I have a family member who told me last year that they believe Christians are the most persecuted group in the USA, even more so than gay people.
In truth it was very challenging to stay calm in the face of someone saying something so blatantly biased and false. Packaged as an opinion, of course, but presented as the truth.
I asked questions and challenged some of the statements being made, but I know for a fact that the only thing I accomplished is that she’s unlikely to make that particular statement in front of me again. No minds were changed that day. It’s just sad.
As someone who actually IS persecuted in this country for things I cannot change about myself, I really don’t get why someone would want to live under the delusion that they are being persecuted when they otherwise aren’t. It’s not fun and there’s no benefit to being persecuted.
My very christian mom used to always tell me that I’m gay and athiest because it’s popular, but that she believed I’m actually a closeted christian. In her opinion, I chose the way I am because christians are so persecuted in the US… Nevermind that I’m autistic, highly introverted, and have never cared about popularity or pop culture in general. I’ve been out to my parents for over a decade and she’s only recently started to come around on it because I have a fiance now, and she sees how happy he makes me. :)
Christians are fucking wild with the BS they’re willing to believe, so long as their pastor can make them chuckle and tear up a little bit inside of a 40 min speech.
They want to be David vs Goliath. Being the ones persecuted means that they can go on the offensive without feeling bad about it. It means whatever they do is justified as being a means of survival. It gives them an excuse.
Exactly, the Bible is written for the underdog. Constantly referencing persecution for the faith, which is non-existent in the USA, so they try to redefine what they see as micro aggressions as full on persecution. They simply want to be angry, righteous anger for Christ.
They view their Belief System (BS) being put on the same plane as other mythologies, new or ancient, as somehow being “persecuted”, since they are so used to having unwarranted privileges.
They’ve seen that unwarranted privilege being chipped away, ever so slowly, as xtianity dies off in number of adherents in the United States (dwindling down to 60-some percent, now) - trending toward what more normal advanced countries of the West are like, and they fucking hate it. They want everyone and every part of the culture to have them up on a pedestal again, even if it means violence, and a lot of it, because “Jesus”.
I have a family member who told me last year that they believe Christians are the most persecuted group in the USA, even more so than gay people.
I asked questions and challenged some of the statements being made
I imagine some of those questions included:
How many christians in the USA were killed in the last 20 years only because they were christian?
When was the last time a gathering of christians in a public library doing things unrelated to being christian forced to cease and desist?
Is it common in society for a young adult living with parents to profess their love for christ and be thrown out of their homes and essentially abandoned by the family?
Is there a history in this country to regularly arrest and prosecute christians for gathering or holding ceremonies like communion?
edit: A couple more additions.
Has marriage between two christians been illegal for nearly the entirety of the existence of the USA?
Are there camps that some misguided parents send their children to to be “deprogrammed” from being christian?
It’s because their religion claims that whoever has the worst life on Earth will have the best life in Heaven, so they’re constantly seeking out ways to reaffirm that they have it “so hard”.
They associate the negativity of others towards them with godliness.
In truth it was very challenging to stay calm in the face of someone saying something so blatantly biased and false.
Collectively, we really need to quit doing that. Failing to call out hateful bullshit because of some weird adherence to ‘civility’ is part of what got us to this point in the first place.
I have a family member who told me last year that they believe Christians are the most persecuted group in the USA, even more so than gay people.
In truth it was very challenging to stay calm in the face of someone saying something so blatantly biased and false. Packaged as an opinion, of course, but presented as the truth.
I asked questions and challenged some of the statements being made, but I know for a fact that the only thing I accomplished is that she’s unlikely to make that particular statement in front of me again. No minds were changed that day. It’s just sad.
As someone who actually IS persecuted in this country for things I cannot change about myself, I really don’t get why someone would want to live under the delusion that they are being persecuted when they otherwise aren’t. It’s not fun and there’s no benefit to being persecuted.
My very christian mom used to always tell me that I’m gay and athiest because it’s popular, but that she believed I’m actually a closeted christian. In her opinion, I chose the way I am because christians are so persecuted in the US… Nevermind that I’m autistic, highly introverted, and have never cared about popularity or pop culture in general. I’ve been out to my parents for over a decade and she’s only recently started to come around on it because I have a fiance now, and she sees how happy he makes me. :)
Christians are fucking wild with the BS they’re willing to believe, so long as their pastor can make them chuckle and tear up a little bit inside of a 40 min speech.
And by that, they mean something like this? Xtians get all kinds of privileges and everyone else has to convert or be a second class citizen?
They want to be David vs Goliath. Being the ones persecuted means that they can go on the offensive without feeling bad about it. It means whatever they do is justified as being a means of survival. It gives them an excuse.
Exactly, the Bible is written for the underdog. Constantly referencing persecution for the faith, which is non-existent in the USA, so they try to redefine what they see as micro aggressions as full on persecution. They simply want to be angry, righteous anger for Christ.
They view their Belief System (BS) being put on the same plane as other mythologies, new or ancient, as somehow being “persecuted”, since they are so used to having unwarranted privileges.
They’ve seen that unwarranted privilege being chipped away, ever so slowly, as xtianity dies off in number of adherents in the United States (dwindling down to 60-some percent, now) - trending toward what more normal advanced countries of the West are like, and they fucking hate it. They want everyone and every part of the culture to have them up on a pedestal again, even if it means violence, and a lot of it, because “Jesus”.
I imagine some of those questions included:
edit: A couple more additions.
Has marriage between two christians been illegal for nearly the entirety of the existence of the USA?
Are there camps that some misguided parents send their children to to be “deprogrammed” from being christian?
It’s because their religion claims that whoever has the worst life on Earth will have the best life in Heaven, so they’re constantly seeking out ways to reaffirm that they have it “so hard”.
They associate the negativity of others towards them with godliness.
Collectively, we really need to quit doing that. Failing to call out hateful bullshit because of some weird adherence to ‘civility’ is part of what got us to this point in the first place.