⚠️ Warning: sensitive content ⚠️

The DM that's making me rethink everything.

Welcome to The Ex-Christian Observer: a weekly newsletter from a former Christian unpacking the madness that is evangelical Christian America.

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It’s time for 4-3-2-1:

4 Comments From Christians

If I had to give an award to the week where I’ve gotten the worst hate comments for simply being an atheist and criticizing Christianity, it would be this week.

Be warned. These messages are disgusting.

It started with this comment:

Nice name, huh?

You’ll notice a trend with all of these awful comments: they’re from anonymous users.

People who say this never use their full names. They never include pictures of themselves. Their profiles are almost always private.

So brave.

Imagine saying something like this to a stranger online…

These people walk among us.

But this comment didn’t bother me. 99% of them don’t. I’m able to brush them off as silly, upset Evangelicals.

Then came this DM on the same day:

I’ve never interacted with this person, and the first thing they ever message me is to kill myself.

Sadly, I think a lot of these people are younger Gen Z or even Gen Alpha kids who have grown up, knowing nothing but online hate culture.

They’ve never known a world where people don’t threaten others online.

That’s normal to them.

They’ll tell someone sybau without batting an eye. It’s a problem.

This one was bad, but, again, I’m able to simply roll my eyes and continue on.

But then I got this one:

Simply put: this DM is changing the way I interact with strangers online.

No one deserves to receive messages like this for making memes and Reels.

I shouldn’t have to see pure hatred when checking my DMs on Instagram.

So…I’m going to stop checking most of my DMs on Instagram.

It doesn’t mean that the haters win; it means they’re not worth my time.

I want to protect my time, as well as my mental health.

If you’re following me on Instagram, I apologize if you DM and I don’t get to it; I just have to take measures to not see these awful messages anymore.

I put filters in my comments to block certain words and phrases, and I’m also encouraging people to become a paid Instagram subscriber ($0.99/month) because those are (mostly) the only DMs I’m going to be checking and responding to.

It’s a good way for me to prioritize my inbox and protect myself.

Let’s finish this section on a lighter note:

I didn’t realize I was a trend? Hell yeah.

3 Things You Should Know About

The Line

I get a lot of messages from people asking how they can respond to certain things that Christians say, or they ask what to say to religious family members.

My answer is usually “watch some debates and/or call-in shows.”

Jimmy Snow runs a great YouTube channel called The Line, where there are live shows nearly every day.

They talk to theists and can help answer a lot of questions.

The Daily Atheist Morning Show

If your mornings are free, The Daily Atheist Morning Show (The DAM Show) goes live at 9am EST every weekday! I was a guest on there this past Friday.

The Founding Myth

Now, more than ever, we have to push back on this notion that the USA is a Christian nation. It’s not.

This book by Andrew Seidel talks about that exact issue:

Buy here via my affiliate link on Bookshop.

2 Cringe Christian Posts

Listen to this pastor talk about the only woman he’s ever been inside of:

What a wild thing to say in front of the world.

This next one isn’t technically a Christian cringe post; it’s my YouTube video where I’m reacting to a few of them:

Make sure to subscribe to my channel. I’m uploading new videos weekly!

1 Quote to Make You Think

A classic, which I’m sure you’ve heard before, but it’s simple and powerful.

You will often hear Chrsitians say things like “There’s more proof of Jesus existing than Alexander the Great.”

Honestly, I don’t really care if that statement is true or not because the claims about Jesus are not just that he existed but that he is the fucking son of god.

Extraordinary evidence required.

I do this to make people laugh, to process religious trauma, and to remind us all we’re not alone in this Christian nationalist hellscape.

If that’s worth a few bucks a month to you, I’d be honored.

$5/month or $50/year → become a supporter

Remember: you don’t need a god to be good.

Kevin

All of my links: www.jesusunfollower.com

Did Matthew, Mark, Luke and John Actually Write Matthew, Mark, Luke and John? Learn from Dr. Bart Ehrman in this free course (if you end up buying any paid courses through that link, I may get a small commission at no extra charge to you).