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I wasn't sure whether or not to post this here or in P&OC so mods, feel free to move it if its in the wrong section.
Increasingly evangelical Christians in America are playing the victim, crying persecution and also trying to warn of potential criminalization of Christianity, usually in an attempt to get votes or in the case of pastors, energize their congregation into political activism. The thing is, many evangelical Christians actually believe they are persecuted. What's crazy though is the fact that this is a nation that still has a Christian supermajority, still has most of the major Christian holidays federally recognized, grants tax-exempt status to churches, and has religion as a protected class along with race and gender. This is a nation that has religious freedom enshrined in its Constitution and prohibits persecution of Christians by the government. With all this in mind, how is it evangelical Christians in this nation can feel persecuted? One only has to look over to the Muslim world to see examples of real persecution, where Christians are required to sometimes give their lives for their faith.
When you get down to it, it comes down to the changing culture in this country and how the culture is becoming more secular. Laws are also changing to be in line with the current secular culture as opposed to the more religious American culture of years past. Many evangelicals will point to gay marriage or things perceived as "immoral" in movies, television, and music as examples of persecution. They may cry persecution when a public school teacher is told they cannot teach young earth creationism in Biology or when there is some kind of pushback from non-believers against blue laws (gambling, alcohol, marijuana, etc). Annually they throw a huge fit around Thanksgiving when stores start wishing them "Happy Holidays", threatening to boycott any business that uses it instead of "Merry Christmas." No one is prohibiting Christians from responding back with Merry Christmas or forcing businesses to say Happy Holidays, so how is that persecution?
It seems that right-wing evangelicals want to control the government and the culture and if they are not in complete control they feel like they are being persecuted against. They want to be the standard bearers of what is moral and what isn't and enshrine that standard into the laws of the United States and they want to be able to use the government to proselytize. If they cannot, to them it's persecution. It seems like persecution to right wing Christians can simply be reduced to not being able to control others.
Ironic thing is, nobody is trying to limit Christians' freedom of religion. They still have the freedoms to believe what they want, regardless of how politically correct it is, and as long as the Constitution stands, they will have that right. What Christians don't have the right to do is use the government to proselytize. If you are paid by the state, you can't promote your religion while on the job, period, because while on the job you are representing the state. If you work for a private company, well this is a capitalist country so you have to submit to the culture of the company you work for or find another employer. The entertainment industry is just that...entertainment. People have the right to take it or leave it. Why is that so difficult for so many and why do so many consider these things persecution?
Last edited by bawac34618; 06-25-2015 at 05:06 PM..
I wasn't sure whether or not to post this here or in P&OC so mods, feel free to move it if its in the wrong section.
Increasingly evangelical Christians in America are playing the victim, crying persecution and also trying to warn of potential criminalization of Christianity, usually in an attempt to get votes or in the case of pastors, energize their congregation into political activism. The thing is, many evangelical Christians actually believe they are persecuted. What's crazy though is the fact that this is a nation that still has a Christian supermajority, still has most of the major Christian holidays federally recognized, grants tax-exempt status to churches, and has religion as a protected class along with race and gender. This is a nation that has religious freedom enshrined in its Constitution and prohibits persecution of Christians by the government. With all this in mind, how is it evangelical Christians in this nation can feel persecuted? One only has to look over to the Muslim world to see examples of real persecution, where Christians are required to sometimes give their lives for their faith.
When you get down to it, it comes down to the changing culture in this country and how the culture is becoming more secular. Laws are also changing to be in line with the current secular culture as opposed to the more religious American culture of years past. Many evangelicals will point to gay marriage or things perceived as "immoral" in movies, television, and music as examples of persecution. They may cry persecution when a public school teacher is told they cannot teach young earth creationism in Biology or when there is some kind of pushback from non-believers against blue laws (gambling, alcohol, marijuana, etc). Annually they throw a huge fit around Thanksgiving when stores start wishing them "Happy Holidays", threatening to boycott any business that uses it instead of "Merry Christmas." No one is prohibiting Christians from responding back with Merry Christmas or forcing businesses to say Happy Holidays, so how is that persecution?
It seems that right-wing evangelicals want to control the government and the culture and if they are not in complete control they feel like they are being persecuted against. They want to be the standard bearers of what is moral and what isn't and enshrine that standard into the laws of the United States and they want to be able to use the government to proselytize. If they cannot, to them it's persecution. It seems like persecution to right wing Christians can simply be reduced to not being able to control others.
