My bro and I got into an interesting debate. Back in the day I used to be hardcore religious, and would try to force my beliefs on people, and I was very judgmental.

My brother calls this arrogance. But the thing is, before I became religious, I was never the arrogant type. I was quiet, I had a live and let live attitude, and I never piped up with my opinions to try and influence someone else. I was a shy kid. It was only after religion that I became overzealous and narrow-minded and a bit bigoted..

So this begs the question…it\'s not news that Christians can be overzealous and presumptuous and judgmental…but is this arrogance, or is it ingrained in the Christian culture?

Is religion just an excuse for arrogant people to spout arrogant things like they would naturally, or do overzealous pastors and teachers ingrain in us a fanatacism that we never would\'ve had before?

To illustrate this point, one of my old blogs attacked Carrie Prejean for claiming to be a Christian, yet modeling. In another illustration, a popular Christian rapper told me I was being disrespectful because I typed "xian" as shorthand for "Christian."

This same rapper, when I told him I tried to avoid rulekeeping because it kept me from having ANY fun, told me "I have rules and have nothing but fun. It must boil down to what YOU consider fun." In other words, he was implying my idea of fun must\'ve just been something sinful, which is why I avoided rules. This person didn\'t even know me.

I personally think some Christians are naturally arrogant and use the religion as a soap box for their flaw…but I think that\'s the exception. The rule, in my opinion, is a culture of overzealousness and fanatacism. We\'re taught as soon as we believe that it\'s "us against the world" and we need to "Stand up and stand out!" and "make an impact." Christian people of influence are so focused on changing the world, they end up making disciples who over-do it and scare people off.

I\'d like to know what my fellow believers think. It\'s been my experience in church that people who used to be hardcore and lightened up, never wanted to be that way. They were simply shaped into that mold. And that\'s how it was with me.