I’ve started writing a book about Changing the Face of Christianity. I’ll post excerpts here as I go in order to get your feedback before the book is published.

I’m going to repeat something I mentioned earlier. Stereotypes CAN change over time. Stereotypes are impacted daily by people who reinforce the stereotype or who often unconsciously work to shape it in a different direction.

So, here is what I believe about stereotypes and the nature of their changeability.

When culture, what you’ve been taught, and what you have learned indirectly, agrees with your own personal experience with a group, that stereotype will be like an unmovable glacier in the middle of an ice age.

No one could convince you to change your mind about a group. You might hear reports of people who are different, but you will dismiss such reports as urban legend. You might even report such exceptions to snopes.com for investigation.

But, take the case where everything you have been taught does NOT match up with your direct, personal experience. Which side wins? I will testify here that you will always trust your own experience over what you’ve been taught.

You may second guess yourself. You might not have firm convictions yet. But, if your personal experience consistently defies the stereotype you have been taught, you will shake up and erase your former stereotypical image like an Etch A Sketch, and replace it with your own evolving picture. And for those of you in a younger generation, it’s like editing a picture with a drawing app where you tap the erase button to start over.

When your experience is different than what you’ve been taught, instead of a glacier in the middle of an ice age, the stereotypical image in your mind will melt away like mountain snow at the beginning of spring.

 […this chapter will be continued in the next post…]   

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I’ve started writing a book about Changing the Face of Christianity. I’ll post excerpts here as I go in order to get your feedback before the book is published.

Stereotypes are changed one person at a time, through direct personal experience, when that experience is different than the stereotype you are familiar with.

When you meet someone within a particular group, you subconsciously compare them to the image you have. Everyone you meet either reinforces the stereotype or slowly works to change it.

For example, let’s revisit the car salesperson stereotype. Let’s assume you currently think all car salespeople are slimy, pushy, and dishonest.
And here you are in need of a used car for your son or daughter that just turned 16. Or maybe your budget is tight, and current car repair bills are starting to add up. So, you are in the market for a slightly used car in good condition.

So, you head to the used car lot, expecting the worst. You’ve got your guard up and you are dreading the fast-talking guy that is sure to swarm all over you. You are expecting them to do most of the talking while you mostly listen to them dribble on and on and pressure you about the sale that ends that day.

And instead of what you expect, you see a young, attractive women approach. She is warm and friendly. She is nothing but helpful and patiently listens while you explain your situation.

Or an older gentleman walks up, says hello, and asks how they can help you. You mention you are on a budget and just need a reliable car to get from A to B. Instead of immediately talking to you about the car they want to sell you, he keeps asking questions.

Do you want a small car or a bigger car? Is gas mileage important? How long do you plan to keep the car? Etc. After zeroing in on exactly what you need, they lead you to the one car that should meet your needs perfectly. It’s a “no haggle” lot and so the price is the price. They don’t go into the “we aren’t making any money on this car” type lines. They are straightforward and honest.

And as you are taking the test drive, they continue to ask about your experience with the car. Does it drive like you want? Is it roomy enough for you? Do you like the car? And then they hit you with something you don’t expect. The salesperson says that while they only have one such model on their lot, they’ve got a friend at the dealer down the street that has several more to choose from that you might want to take a look at before you buy.

You end up buying from them anyway, because you have acquired an incredible trust with them during your short visit. You leave the lot with your used car and you’ve had an incredibly positive experience.

Then, something even more bizarre happens. A week later, you get a personal note in the mail thanking you for the opportunity to help you find the perfect car.

A few weeks later, the salesperson calls and asks how you are enjoying the car. You mention a few flaws you hadn’t noticed during the test drive and walk-around, and they offer to get them fixed for free. You are completely blown away with the service and respect you have received from this unassuming man.

Now, what do you think about used car salespeople? Do you still believe they are all swindlers?  Or has your view changed slightly?

I believe I’m a very practical person; a realist. I know even from the above experience that you aren’t going to suddenly go tell the world how wonderful car salespeople are. You may not even be close to believing that yourself. But your view has changed; even if just a little.

The next time you encounter a used car salesperson, you won’t be quite as quick to judge. You will be a little more open to discovering if they fit the traditional mold or if they are somehow different like the person in your last car buying experience.

And just imagine for a moment if you had the opportunity to run into more people within that group and your experience was again positive. Over time, you would have to start thinking that the awful image of a car salesperson must be an exception rather than the rule. Or said another way, you would likely start to think that a few bad apples have tarnished the image of the majority.
The bad ones get the press and satirist attention. The bad ones are the ones you hear about. But if your real life experience paints a different picture of them, then the stereotype is already in the process of being changed.

I’ll talk more about this in my next book excerpt. But in the meantime, ponder on how this stereotype changing process might apply to the current negative Christian stereotype.

 […this chapter will be continued in the next post…]   

Please share any comments or constructive feedback below. Thanks. It’s VERY APPRECIATED!

Pre-Order this book. Help support this book-in-progress by ordering it today.

I’ve started writing a book about Changing the Face of Christianity. I’ll post excerpts here as I go in order to get your feedback before the book is published. 

Stereotypes CAN change over time. Stereotypes are impacted daily by people who reinforce the stereotype or who often unconsciously work to shape it in a different direction.

