Czernobog
Gold Member
"America is becoming hostile towards Christians!" This seems to be becoming the most popular battle cry of the religious right of late. A growing number of Christians– a shocking amount, actually– are convinced that America’s glory days are over and that Christians are now a marginalized group on the verge of having all of their rights stripped away. right-wing politicians and religious talking-heads like Franklin Graham are trying to convince people that “religious liberty” is not only being threatened, but on the verge of disappearing.
Really? Disappearing? Recent polls show that around 83% of Americans are Christians. That long line of U.S presidents stemming back to the founding of the nation? Well, except for Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, all of them were professing Christians to varying degrees. And Congress? You know, the people who actually make the laws we live by in America? Well, that group of people is actually 91.8% Christian. And let’s not forget the Supreme Court, the body that decides which laws are constitutional and which ones are not– that’s predominantly stacked with Christians too, having two justices who are Jewish, and the rest entirely Christians.
If religious liberty is "disappearing", and Christianity is in danger of extinction in America, then Christians are certainly a self-destructive lot - because America is near-entirely controlled by Christians.
But, you see, America isn't becoming hostile towards Christians - it's just had its fill of religious bullies. No one give so much as a single fuck if one is a practicing Christian. There’s no movement to banish churches and put them under government regulation like in China. No one is stopping Christians from gathering together with other believers, from feeding the poor, or even from standing on the street corner with obnoxious signs that say “God hates f*gs!”
Religious freedom, freedom of speech, and the right to assemble are all alive, and well in the United States. These freedoms are not just tolerated; they are embraced. What is not embraced, and what America is becoming increasingly hostile towards, are Christian extremists trying to institute their own version of sharia law that infringes on the rights and liberties of the rest of us. There’s a huge difference between freedom to practice one’s religion in a pluralistic society where we all equally have that right, versus enshrining one’s religious views in laws that are imposed on the rest of us. Just as there is a difference between saying that you want to be free and not forced to marry someone of the same sex, versus wanting to deny that right to someone else you don’t even know. Again, there is a difference between wanting the freedom to own a business and conduct commerce freely in the public square, versus demanding to run a business that discriminates and infringes on the basic rights and dignities of anyone whose personal choices one finds distasteful.
The irony is that the extremists, and politicians would have everyone believe that this is a fight between the "godless", and the believers. Refer back to my paragraph describing just how much political power Christians hold. It isn't atheists, pagans, or other no-Christians opposing these draconian attempts to control the lives of others; it. Is. Christians who have said, "Enough is enough,"
No one is trying to stop you from being a Christian. The country is not growing hostile towards Christians. It’s just growing hostile towards extremist, religious bullies, who are trying to hijack the nation and force everyone to live under their own set of morals and ethics.
Really? Disappearing? Recent polls show that around 83% of Americans are Christians. That long line of U.S presidents stemming back to the founding of the nation? Well, except for Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson, all of them were professing Christians to varying degrees. And Congress? You know, the people who actually make the laws we live by in America? Well, that group of people is actually 91.8% Christian. And let’s not forget the Supreme Court, the body that decides which laws are constitutional and which ones are not– that’s predominantly stacked with Christians too, having two justices who are Jewish, and the rest entirely Christians.
If religious liberty is "disappearing", and Christianity is in danger of extinction in America, then Christians are certainly a self-destructive lot - because America is near-entirely controlled by Christians.
But, you see, America isn't becoming hostile towards Christians - it's just had its fill of religious bullies. No one give so much as a single fuck if one is a practicing Christian. There’s no movement to banish churches and put them under government regulation like in China. No one is stopping Christians from gathering together with other believers, from feeding the poor, or even from standing on the street corner with obnoxious signs that say “God hates f*gs!”
Religious freedom, freedom of speech, and the right to assemble are all alive, and well in the United States. These freedoms are not just tolerated; they are embraced. What is not embraced, and what America is becoming increasingly hostile towards, are Christian extremists trying to institute their own version of sharia law that infringes on the rights and liberties of the rest of us. There’s a huge difference between freedom to practice one’s religion in a pluralistic society where we all equally have that right, versus enshrining one’s religious views in laws that are imposed on the rest of us. Just as there is a difference between saying that you want to be free and not forced to marry someone of the same sex, versus wanting to deny that right to someone else you don’t even know. Again, there is a difference between wanting the freedom to own a business and conduct commerce freely in the public square, versus demanding to run a business that discriminates and infringes on the basic rights and dignities of anyone whose personal choices one finds distasteful.
The irony is that the extremists, and politicians would have everyone believe that this is a fight between the "godless", and the believers. Refer back to my paragraph describing just how much political power Christians hold. It isn't atheists, pagans, or other no-Christians opposing these draconian attempts to control the lives of others; it. Is. Christians who have said, "Enough is enough,"
No one is trying to stop you from being a Christian. The country is not growing hostile towards Christians. It’s just growing hostile towards extremist, religious bullies, who are trying to hijack the nation and force everyone to live under their own set of morals and ethics.