Sunday talk

It was a lovely Sunday. The weather was great and the freshers even said so themselves. The rain had stop, the sun was shining on our faces, and everything would have been perfect if our groceries from Sainsbury's weren't so heavy. Just the usual Sunday with five Linsteadians dragging orange Sainsbury bags, comparing how much we'd spent and vowing to spend less next week which we knew at the back of our minds is futile.

Midway between Sainsbury's and Linstead, the freshers bumped into another couple of freshers walking towards Linstead. We exchanged the usual pleasantries.

"Went to Sainsbury's?"
"Yeah, you guys?"
"Just finished with church"
"Ah, Holy Trinity Brompton?"
"Yeah, where's your church?"
"Opposite the Natural History Museum. So you went with the Singaporeans?"
"Yeah"
"Are they all Methodists?"
"Oh no various types of Christians"
"I see, well HTB is a nice church"
"Hey they should come to our church"
"Oh, but we go to a Catholic church"
"Oh yeah, Catholics aren't Christians?"
"Excuse me? Catholics are Christians"
"No you're not, you believe in Mother Mary"

The smug look on the kid's face was enough for me, as if it was just usual Sunday banter to exclaim Catholics aren't Christians in the faces of three Catholics. I walked off.

When a non-Catholic says something so baseless, what should you do? I've come across this situation more than once, and no matter how many times you try to explain that yes we are indeed Christians, they politely nod but still give you a disbelieving look. Why? Why in the goodness of your heart and your, no, OUR forgiving religion is it so difficult for you to accept that we are at the crux of it all followers of Christ, and thus we are Christians? Why do unto your neighbour when you would not say "Oh he's not really British, his parents came from China and he still eats with chopsticks."

And ultimately, saying something like that really hurts. Why as a Christian would you be so hurtful to your own kind?