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Comment by andyjohnson0 | Hacker News Reader

The problem with targeting "hipsters" (a term I dislike, btw) is that after a while they inevitably move on to the next new thing. And I don't think that religious belief systems are immune. A few years ago the new thing was Kabala, and before that western Buddhism.

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I don't know, do hipsters go back to drinking crappy coffee? I think broad interests change with new experience. I don't know about community in Buddhism or Kabala, but in Christianity, once you experience healthy, constructive, no-judging, be-yourself community with other Christians, your tastes change. Going back to normal friendships is a little like getting used to great coffee then switching to instant coffee.

Unless of course you're gay or trans. Most versions of "Christianity" take a dim view of those folks.

Or where I live, there are a few "pretty" churches where it's more of a meat market than a fellowship or worship organization. They advertise on the radio and hold lots of singles mixers. Big beautiful campus near the lake. Some pastor must be doing pretty well in the eyes of his CPA.

I don't think all Christians are in "healthy, constructive, no-judging, be-yourself communities", and it sounds like you haven't had any exposure to one of those. I mentioned calling people on their crap in another post, and I've called Christian friends out for bigotry before. Part of a constructive relationship involves correcting people in a healthy and safe environment.

It's certainly not biblical to hate or judge anyone. That also means I can't hate or judge people for their hateful or judgmental attitudes. But it's not worth diving into a particular community steeped in those problems either.

64% of self-identifying evangelical millennials support same-sex marriage:

http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/21/why-republicans-are-say...

Isn't that true with all religious groups? You feel much closer with people you share your secrets. Wasn't that the one core principle behind the instant love study that was in the front page few weeks ago?

I missed the instant love study... do you have a link?

> Isn't that true with all religious groups?

I don't think so. I've been to Christian churches that were more like giant groups of acquaintances than places for growing real friendships. I would say that's missing the point of church, but I'll stay away from theology on here.

> You feel much closer with people you share your secrets.

That's a good point. But the feelings aren't the main point of the friendships I'm talking about. The good ones are certainly nice, but sometimes being a good friend feels terrible (calling someone on his crap, for example). Meaning, even if you could engineer the feelings, you wouldn't get the whole effect.

> I missed the instant love study... do you have a link?

Maybe instant love was a wrong way of saying it, but I meant this article https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8866933

> I don't think so. I've been to Christian churches that were more like giant groups of acquaintances than places for growing real friendships. I would say that's missing the point of church, but I'll stay away from theology on here.

Well I feel that you can still have this bonding effect in any like-minded,tight-knit group, religious or not. Religion itself doesn't have any effect in that.

> once you experience healthy, constructive, no-judging, be-yourself community with other Christians

These qualities are neither exclusive to, nor always found in, Christians.

I was just speaking from personal experience. No offense meant.

It's not offensive so much as you're generalising from personal experience to assert that Christian friendships are somehow qualitatively different from friendships as found in the Kabbalistic or Western Buddhist traditions, which is clearly a ridiculous thing to say.

If "hipster" engagement with faith is superficial or driven by fashion trends, there's nothing special they'll find in Christianity as compared to any other faith structure that will make the experience of engaging with that faith any less ephemeral or inauthentic.

Chill

It was evident they were speaking from personal experience. Whatever works, y’know?

> I don't know about community in Buddhism or Kabala, but in Christianity, once you experience healthy, constructive, no-judging, be-yourself community with other Christians, your tastes change.

Its generally an error to make general statements in the second person and the indefinite sense of the present tense based on experience in the first person past.

Further, I don't see why one would particularly expect "hipster churches" to feature "healthy, constructive, no-judging, be-yourself community with other Christians". Certainly, there are some Christian communities that feature that, and plenty of Christian communities that don't (particularly the "no-judging, be-yourself" parts.)

And that’s OK! Evangelicalism is predicated on spiritual rebirth!

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