Why are some Christians so easily offended?

[ianb321red]

The Christmas day tweets by Neil deGrasse Tyson (see Neil deGrasse Tyson stirs Christmas Twitter war - CNN.com)

"On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642,"

This is objectively TRUE.
Most Christians - I would hope - know that Jesus Christ was actually born end of Sept/ early Oct during the Feast of the Tabernacles...
Santa wasn't born on Dec 25th either.....

"Merry Christmas to all. A Pagan holiday (BC) becomes a Religious holiday (AD). Which then becomes a Shopping holiday (USA)."

This is objectively TRUE.
Following on from the first point, Winter festivals have origins in paganism which have been adopted over the centuries by the church. There is a huge emphasis on gift giving, which in the modern era is intrinsically linked with shopping/ commercialism...

"QUESTION: This year, what do all the world's Muslims and Jews call December 25th? ANSWER: Thursday."

This is objectively TRUE.
Obviously with both religions, while accepting Jesus as either a great rabbi or prophet, completely reject the Christian notion of the Jesus being the messiah.

Tyson then went on to say:

""Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them."

Fair point. I don't particularly like this guy, but it is clearly ridiculous that some people (Christians) are so easily offended - everything he said was objectively TRUE and I personally wasn't offended by his tweets.....

 

[High Fidelity]

I read those tweets and thought they were decent.

Makes a change to the usual dross we see on Twitter.

I'd imagine a lot of the outrage is down to ignorance and the fact a lot of Christians think they should be offended but don't know exactly why.

 

[Liberasit]

I am not offended. I think it is nice to hear about people with Christmas birthdays.

As for truly offensive material, surely we Christians have already heard it all before?

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

I don't see what is offensive about it.

Some people just like to get offended at anything.

It's like some scots are now getting offended by the word jock, sweaty jock etc etc in my case am not lol

 

[Inkfingers]

Are Christians "so easily offended"?

Or are some easily offended, some apathetic, and some just rolling our eyes at yet another rude person deciding to sound off on a day important to many Christians.

Lets see Tyson sound off against Muslim's special days and see how long he keeps his head.....

 

[Blue Wren]

-

 

[Bungle_Bear]

I don't think "Christians" are (were) offended. I think this boils down quite simply to certain people wanting to draw attention to themselves. Much like Neil deGrasse Tyson did.

 

[Danny777]

The Christmas day tweets by Neil deGrasse Tyson (see Neil deGrasse Tyson stirs Christmas Twitter war - CNN.com)

"On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642,"

This is objectively TRUE.
Most Christians - I would hope - know that Jesus Christ was actually born end of Sept/ early Oct during the Feast of the Tabernacles...
Santa wasn't born on Dec 25th either.....

That tweet is not 'objectively true' if Jesus was born late Sept/early Oct?

 

[tonybeer]

I think people tend get more offended when people say things that are true, than when they are not. If you call someone athletic "fat", they will probably just be confused, whereas if you call a large person "fat", they are far more likely to take offense.

I subscribe to the Stephen Fry notion of offensiveness:

"It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' <Staff Edit>

 

[Robban]

The Christmas day tweets by Neil deGrasse Tyson (see Neil deGrasse Tyson stirs Christmas Twitter war - CNN.com)

"On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642,"

This is objectively TRUE.
Most Christians - I would hope - know that Jesus Christ was actually born end of Sept/ early Oct during the Feast of the Tabernacles...
Santa wasn't born on Dec 25th either.....

"Merry Christmas to all. A Pagan holiday (BC) becomes a Religious holiday (AD). Which then becomes a Shopping holiday (USA)."

This is objectively TRUE.
Following on from the first point, Winter festivals have origins in paganism which have been adopted over the centuries by the church. There is a huge emphasis on gift giving, which in the modern era is intrinsically linked with shopping/ commercialism...

"QUESTION: This year, what do all the world's Muslims and Jews call December 25th? ANSWER: Thursday."

This is objectively TRUE.
Obviously with both religions, while accepting Jesus as either a great rabbi or prophet, completely reject the Christian notion of the Jesus being the messiah.

Tyson then went on to say:

""Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them."

