AITA for making a scene over a stupid comment?

A Reddit user shares their experience of calling out a Christian acquaintance, C, for making a judgmental comment about homeless teens during a group get-together. When C dismissed the issue as a “waste of money,” the Redditor confronted him, pointing out the hypocrisy in his Christian beliefs about love and judgment.

The confrontation caused tension in the group, and while the Redditor later apologized for the outburst, they questioned whether they were in the wrong for not letting the comment slide. Read the original story below…

‘ AITA for making a scene over a stupid comment?’

TLDR: Annoying Christian guy made a judgmental comment. I could have ignored it but called him out for being a h**ocrite in front of the group and made things awkward. This might be a little bit of a ramble, so if you read it all, thank you!

Context: I just want to give plenty of context to be fair to all parties involved instead of spinning anything so I am the ‘good guy’. The guy that is the subject of my outburst, I’ll call him C, is a bit obnoxious in my opinion. C is not a bad guy by all means, we just differ, and I am not a fan of his comments sometimes. Granted, these comments aren’t like offensive comments (not r**ist, h**ophobic, etc.), just judgmental.

So usually, my response when one of these comments happens is to roll my eyes and walk away. C knows it annoys me, but we are not close friends and don’t spend a lot of time together, so we generally just ignore each other or are civil if in a group conversation. What is also important is C often brings religion into discussion and is very open about being a practicing Christian. I am not implying he pushes his views on people, just that it is a common topic.

Story: I was at a friend’s house for a group get together. The evening was calming down and we all decided to watch a game that was on for a bit. A commercial came on the TV and it was about donating to an organization who help homeless teens. C made the comment (paraphrasing, but I think I am pretty spot on with what he said): “What a waste of money! Maybe these kids should stop running away, just bratty teens that don’t want to follow the rules at home.”

That made me snap, so I blew up at him (not yelling, but I was a little loud) “You have no idea why those kids are homeless! Maybe their whole family is homeless, maybe being out on the street is better than home due to some sort of abuse, maybe they were kicked out by s**tty parents. Who are you to judge them? Oh, and aren’t you Christian? *pause to give sarcastic facial expression * And aren’t you taught ‘love thy neighbor’? The One who is supposed to judge is not you, but (points to ceiling) Him, right?”

To his credit he did not get mad or walk away but engaged in some defensive comments and we had a brief back and forth. Neither of us got loud or too upset, but got nowhere and ended it with ‘whatever, dude’ in the end. The rest of the evening was awkward and a bit tense with the group, most just watched the game quietly until the night was over.

So later as I was putting my cup in the sink and getting ready to go, there were a few others in the kitchen. I said I apologize if I made anyone uncomfortable with my ‘outburst’, but the Christian hypocrisy is a real peeve of mine. They said it could have been worse but they would have rather I ignored the comment like I normally do.. Thoughts group, AITA?

Here’s what people had to say to OP:

GreekAmericanDom −  NTA. Nothing wrong with standing up to intolerance, judgmentalness, and hypocrisy. Yes, in the short term it can make things awkward at best, but in the long term it should lead to better behavior on everyone’s part.

Miserable-Act9020 −  NTA I wouldn’t have ignored that having been homeless once before because of the actions of some inconsiderate family. Everything you said to him was true, and he needed to hear it. The only part I disagree with you on is: he IS a bigot. He needs a come to Jesus for real so he can walk like Jesus if he wants to say he’s Christian. I’d die on that hill.

BriefHorror −  NTA however “did you mean to say that?” or “that wasn’t nice” can accomplish the same with much less fuss.

ProfessionalEven296 −  NTA. Good job Jesus wasn’t homeless…. Oops. He was; his home address is not in the Bible once he started his ministry. He and his disciples relied on other people to feed and house them. (I’m Christian, but I agree; there’s a lot of hypocrisy around).

Bitter_Detective_952 −  NTA. Sounds like this guy likes to spoil the mood for everyone A LOT.

FutureOdd2096 −  Matthew 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. Someone fucked around and found out.. Good on ya, defs NTA.

Responsible_Blood789 −  You were very mild, I am an atheist and cannot stand “Christians” of the type you describe. I once told a work colleague who was being judgemental about a colleague that ” I don’t believe in god but my values are closer to Christianity than yours are”. This judgemental woman was always preaching piety and yet condemning this unmarried mother. She was a rarity because being “loudly” religious in the UK is seen as rather gauche.

LucifersLady666 −  NTA. As you said, he has no clue why those kids are homeless. He has no right to judge. As I saw in one post, and feel free to use it on him, who died and made him pope?

weddingmoth −  NTA and you sound like a really nice person actually.

Puzzleheaded_Row6211 −  NTA. Sure, you could have worded it nicer but nothing you said was rude towards him, you were simply putting things into perspective. Sounds like a waste of energy though. Doesn’t seem like the kind of guy open to others ideas.