by Keira Monroe

Created on: January 14, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

If you watch the news long enough, you are bound to hear one of those scary stories: "Pastor engaged in fraud", "Head of church caught cheating", "Religious leader condemns alternate lifestyles publicly". Unfortunately, it is not just the news that has given Christians a bad rap sheet. In fact, the portrayal of Christians in any media outlet has been far from pretty. Christians, especially those connected to evangelical sects have been stereotyped as lunatics, desperately trying to sell their message about politics using the pretense of Christ. They wag their fingers along with their tongues and are seen dancing around in worship, uttering indiscernible phrases while asking for money to support their ministries. In short, a huge turn-off. Does this image resonate with you at all?

Consequently, being a student at a Christian college as well as having been involved in the church in the past, it sort of makes my skin crawl when people discover that I'm "one of them". I have struggled with rejecting being lumped into the category society labels disdainfully as "Christians" or even a person one might call "religious". It has been more and more tempting as time goes on and the religious figureheads make a mutiny of my core beliefs, to discard my association with the aforementioned "Christians" without rejecting the name of "Christ".
The truth is, as I'm certain, as it is among a great many Christians, that I don't like to take my perspective on religion and mix it in with my political agenda. I don't typically like to paint people with broad strokes such as the categories of "good", "evil" "damned" and "saved". Furthermore, I also cannot stand when people use the standard Christian checklist to see if I qualify to be a Christian. Unfamiliar with this checklist? You may not realize that you have encountered it, as the questions and topics are raised subtly in conversation, but you will encounter a raised eyebrow or a set of pursed lips if you infer that you might have ever had an alcoholic drink, wore a skimpy outfit, boasted a tattoo or piercing, engaged in premarital sex, sympathized with the pro-choice side of politics, or are not actively crusading the abolition of same-sex marriages.
Regardless of whether or not you are supporting or opposing any of the above issues are right or wrong is immaterial. If it is one thing that we should have learned by now as followers of Christ, is that God chooses very unlikely characters to carry out His message, and they are

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