You think Christians are persecuted for their beliefs?

[cleanhippie]

[Sam1]

1. Some are most are not and very very few in the U.S.

[cleanhippie]

2. Show me just one single example of a christian being persecuted for their beliefs in this country.

[Igel]

14. Sure.

M. She was a grad student in the same dept. I was. She worked as an IT consultant for the department and spent a year as a "missionary" in the Ukraine. The dept. was one studying Slavic language, and Ukrainian was her dominant "other" language after Russian.

When organizing study groups, she was last. Because nobody wanted to work with an anti-abortion Bible-thumping Jesus freak. They were free-thinking feminists, not reactionaries. Once I was entering the dept. as she left in tears, with shouts of things like "Go away, nobody wants you here" and "We don't need people like you." The self-professed progressives were laughting. They apparently asked her opinion. She answered. They disapproved. They abused her psychologically, but she was the intolerant one. Dorks.

It wasn't the first time she left in tears. She was withdrawn the first year, but the second and third years in the program she was routinely picked on. She was pro-abortion, very much behind the ERA, and her "missionary" work was volunteering for scutt wages in an orphanage. But she was religious and didn't hide it. She was also helpful and just a nice person. She also liked Slavic literatures.

The hypocrisy of the self-righteous was apparent in the following term. She took a class on Russian medieval literature. For outsiders, that means either "sermons and religious tracts" or "chronicles and legal records." It went "sermons" and not "chronicles." The funny thing is, knowing Orthodoxy and scripture well, she was picking up on allusions and word play that the professor did. The professor encouraged her to pursue it as a dissertation topic. And suddenly everybody wanted her in their group because, well, they'd always been friends.

The following year I wasn't around much, but from what I saw as soon as she stopped being useful she was again a social pariah.

On edit: I think her dissertation wound up being on Andrej Belyj. Not Russian religions traditions.

[trotsky]

38. So a group of people treated her badly because they *thought* she held political opinions...

contrary to progressive ideals?

Tell me again how she was persecuted for being a Christian?

[ButterflyBlood]

34. Interesting Salon article

Over two years old but worth a read: http://www.salon.com/2009/12/21/closet_christian

[trotsky]

39. A disappointing and insulting one, yes.

I’ll give the atheists a lot: The Creation Museum is a riot. The psychos shooting up abortion clinics and telling gay couples they’re going to hell are evil, and anyone of faith has an obligation to condemn them. Abominable stuff has been done in God’s name for centuries. The Bible has a lot of crazy shit in it about stoning people for using the wrong salad fork. Up with science and reason!

And yet, atheists are at least as fundamentalist and zealous as any religious people I know...

Wait... so this person just gets done recognizing that Christianity deservedly gets some bad press, for those Christians who murder innocent people, condemn others to hell, and so on. But atheists are *just as bad*? Because they write books and say Christians are wrong? Who are atheists running around killing? Who are we condemning to hell or stoning for using the wrong salad fork?

Exactly the same. Yep.

[Angry Dragon]

4. +187

[skepticscott]

7. And most definitely NONE

in this group.

[rug]

11. How about you?

Catalog your persecution.

[skepticscott]

27. There's none, sorry

Unlike some here, I don't consider myself to have been personally attacked, bullied, harassed, persecuted or stalked in this group. Call me thick skinned and unconcerned.

[kwassa]

28. And what atheist in this forum has been so persecuted?

[skepticscott]

30. No atheist I know of

has been playing the victim about what happens in this group like many of the religionists do. Have you seen any atheists claiming to be "bullied", "persecuted" or "stalked" in this group?

[rug]

32. Well, since you asked . . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12309784

And then, there might be this . . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12309696

We can't forget you . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12309668

There's more but I might be accused of quote-mining.

[skepticscott]

35. Funny, I don't see anyone

in those posts claiming to be "bullied", "persecuted" or "stalked".

Since that was apparently your best shot, thanks for making my point.

[cleanhippie]

36. Yep, thats the best he can do.

Like most religious claims; empty and unsubstantial.

[gordianot]

3. In ages past persecution worked well for Christianity some just long for the good old days.

If you think about it persecution was the foundation for most Christian sects. The central character in this drama had a few things to say about persecution commonly known with the "casting the first stone" meme. Problem is these poor people get confused over who throws the rocks. It seems this is also a common theme over the centuries.

