Advice for responding to friend’s Christian statements?
I’m in a bit of a tricky situation and would appreciate advice. To cut a long story short, I have a very close friend. We met three years ago. At the time, she was secular/culturally Christian. About two years ago, she became religiously Christian. I never had a problem with it because of course she’s entitled to her own beliefs. We would discuss religion occasionally since we’re both pretty interested in cults, extremism, and the like, and I’m also doing a bachelor’s degree in religion. She has never tried to convert me and previously didn't even bring up theology, except in situations where it was directly relevant. Sometimes she would talk about her own beliefs and practices, but I didn't mind that, because she was just sharing something that happened to her or was personal to her. I could be like "I'm glad you had a good time at church!" or "lol yeah kids do pray in funny ways" and it was fine.
However, lately she has been making religious statements distinct from the kind I mentioned in the above paragraph. I don’t know how to respond to these. They aren’t proselytizing per se, but not academic or neutral either. It’s like…stuff that you only send to someone who already agrees with you. Which is awkward, because I (obviously) do not share her beliefs or practices. Mostly it’s been statements that X belief is heretical, statements that Y belief is absolutely true, and various Christian memes from a “believing” and/or "objective truth" perspective.
Today, she sent me an illustrated cartoon. In the cartoon, Jesus speaks of how much he sacrificed to save people from hell, and asks a little human figure in his hand to do just one thing in exchange: help the vulnerable. Then the little human figure says something like “well, they didn’t do anything to earn my help,” and in the final panel, Jesus does a sort of “looking into the camera” thing a la Jim from The Office.
And like…I don’t know how to respond to something like that, or like the other examples, because…it doesn’t matter to me. It’s cool if it matters to her, and I understand that if you’re a conscientious Christian, something like what happens in that cartoon is a bummer. But saying “bummer!” doesn’t quite feel appropriate. Ditto with the statements about heresy or whatever, where it’s like, I get that this is bad for her, but for me, it’s all equal levels of irrelevant.
Generally, depending on what exactly is said, I’ll do a “thumbs up” reaction to the message, respond “hmmm,” “huh,” or “interesting!” or simply ignore it. But those responses don’t feel quite right either. Since she’s not really proselytizing, I don’t think I can address it like that. (And I'm pretty conflict-averse, so I don't want a Big Conversation.) At the same time, being sent content that is obviously meant for believers of Christianity, when I’m not, puts me in an awkward spot. Sometimes it makes me feel pressured to respond in a way that she likes. She's a very good friend, so I know making me feel pressured isn't her intention, but it's uncomfortable nonetheless.
Am I okay to keep responding with the thumbs up/"interesting!"/ignore methods? Is there another way you think would be more appropriate? All advice appreciated.
(Having finished writing this...I did not "cut a long story short." Apologies for the essay!)