Religious Persecution

There was a post a while back that talked about Christians being persecuted. It goes into the whole "we're just trying to do what's right in a world that's so wrong," and how hard it is to be Christian and so on (though, for the purposes of this blog, I must note that the closest to an example of persecution that was reached was "words against Christ are being dropped"). A few weeks later, I found another article at another site regarding the topic of persecution, but with two main differences from the first post: the writer was Pagan instead of Christian, and she was a direct victim of a physical (and later emotional) attack because of her faith.

Persecution of groups happen all the time, everywhere, to at least some extent, I don't deny that. However, it sickens me when one group (that is generally a majority) cries persecution because the government asserts its secularity or because certain words have invaded the American language to the point that people say them without much of a thought when there are groups who, even here in America where we're all supposed to be free from persecution for our faith, have to hide their faith for fear of being attacked or even killed because the general population believes them to be "evil."

For those that did check out the second article, it was about a Pagan woman who was attacked because of her faith and the fact that she didn't hide it. She was out with her husband when they were attacked by six or more people. Her husband suffered permanent damage to his eye, trying to protect her. She suffered a major concussion. They took nothing physical, they just wanted to see her dead for being a witch, for wearing her pentacle in the open, and saying to them "Blessed Be." Her husband blamed her for the attack. Blamed her for being herself, for being Pagan, ans wished that, if only for a moment, she was someone else.

Right here in America, this happened. It didn't happen in Russia. It didn't happen in China or Vietnam or Iran. America, land of the free, the country that was created to get away from religious persecution.

While working on this entry, I decided to do a couple searches to see if I could find anything about persecution of Christians in America, to see if the claims that I constantly see actually have any foundation or if they're just political propoganda. What I found was interesting, to say the least.

Overall, it was rather mixed, though the worst cases that I found were more along the lines of public institutions, particularly public schools, didn't allow students to pray of their own accord. One article depicts a number of things, such as prisons not allowing Christian magazines or texts (but allowing texts of other religions). While I don't agree that discrimination, one way or another, is right, the vast majority of these cases appear to be, at least in my opinion, the equivalent of a child making a huge fuss because someone bumped into him. Another issue that I see is that in most of the cases, people can, and did, do something to change the policies, yet they still go on about it.

Ironically, I found an article from Christian Ethics Today that actually supported the view that Christians in America aren't actually being persecuted and that Christian groups have more political motives than religious ones. The author points out the number of Christian-based things that have grown over the past decade.

Christianity on a Political Level

So, where do all these claims come from? There has to be at least something in the logic for people to actually believe they're being persecuted, right?

Certainly, but to understand where these claims are coming from, we first have to understand the mindest of the Christian Fundamentalist. We also have to accept that nearly every Christian does, to some degree or another, follow this mindset. Why? Because it's drilled into their heads nearly every Sunday.

What's the mindset?

If it's not of God, then it's of Satan. If you're not with us, then you're against us.

Christianity (and its parent religion, Judaism, at least in the past) as a whole is a very "us against them" religion and has been ever since its conception, before Jesus even walked the earth. The Israelites vs the Egyptians. David vs Goliath. Adam and Eve vs the serpent. God vs Satan.

To go even farther, the church and the Bible both teach that people should have nothing to do with things "of the devil" -- ie - anything that's not explicitly Christian. And, going by the "us vs them" mantra, anything that's not Christian is decidedly anti-Christian. I'll go into more detail about this in another blog.

So, what makes up the anti-Christian, politically speaking? Well, pretty much everything that doesn't promote Christianity. Not having ID in the science class, not allowing the 10 Commandments in a court room or class room, general efforts to stay religiously neutral in state and federal institutions in general.

Because businesses decide to say "Happy Holidays," it becomes a "War on Christmas" because it doesn't say "Merry Christmas," even though not everyone celebrates Christmas.

When looking at it like that, then, it should become rather obvious how a Christian would feel like everyone's out to get them (especially when combined with their Biblical commandment of "go out and tell everyone of Christ").

Persecution in General

Now, it may seem like I'm "picking on Christianity," but that's simply because they're the most vocal about...well...everything. Like I mentioned earlier, it's akin to a child making a scene because someone bumped into him. Only his pride is a little bruised.

In an ideal world, no one would be persecuted. Not for their religion, not for their skin color, not for their heritage. This, however, isn't an ideal world. People get persecuted for pretty much everything. However, compared to non-Christians (particularly members of religions with a stigma of being "evil"), as well as Christians (and other religions) in oppressive countries, Christians in America have it good.

So, before you go crying persecution to your mommy because someone stepped on your toes, think of those that have died because of who or what they were. For your child to be told they can't pray aloud in school, or for the prisoner to not get a Christian magazine, that's discrimination or political correctness in general. Everyone deals with it. You're no different just because your holy text is different from mine. Don't like the fact that your child can't openly pray in school? Petition the school board. Get it changed, shut up, move on, and be thankful that you had the ability to change things for your perceived good.

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