[humblebum]

5. Would certainly depend on where and what part of the country one goes to

wearing such shirts. It would also depend upon how one defines persecution.

[cleanhippie]

6. Hi humblebum, so nice to see you again.

You have a nice day.

[Goblinmonger]

8. The I heart Jesus shirt won't get you into any problems

I agree that there are areas of the country where the Atheist shirt won't. My daughter goes to U of Wisconsin Madison. The Atheist t-shirt wouldn't cause any problems there. But neither would the Jesus shirt. The atheist shirt where I teach high school in central Wisconsin (not some 70 miles from Madison) would get you plenty of comments.

[humblebum]

9. Comments do not necessarily equate to problems. nt

[rug]

10. What persecutions have you suffered for your beliefs, cleanhippie?

[cleanhippie]

12. Beliefs in what, rug?

[rug]

13. Let's pick shirt #2.

Unless you know there is not a god(s), it's a belief.

Now, how about that persecution you've experienced.

[cleanhippie]

16. That's a lack of belief, but you knew that already.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel now for something say, I see.

[rug]

17. Let's not quibble.

How about that persecution you've been talking about for your intellectual posture?

[cleanhippie]

18. Quibble is your forte. No need to give up now.

[rug]

19. I see. No persecution.

Just a jolly smiley.

[cleanhippie]

21. When you turn a blind eye, you don't see much.

You have a nice day.

[rug]

22. Then open it.

Document your persecution.

[cleanhippie]

24. Bwahahaha.

Rounds are over.

[rug]

25. Ah, a laughing victim of persecution.

Solidarity.

[cleanhippie]

26. Good luck with that.

[Igel]

15. Depends where you work.

Where my wife worked "atheist" would have gotten you thumbs up.

"I heart Jesus" would have provoked laughter. The assumption would be it could only be meant ironically, mocking those who actually hold such antiquated and parochial beliefs.

The reaction at my kid's den meeting would be the reverse. Of course you heart Jesus, you're a Methodist or Lutheran. Atheist? How dare you unfriend Jesus!

The first were all PhDs and grad students in the humanities. The second are mostly engineers and folk with their MAs working in industry.

Either would get you some cheers and some jeers where I work, a large high school, neither jeers nor cheers very loud or intense (except from the students, who default to loud and intense). Either way, you'd notice the jeers far more than the cheers and be convinced you were persecuted. Then the administration would tell you to go home, change your clothes to abide by the dress code and stop sowing trouble.

[Adsos Letter]

20. The only persecution I have experienced was from other Christians.

I was a painter for 35 years. My last employer before retirement used a certain Sherwin-Williams store in town, which was managed by a very Conservative fellow who was/is a leader in a very right-wing Evangelical church. I've forgotten the specifics of how the subject came up but when the guy found out that I was attending an SDA church (considered a cult by some Christians) he informed me that he would never serve an SDA in "his" store, and that I should just get out...like "RIGHT NOW!"

All this was done at the top of his voice and in front of several other customers, some of whom I knew personally.

Is that persecution? It wasn't government sanctioned, like the SDA's in the South in the late nineteenth-century who were jailed, put on chain-gangs, etc. for refusing to abide by "Sunday Laws" regarding work. Other Christians were behind that legislation/behavior also.

Just simple, run-of-the-mill bigotry I suppose; although, it would have meant I couldn't purchase a specific paint line had the guy continued with that attitude.

It certainly wasn't like being physically abused, but it was damned unpleasant.

To the best of my knowledge I've never been mistreated/persecuted by a non-Christian because of my faith.

[Marrah_G]

23. Everytime I hear a Christian talking about how oppressed they are, I laugh

Because if they are American and they are Christian, they have no clue what persecution is.

[kwassa]

29. What persecutions have you suffered for your lack of belief, cleanhippie?

But ..... lack of belief can only result in lack of persecution, right? You have no beliefs to be persecuted for, therefore you can't be persecuted.

[cleanhippie]

31. Uhm, ok.

[Festivito]

33. A friend will be killed if he returns to Iraq.

He changed from Muslim to Christian. They'd kill him here if they could.

[trotsky]

37. They'd do the same if he were an atheist.

But of course we know this thread isn't about that, it's about Christians in the U.S. who think they're persecuted.

Do you believe Christians in the U.S. are persecuted?