Fair point. I don't particularly like this guy, but it is clearly ridiculous that some people (Christians) are so easily offended - everything he said was objectively TRUE and I personally wasn't offended by his tweets.....

This 31st Dec and 1st Jan was Wednesday and Thursday, most parts of the World went bananas, How come?

Has the World been taken for a ride?

2014 yrs from, what?

 

[theFijian]

"On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642,"

This is objectively TRUE.

Only if we pretend there's no difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars

 

[theFijian]

I subscribe to the Stephen Fry notion of offensiveness:

"It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so f****** what."

I presume then that Stephen Fry has never been offended by anything ever. I very much doubt that is the case however

 

[ianb321red]

That tweet is not 'objectively true' if Jesus was born late Sept/early Oct?

yes, sorry I meant it was objectively true that Isaac Newton was born on 25th Dec

 

[ianb321red]

I presume then that Stephen Fry has never been offended by anything ever. I very much doubt that is the case however

In 1993 Stephen Fry said:

"I am a lover of truth, a worshipper of freedom, a celebrant at the altar of language and purity and tolerance. That is my religion, and every day I am sorely, grossly, heinously and deeply offended, wounded, mortified and injured by a thousand different blasphemies against it."

 

[Cearbhall]

"On this day long ago, a child was born who, by age 30, would transform the world. Happy Birthday Isaac Newton b. Dec 25, 1642,"

This is objectively TRUE.
Most Christians - I would hope - know that Jesus Christ was actually born end of Sept/ early Oct during the Feast of the Tabernacles...
Santa wasn't born on Dec 25th either.....

I'm not sure I would go so far as to call this offensive, but it's not something I would have tweeted. It seems like an unnecessary dig. Of course it's a fact, but it's clear that he was thinking of Christmas. He wasn't randomly stating Newton's date of birth.

Unless his intent was just to make a joke about the fact that Jesus wasn't actually born on Dec. 25, and he wasn't trying to diminish the significance of a religious figure.

"Merry Christmas to all. A Pagan holiday (BC) becomes a Religious holiday (AD). Which then becomes a Shopping holiday (USA)."

This is objectively TRUE.
Following on from the first point, Winter festivals have origins in paganism which have been adopted over the centuries by the church. There is a huge emphasis on gift giving, which in the modern era is intrinsically linked with shopping/ commercialism...

I don't see a problem with this one. I can even imagine a fundamentalist retweeting this out of disapproval of Christmas season commercialism.

"QUESTION: This year, what do all the world's Muslims and Jews call December 25th? ANSWER: Thursday."

This is objectively TRUE.
Obviously with both religions, while accepting Jesus as either a great rabbi or prophet, completely reject the Christian notion of the Jesus being the messiah.

This one is just funny.

Tyson then went on to say:

""Imagine a world in which we are all enlightened by objective truths rather than offended by them."

Fair point. I don't particularly like this guy, but it is clearly ridiculous that some people (Christians) are so easily offended - everything he said was objectively TRUE and I personally wasn't offended by his tweets.....

I love Tyson, and I think he has a good point, though I don't feel the same need to be confrontational with Christianity as a whole. I too am fed up with how some Christians stunt scientific progress and education by influencing culture with their beliefs, but there are also forms of Christianity that don't cause any harm at all.

 

[theFijian]

yes, sorry I meant it was objectively true that Isaac Newton was born on 25th Dec

And I meant it's only objectively true if you ignore some other pertinent objective facts, ignoring facts is not very objective. And in the wider context of his other tweets then it's clearly deliberate.

What amazes me more is that so many folk fell for his first tweet and thought it was accurate.

 

[ianb321red]

And I meant it's only objectively true if you ignore some other pertinent objective facts, ignoring facts is not very objective. And in the wider context of his other tweets then it's clearly deliberate.

What amazes me more is that so many folk fell for his first tweet and thought it was accurate.

I've no doubt it was entirely deliberate, but I still wasn't offended.....

 

[theFijian]

I've no doubt it was entirely deliberate, but I still wasn't offended.....

But why would you be offended by a tweet that was objectively false?

 

[agua]

Why are some Christians so easily offended ? ...

It's the hair shirts they make us irritable.

 

[ianb321red]

But why would you be offended by a tweet that was objectively false?

Because you didn't know that it was objectively false