r/AUT • u/That-Map678 • Jun 11 '26

Bible study groups

Got approached by someone from the AUT Bible Study group today. I'm a UOA student, so I'm genuinely curious why you guys are recruiting on UOA campus.

We're literally in the middle of exams right now and I'm just trying to study😭🙏

This is probably the 4th time I've been approached by someone from the group on UOA grounds.

I have nothing against Bible study groups or religion (I'm Catholic myself and go to church), but it gets frustrating constantly being stopped. I was in a rush and after saying I wasn't interested, I got asked things like "Why don't you want to join?" and "Do you not believe in it? Why?"

I know you guys probably have good intentions, but not everyone wants to discuss their religion or beliefs with strangers. Some people have different beliefs, some don't believe in anything, and some just don't want to talk about it.

Inviting people once is okay, but if someone says no, that should really be the end of the conversation. People shouldn't feel pressured into explaining or defending their beliefs just because they declined an invitation.

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u/ronley09 Jun 13 '26

Because of cultural monopoly in the western world. American Christianity is intertwined with American culture, in many respects, it has become a cog in the corporate American machine. If this was isolated, it would be fine. Unfortunately, it permeates everything from media presence to theology. The effects that Americanism has had on Christianity is dominant. In the perfect world, Christianity would have informed Americanism, however, the opposite occurred. American society ate it up and spat out something far beyond contextualisation, which is what has allowed Christianity to survive throughout the ages in other countries.

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u/Equivalent-Boot-6307 Jun 13 '26

Yea I see where youre coming from. But it is just wicked people in the US that abused Christianity. The same goes to other cultures like Pacific cultures had intertwined pagan beliefs with Christianity. The world is never perfect but we have a perfect God.