For example, you may have a view of homosexuals that looks like this:

• Radical
• Liberal
• Flamboyant
• Sensitive
• Open minded
• Effeminate
• Well groomed/stylish

Where did such a view come from? Did you read it in a textbook? Did you take a class to learn about homosexuality? Of course not! You discerned it mostly through informal teaching.

I remember watching a show on cable television years ago called Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. A group of hip, stylish, effeminate, and yes-flamboyant homosexuals took heterosexual men and tried to whip them into stylish, “metrosexual” shape. They upgraded the man’s appearance through clothing and personal hygiene. They upgraded the man’s surroundings by doing a make-over to his home or bedroom.

Wikipedia says this about the show: “The show is premised on and plays with the stereotypes that gay men are superior in matters of fashion, style, personal grooming, interior design and culture.”

I didn’t read about this on Wikipedia before the show aired. It wasn’t a formal teaching or something I deliberately learned. In watching that show, I received the message that homosexual men are especially attentive to their outward appearance and have a heightened awareness of the connection between people and their surroundings.

And this isn’t my only touchpoint with the homosexual stereotype.

I’ve seen enough gay parades in the news to believe that homosexuals are radical and very flamboyant.

In contrast, I’ve also met un-newsworthy homosexuals that teach me that much of what I think about homosexuals is wrong. They aren’t all cross-dressing nymphomaniacs. They can dress just as normally and uncoordinated as me and are everything but radical in their thoughts and behaviors. They aren’t all political activists with an agenda to destroy traditional views of marriage or the fabric that makes up society as we know it.

In other words, like most groups, homosexuals span a wide array of looks, attitudes, and behaviors. So, although what I’ve discerned through media and culture has taught me one thing, my view of homosexuals is heavily impacted by the people I’ve actually met and interacted with one on one.

Those personal experiences have changed my mental picture of homosexuals, and that picture keeps evolving with more and more interactions with them.  So, how are stereotypes changed? I believe they are changed one person at a time, through direct personal experience, when that experience is different than the stereotype you are familiar with.

More on this in our next book excerpt.

 […this chapter will be continued in the next post…]          

Please share any comments or constructive feedback below. Thanks. It’s VERY APPRECIATED!

Pre-Order this book. Help support this book-in-progress by ordering it today.

I’ve started writing a book about Changing the Face of Christianity. I’ll post excerpts here as I go in order to get your feedback before the book is published. 

Here is the peculiar thing about stereotypes. Stereotypes evolve. They are fluid-like a slow moving mud slide or lava flow. Ironically, although a stereotype is an attempt to label a group of people into a nice little box, a stereotype itself isn’t something you can precisely define in a dictionary or put in a box.

In other words, it’s not a static thing that exists somewhere “out there”. Stereotypes exist in the mind of the people who hold a view of a group. And that stereotype is influenced by personal experience. When enough people collectively share an experience, a view materializes and becomes clearer and clearer.

If you put two people in a room and ask them to describe a stereotypical group, such as Christians, the pictures will be slightly different. The stereotype is shaped by each person’s individual experience. And as I mentioned earlier it is also shaped by what someone has been taught and by who has done the teaching.

At Changing the Face of Christianity, Inc., it is only through research and talking with lots of people about Christianity that we are able to put enough of the pieces together to see a fairly accurate mosaic of what the stereotypical Christian looks like. And even then, that view is not complete or all encompassing. The stereotype is in the eye of the beholder and it truly is malleable.

The point is that stereotypes CAN change over time. We’ll dive into this more in our next book excerpt.

 […this chapter will be continued in the next post…]          

Please share any comments or constructive feedback below. Thanks. It’s VERY APPRECIATED!

Pre-Order this book. Help support this book-in-progress by ordering it today.

I’ve started writing a book about Changing the Face of Christianity. I’ll post excerpts here as I go in order to get your feedback before the book is published. 

A stereotype is a “generally accepted truth” about a group of people.

What do I mean by “generally accepted”? If we took a survey of people’s perceptions of politicians, teens, or other stereotypical groups, those perceptions will be generally agreed upon by those surveyed.

Now, does that mean there aren’t exceptions? Absolutely not! It’s generally true, but not completely true or completely consistent among members of a group. There will always be exceptions that defy the stereotype.

Every once in a while, you’ll witness an honest politician. You might meet one who cares more about making a positive difference than simply being elected or re-elected.

You will, on occasion, meet a teenager completely devoid of a negative attitude. You might actually meet one that put’s their phone down long enough to have a real conversation with you. It happens!

So, as we wrap up our discussion about what a stereotype is, it’s important to realize there is an opportunity in the exceptions. It’s the exceptions that allow us to hold out hope that a particular group of people aren’t all bad.

It’s the National Honor Society or Dean’s List football player, or the college football star which completes their college degree before going pro, which keeps me from being completely pessimistic or cynical.

It’s the authentic politician, the humble and engaged teenager, and the spirit and grace-filled Christian, which gives me hope for a brighter future. Exceptions such as these do exist.

And as we talk more about changing the face of Christianity, and reversing the negative Christian stereotype, capitalizing on these exceptions will be vitally important.

 […this chapter will be continued in the next post…]          

Please share any comments or constructive feedback below. Thanks. It’s VERY APPRECIATED!

Pre-Order this book. Help support this book-in-progress by ordering it today.