The Sydney Anglican Network recently observed that the Google predictive seach results for the phrase “Christians are…” are, shall we say, less than complementary. I’ll let you read their conclusions for yourself, but I thought, what the hell, lets see what the predictive search results are for other religions. Here’s what I found.
Buddhists are:
Buddhists are atheists
Buddhists are vegetarians
Buddhists are hypocrits
Buddhists are not atheists
Hindus are:
Hindus are cowards
Hindus are vegetarians
Hindus are great
Hindus are bad
Muslims are:
Muslims are taking over
Muslism are not terrorist
Muslism are allowed to lie
Muslims are bad people
Wiccans are:
Wiccans are crazy
Wiccans are satanists
Wiccans are stupid
Wiccans are evil
Atheists are:
Atheists are wrong
Atheists are
Atheists are so stupid
Atheists are idiots
Where does this leave us?
So, we’re all in the same boat it would seem. Google, or at least the people searching on it, are predisposed towards hostility. Which suggested a final predictive search…
Google is:
Google is god
Google is evil
Google is your friend
Google is skynet
Curious Christian 
On behalf of the atheists, they’re not actually a religion. ‘Life stance’ seems to be one increasingly common term, though it more naturally applies to methodological commitments like agnosticism or empiricism.
While I’m going, though, most of the Christians I know reject most of the referents of the term religion, usually having understood it’s normal usage as the opposite of genuine faith or of authentically Christian spirituality.
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Yes, “religion” is a word that no one wants to own. Nevertheless I still think its the best word we have in the English language for discussing different worldviews and lifestyles in a comparative context. Your suggested alternative “life stance” has some merit, I grant, but how many people in the street would know to respond “Christian” or “Atheist” to an enquiry about their life stance? Till an alternative really catches on at a grass roots level I think we’re stuck with the word “religion” whether we like it or not and just have to make do as best as we can, providing qualifications where necessary.
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It seems to me that the negative results of such a Google search are completely justified – especially as it applies to the inherently dark double-mindedness of right-wing, so called “conservative”, and Calvinist Christians.
The kind of religion that now “informs” the GOP Presidential candidates in the USA. The kind of religion promoted by the “Gospel Coalition”, First Things, The American Spectator etc etc.
The kind of religion that is “inspired” by and promotes the religion based on these unspeakably death saturated vile images.
http://www.sydneycathedral.com/events/easter-convention-0
http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photos/2003_the_passion_006.html
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How do you use this predictive search? I’ve found that an alarming number of people treat “Christian Zionists” and “Zionist Christians” as interchangeable, when they refer to very different groups with very different concerns — Christian Zionists are obsessed with Israel, whereas Zionist Christians are not. A predictive search might show how widespead the confusion is.
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Predictive search is automatic on Google. Just start typing and it will start suggesting options
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first predictive search for God here is “God is a DJ”…
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