Why Right-Wing Christians Think They're America's Most Persecuted

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/belief/why-right-wing-christians-think-theyre-americas-most-persecuted

A recent Pew study found that white American evangelical Christians think they experience more discrimination than blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, atheists or Jews.

Really?

Christianity is the majority religion in the U.S. Many kinds of legally ensconced religious privileges are on the rise including the right to woo converts in public grade schools, speculate in real estate tax-free, repair religious facilities with public dollars, or opt out of civil rights laws and civic responsibilities that otherwise apply to all. By contrast atheists are less electable than even philanderers, weed smokers or gays; Hispanics and Muslims are being told to leave; Jews get accused of everything from secret economic cabals to destroying America’s military; and unarmed black youth continue to die at the hands of vigilantes.

Given the reality of other people’s lives, a widespread evangelical perception of their group as mass victims reveals a lack of empathy that should give thoughtful believers reason to cringe. And indeed, Alan Nobel, managing editor of Christ and Pop Culture, and a professor at Oklahoma Baptist University, wrote a thoughtful, pained analysis this summer of what he called "evangelical persecution complex." Nobel contrasted the privileged position of American Christians with the real and serious persecution Christian minorities experience under ISIS, for example, and he examined the ways in which victimization can become a part of Christian identity and culture to the detriment of Christians and outsiders alike. What he neglected to spell out clearly was the extent to which the Bible itself sets up this problem.

Christianity, born in the harsh desert cultures of the Middle East, got its start by defining itself in opposition to both Judaism and the surrounding pagan religions of the Roman empire. Consequently, from the get-go teachings emerged that helped believers deal with the inevitable conflict by both predicting and glorifying suffering at the hands of outsiders. Indeed, persecution was framed as making believers more righteous, more like their suffering savior. Long before the Catholic Church made saints out of martyrs, a myriad of texts encouraged believers to embrace suffering or persecution, or even to bring it on.

[LiberalElite]

1. In the cold war era

in my Catholic grammar school, the current events text told us to be prepared to die for the faith. (I recall this from second grade - I was 7.)

Fast forward to the present, and I see on his Facebook page a photo from a very Catholic guy I know - proudly clutching his bag from Chick Fil A proclaiming HE's being persecuted for his anti-gay views (oops, religion).

[ladjf]

2. Voodoo isn't a good source of wisdom. nt

[hobbit709]

3. Until I see them fed to the lions at the halftime show, then I'll believe they're being persecuted.

[NightWatcher]

6. it would be better than the Red Hot Chili Peppers show last year

[Fred Sanders]

4. Why? Fox News, and the persecution complex built into some Christian sects.

[Rex]

5. Of course they do! They are a bunch of fucking idiots.

Let's face facts, RWing fundies are about the dumbest creatures to inhabit earth. They eat, breath and shit ignorance.

[jwirr]

10. And they are hand fed the idea "oh poor me I need to be afraid". As a Christian - not rw - that

sickens me. If I believe in an all powerful God why do I need to be afraid of every little thing that comes along? I am not even supposed to be afraid of death. As to the poor part - we are supposed to take care of the poor among us not whine about our own situation. The only one who is persecuting them is their own preachers and their own selfishness.

[NightWatcher]

7. They think that being 'forced' to tolerate other people's existence is persecution.

What do you mean I can't fire the gay guy, the atheist, and the muslim from my company, I'm being persecuted so much.

[Bigredhunk]

11. This!

[NightWatcher]

12. A fundy family member of mine constantly rants and rages against the popular "Coexist" bumper stick.

If the idea of tolerance and living together with everyone on the planet in harmony pisses you off, you seriously need therapy

[phantom power]

8. imagine for a moment you are one of these people

You are told, every day, that Omnipotent God Himself is on your side. That you bear the torch of The One True Truth. That your job is to Spread The Truth. That it is Destiny for Good To Prevail.

And then, you look around you, every day, and the real world doesn't give a shit. People go about their lives believing Other Things, and (gasp) they are just as happy as you are, maybe more.

And of course, there's the endless wars and economic injustice and natural disasters.

The choices are to suspect you've been had, or to conclude that It's All A Horrible Conspiracy Of Persecution. Because otherwise, how could this all be happening. With Omnipotent God Himself on your side?

[siligut]

13. Right, this is how TPTB keep control over the Mormons

They can believe they are persecuted because non-Mormons are evil or they can believe the church is wrong and they have been suckered out of not only 10% of their income, but their freewill as well.

[MisterP]

9. a lot of it's also sects' practice of throwing their history backwards--they're a

revival of the *true*, Apostolic Church that was deformed in the 4th c.: often a sect will say that it's 1,900 years old, the Adventists saying that they're direct descendants of all the true and originalist Christians who secretly took Sabbath on Saturday ... (heck, there's a conspiracy theory about for that, too)

likewise Foxe rebaptized everyone from Wycliffe to Rosicrucians as Protestants-before-the-fact

combine this viewpoint with Victorianism (though note that for every red-baiting Billie Sunday there was a pink Pentecostal, and that the US's main 19th-c. philosophies were literally called Transcendentalism and Pragmatism), America's long history of DIY religion, the 70s' swing to the right (the Baptists had an outright coup!), coddling by the GOP, and a culture of viciousness, self-indulgence, and never reading anyone besides other fundies

but always remember that, if it wouldn't be profitable to listen to the people who think that the Devil can enter your house through Celestial Seasonings tea boxes, Washington wouldn't be listening to them