Ironic thing is, nobody is trying to limit Christians' freedom of religion. They still have the freedoms to believe what they want, regardless of how politically correct it is, and as long as the Constitution stands, they will have that right. What Christians don't have the right to do is use the government to proselytize. If you are paid by the state, you can't promote your religion while on the job, period, because while on the job you are representing the state. If you work for a private company, well this is a capitalist country so you have to submit to the culture of the company you work for or find another employer. The entertainment industry is just that...entertainment. People have the right to take it or leave it. Why is that so difficult for so many and why do so many consider these things persecution?
Christians love to proclaim that they are the most persecuted people in history. They seem to work better within the delusion that they are the underdog, when in fact history shows quite clearly that Christians and Christian countries have dominated and controlled the world for the last 1,000 years like no other group in history. Christians certainly demand the right to proselytize, even in countries where they are specifically not welcome. And yet disputing Christian stories and beliefs is being declared to be tantamount to a hate crime by some Christian groups.
Right wing Christians DO have a persecution complex--and they feed off one another.
But the entire story of "christians have always been persecuted" rests more in myth than reality.
Quote:
The controversial thesis, laid out in "The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a Story of Martyrdom," has earned her a lot of hate mail and a few sidelong looks from fellow faculty members. But Moss maintains that the Roman Catholic Church and historians have known for centuries that most early Christian martyr stories were exaggerated or invented.
A small group of priest scholars in the 17th century began sifting through the myths, discrediting not only embellished stories about saints (including that St. George slew a dragon) but also tossing out popular stories about early Christian martyrs.
Historians, including Moss, say only a handful of martyrdom stories from the first 300 years of Christianity—which includes the reign of the cruel, Christian-loathing Nero—are verifiable. (Saint Perpetua of Carthage, pictured in the stained glass window above, is one of the six famous early Christian martyrs Moss believes was actually killed for her faith.)
Moss contends that when Christians were executed, it was often not because of their religious beliefs but because they wouldn't follow Roman rules. Many laws that led to early Christians’ execution were not specifically targeted at them—such as a law requiring all Roman citizens to engage in a public sacrifice to the gods—but their refusal to observe those laws and other mores of Roman society led to their deaths.
Re: ' Many laws that led to early Christians’ execution were not specifically targeted at them—such as a law requiring all Roman citizens to engage in a public sacrifice to the gods—but their refusal to observe those laws and other mores of Roman society led to their deaths'
You know to that Pliny mentioned that even when Christians were deemed innocent of crimes allegedly practiced by the sect they were 'uncooperative' when it came sacrifice thus eroding the Roman state's view that they could be viewed as ordinary citizens. Looks as if Rome still wanted them to sacrifice even if they were not guilty of crimes.
Thing is the Christian sect was perceived as a revolutionary mote in Rome's eye. They were uncooperative, stubborn, intolerant, looked to a kingdom somewhere else, didn't want to fight in the legions or get civil jobs and they refused to adore the Emperor. Sure hard not to see how those guys didn't get 'persecuted' for what they believed. And it's sure not hard to see why Rome wanted to get them out of the way. They were simply a great headache for the state and had bags of trouble because of their 'immorality' ( those nighttime mixed sex gatherings where they 'prayed') and dangerous thinking.
Some may think it was treason which drove the Romans crazy in their attitudes about them but it was more of a thing like stubbornness, a refusal to submit that caused them to be treated with contempt by Romans. The Christians, due to that stubbornness, challenged the Roman 'coercitio' which was a heavy focus on public order and consequently had to pay the price if they would not denounce their beliefs.
Christians are under nearly constant attack and derision from many on the far left, far more than any other group in this country.
I say that as an atheist that regards Christian beliefs as frankly silly. However, I don't attack otherwise good people for their beliefs, so long as their actions are honorable. I'm an atheist, not a hypocrite.
Christians are under nearly constant attack and derision from many on the far left, far more than any other group in this country.
I say that as an atheist that regards Christian beliefs as frankly silly. However, I don't attack otherwise good people for their beliefs, so long as their actions are honorable. I'm an atheist, not a hypocrite.
I think the reason for that, especially in the LGBT community, is the fact that right-wing Christians are trying to use the government to force their beliefs on all Americans. If there was a real danger in this country of radical Islam getting control of the government and imposing Sharia Law, there would probably be a much more significant backlash against Islam. We are already seeing this in some parts of Europe. In America however, its fundamentalist Christians who desire to rule so that is naturally who the backlash is going to be against. I can't say for sure but my guess is an exceedingly few amount of people on the far left would actually want to pass laws to prevent Christians from practicing their faith.
This is something that most evangelicals seem to have trouble comprehending. They see the verbal attacks from the far left as persecution, but they don't make the connection that the attacks are coming not because of their faith, but because of the fact they insist on a government that promotes their version of Christianity.
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