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Stuff White People Like

File photo / Richmond.com

The reaction, by and large, to the website StuffWhitePeopleLike.com is that "it's funny because it's true."  The website, which provides satirical commentary on, well, stuff white people like, is enjoying internet fame to the tune of over 55 million hits and is now available in book form.

There is the occasional protest from a white person who has been offended by the website, but in those cases the white person is reminded by the site's loyal fans that StuffWhitePeopleLike.com is not meant to be taken seriously.

Then that white person is directed to take a look at Stuff White People Like #101: Being offended.

The list encompasses everything from organic food to assists (as in basketball); #42 declares that white people like sushi, #116 references "Black music that black people don't listen to anymore," and #1 is coffee.

#2 really caught my eye: "Religions that their parents don't belong to."  Even though the material is all meant to be humorous, as I mentioned before, it is funny because it all has some truth in it.

I, a white person, love sushi, drink coffee every day (preferably Starbucks), and have been known to jam out to the Sugarhill Gang on occasion.

So is it true?  Do white people really like religions that their parents don't belong to?

In my experience, the answer is generally yes.

Most of the white people I know were raised by Christian parents in Christian homes, or at least were raised attending a Christian church occasionally, and a vast majority of the white people I know have left the Christian church.

As #2 on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com says, "White people will often say they are 'spiritual' but not religious. Which usually means that they will believe any religion that doesn't involve Jesus."

Is this a form of rebellion against parental control?  Were these white people forced to attend church against their will as children, leaving them emotionally scarred and with an intense aversion to Christianity?

Notice that StuffWhitePeopleLike.com does not say that white people become atheists, they just choose a religion -- any religion that has nothing to do with Jesus.

So it's not that these white people don't believe in God, it's just a stubborn refusal to acknowledge Jesus. Christianity by definition is one of the few religions in the world that offers a clear breakdown of what people must do to ensure a happy afterlife: all you have to do is have faith in Jesus.

Few if any other religions of the world offer such a concise answer to the question of eternity.  It's simple, clear-cut, straightforward, even easy.

So why do so many white people avoid it at all costs? 

Why would so many people choose to follow the complex teachings of Buddhism or Hinduism rather than accept Jesus?

The whole idea behind Christianity is that Jesus died once, for all sins, and anyone who believes that Jesus died and rose again from the dead is granted entrance to heaven.  In other words, if you are a Christian, there is nothing you have to do, and nothing you can do to procure salvation; you have to give up all control.

And therein lies the rub.

White people like control.
I know I do.  The hardest thing in the world for a white person (self included) to do is to give up control of his life.  That is why white people would rather follow Kabbalah, Buddhism, Hinduism, anything rather than Christianity.

Sometimes white people get smart though, and they realize how good it feels to give up control. When that happens, they usually lose their aversion to Jesus.