoning people based on faith severely deprives you of wisdom, friendship, and so on. If they openly make it a point to covert you to atheism (refusing to respect your beliefs), perhaps it is best to not hang at with them. But if they simply want to have a frank debate, embrace it and let it strengthen you.

I say this as an atheist who is strongly considering going back to the Church.
 
Joko2599 said:
As a political progressive who mingles with the irreligious crowd, I warn you now that abandoning people based on faith severely deprives you of wisdom, friendship, and so on. If they openly make it a point to covert you to atheism (refusing to respect your beliefs), perhaps it is best to not hang at with them. But if they simply want to have a frank debate, embrace it and let it strengthen you.

I say this as an atheist who is strongly considering going back to the Church.
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:amen:

And thanks to the others encouraging the OP not to bail out because they might think differently. Kind of like the ostrich effect: “maybe if I don’t look at them they will go away and the world will be a More Catholic Place. At least my world will seem to be.”

I hang with any group that will have me, who doesn’t expect me to do things I will not do. They are just as much a part of the Mystical Body of Christ as any of you or me. Either that or you have adjusted the teachings of Jesus and the Church to advance an exclusionary agenda.

So if they are in the Body, but we think they are disgusting, then St. Paul addressed that. This section is one to really embrace, and for most of us that can take coming back to it quite a few times as we mature:

1 Cor 12:12-26
As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.

Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.”

Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary,** and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.**

So if you honor them less, God honors them more. Sounds like they win either way.

It works the other way, too. If they dishonor us for the sake of the Gospel we should rejoice and be glad as Jesus said, because that is how they treat prophets.

Does that mean if you shun and dishonor them for their beliefs, then you will be treating them like prophets get treated by evil people? Could that be a good thing? One can’t predict with the Holy Spirit will do with with all this – if we could then we could rely on our own understanding and not need the Holy Spirit. :hmmm:

One thing I find comical (I used to find maddening so this is an upgrade that helped restore my sanity) is that we Christians judge each other on the basis of those whom they hang around. We are to be “like Jesus” and only hang around those who do not sin. Sounds like how to be like those who mocked Jesus, rather than Jesus Himself. He got mocked for hanging around sinners and standing up for them against the righteous.

MS
 
Honestly, I struggle with this too.

Sometimes, it just gets to be too much to deal with.

I think it depends on the person.

I know some fantastic atheists/liberals. However, I also know some really annoying atheists/liberals.

Focus on what you have in common.

Joko2599 gets it right when pointing out that you shouldn’t deprive yourself from making new friends who have a different point of view than you do.

However, if they just want to lecture more then they want have a conversation, then don’t waste your time.
 
There are many people who are suffer the misfortune of an anti-Christian liberal outlook. It’s still possible to let them enrich your life and for you to enrich theirs. However, if you put yourself in a position where what you know to be truth is a minority opinion, realize that it will take tremendous strength to stay true to your values.

The proselytism of the anti-Christian liberal is insidious because they know that every religious person is driven by a strong desire to do what is right and reject what is evil. Hence, they will try to persuade you with fallacious, but nonetheless persuasive, arguments that your own religion is actually a force for great evil. If that doesn’t work, they will try to browbeat you with insistence that you are wrong, or humiliate you by repeatedly calling your intellect into question.

If you are strong, stubborn, have healthy self-respect, and a close network of like-minded friends and family, you might be able to endure the anti-Christians. Otherwise, or if you feel yourself getting worn down, you may need to remove yourself from the situation, plucking out the proverbial offending eye rather than letting it lead you to sin.
 
JorduSpeaks said:
The proselytism of the anti-Christian liberal is insidious because they know that every religious person is driven by a strong desire to do what is right and reject what is evil. Hence, they will try to persuade you with fallacious, but nonetheless persuasive, arguments that your own religion is actually a force for great evil. If that doesn’t work, they will try to browbeat you with insistence that you are wrong, or humiliate you by repeatedly calling your intellect into question.
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I know this process too well, actually, it’s quite spot on. They operate under specious pretexts, but if that doesn’t work then yes, they will insult your intelligence. Come to think of it, this behaviour is rather predictable.

Ultimately when you start getting eyes rolled at you, you ought to recognize this isn’t really a friendship; it’s just him trying to shame you and push his liberal ideology onto you.
 
whatever happened to not associating with evil-doers? ephesians talks about this, why are we not following this?

im not saying we should ignore them but in all honesty they are faster at ignoring us,

i find great sadness in the fact i talk to or sit with lost souls and its dissappointing to listen to some comments
 
pwlj_christ87 said:
whatever happened to not associating with evil-doers? ephesians talks about this, why are we not following this?

im not saying we should ignore them but in all honesty they are faster at ignoring us,

i find great sadness in the fact i talk to or sit with lost souls and its dissappointing to listen to some comments
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Where in Ephesians are you referring to?
 
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