As I sit in my cubicle and ponder the meaning of life as an American citizen, as a mixed breed Native American, as a progressive, I can’t help but be concerned by the Christian rights continued framing, that they are being persecuted.
When I looked up the word persecution in the Cambridge online dictionary, this is what I found.
persecute
verb [T]
to treat someone unfairly or cruelly over a long period of time because of their race, religion, or political beliefs or to annoy someone by refusing to leave them alone:
Brings to mind Native Americans, Jews, African Americans.
It demonstrates the falsity of the religious rights claim of being a persecuted class in the great American society. They hold significant numbers of elected positions in local, state and the federal government. They have been and are an economic force in all fifty states. They are granted tax-free status for their houses of worship and their social/religious programs. They have at least a 30% share of ownership in the radio and television market and no one really knows the net worth of the 5 biggest Tele-Evangelists.
Now this clearly shows to any human being with an IQ greater than their shoe size, that this group of people are not currently nor have they been in the last 200 + years of our republic, been a persecuted class of people.
Now to the heart of my upside down theory, that Christianity is being persecuted in the US..
more after the fold:
What we have here is a simple case of persecution complex , that to inflame the masses, into believing that the class of people who identify themselves as Christians, are indeed under attack.
When I looked up the word persecution complex in the Cambridge online dictionary, this is what I found.
persecution complex
noun [C]
If someone has a persecution complex, they suffer from the feeling that other people are trying to harm them.
My belief is that the extremists of the religious right are trying to enflame the masses of Christians who actually believe and live by the principles of their Christ centered religion, to feel that they are indeed a persecuted class of people in the United States of America.
If they can manipulate these mainstream individuals into this false sense of persecution complex, they can in fact change the course of America as we know it. They will turn our country into a theocracy, more sinister and more deadly than any Theocratic nation in the history of the world.
I cannot imagine someone like Falwell, Robertson, Dobson, Perkins, or their ilk, having any compunction to eliminating the perceived evil of non-believers, or Christians who do not follow their proscribed versions of the Christian faith. Not having any compunction to use Nuclear weapons upon any non-Christian nation that fails to convert to Christianity. That these so called men of God, currently support the incarceration and torture of individuals who are held by our Government, clearly demonstrates to me, that these people are indeed not going to protect, me or my spirituality.
I believe we as a nation need to address this false persecution complex directly and with absolutes, that clearly show the mainstream that persecution of Christians and Christian values is not taking place in this country. How we do this is very clear, the talking points are defined below.
When hearing someone state that Christians are persecuted in the US, steer the conversation to these points.
The Communist oppression of Buddhists in Tibet
The Communist oppression of Christians in China
Prosecution of followers of a Native faith under anti-drug legislation because they followed centuries-old rituals which use peyote
Religiously motivated genocide and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia are being effectively controlled by peace keepers. These acts involved Muslims, Serbian Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics both as perpetrators and victims.
These examples show clearly how persecution for your religious beliefs are perpetuated in harmful and in many cases deadly ways. Yet our rightwing brethren continue to promote the following items as their basis of persecution in the US.
Religious Persecution: A Worldwide Tragedy
Haven Bradford Gow
April, 1997In his new book Original Intent (Wall Builder Press, Box 397, Aledo, Texas), historian David Barton provides some examples that make one wonder if Christians now have become second-class citizens:
- “In the Alaska public schools, students were prohibited from using the word `Christmas’ at school, from exchanging Christmas cards or presents, or from displaying anything with the word `Christmas’ on it because it contained the word `Christ’.”
- “In a high school class in Dickson, Tennessee, students were required to write a research paper using at least four sources. Despite the fact that the students were allowed to write about reincarnation, witchcraft and the occult, because student Brittany Settle chose to write her paper about the life of Christ, she was given a zero by her teacher.”
- “An elementary school principal in Denver removed the Bible from the school library, and an elementary school music teacher in Colorado Springs stopped teaching Christmas carols because of alleged violations of the `separation of church and state’.”
- “In DeFuniak Springs, Florida, a judge ordered the courthouse copy of the Ten Commandments to be covered during a murder trial for fears that jurors would be prejudiced against the defendant if they saw the command `Do not kill’.”
- “In Omaha, Nebraska, a student was prohibited from reading his Bible silently during free time, or even to open his Bible at school.”
As is most of the rhetoric and blathering coming from the religious right, these incidences of religious persecution are blown totally out of proportion and exaggerated beyond recognition to the actual facts that occurred.
I challenge all Christians to reexamine yourselves and your faith, how are you supporting those outside of the US, who are truly being persecuted for their religious beliefs, Christian and non Christian alike. As a Native American, I fear that if the extreme religious right is able to achieve its ends, those of you who are not considered by the ruling elite to be of the true class of believers, you will in fact feel the full effects of a persecution on your beliefs. My culture and spiritual beliefs were nearly wiped out by extremists in the ilk of Robertson, Falwell, Perkins, Dobson and those who support the unethical, abhorrent and clearly non Christian beliefs of these false prophets. That they continue to profess this false premise of religious persecution in the United States clearly shows the world how out of touch with reality these false men of Christianity really are, from the true believers of the Christ.
I fear that my spiritual beliefs, those of my wife and family members will one day put us in danger of elimination, because we are not Christian and I can tell you today, I will not profess to a religion that I do not believe. My spiritual well being is entirely my responsibility and I want to continue to be responsible for it and not have to face a tribunal of extremist Christian fundamentalist who will decide whether or not I get to keep my children, my faith or my life. It is abhorrent to me that Christians, true believing Christians have not risen up in defiant anger at this bastardization of your spiritual foundations and this corruption of your beliefs. I can only pray to the Great Spirit that those of you who are true to your faith will arise and take back from the extremists your religion and your faith.
any comments or suggestions for the talking points to counter this false premise will be gladly accepted.
I liked Jon Stewart’s take on it the other day:
(this is paraphrased from my addled memory)
After watching clip of wingnut who said on the house floor the other day that Democrats just can’t help denigrating Christians or some such flibble….
JS: ooh, the war against Christianity! Yes! Would it be that someday we could live in a country where Christains would be free to practice their faith in public, wear signs of their faith…perhaps around their neck? A country where one president would be openly Christian…or 43? and on — it was fine JS!
I am amused by second half of the definition of “persecution” — all we have to do to be persecuted is be annoyed by someone who won’t leave us alone??
I must write about this at length someday!
I am not Christian either, and have no problem with anyone’s sprituality one way or another UNTIL they try to ram it down my throat. Funny, I’ve never had a Buddhist do this, or a pagan, or a Jew…..hmmm.
All I have a problem with is agressive, judgemental evangelizing, religious or otherwise. Cannot abide.
Thanks, as always for you contriubutions, ghostdancers way, I enjoy reading!
One of the things that I like about the main organized religion in Greece is that it does not proselytize.
One of the things I DO”T like about the Church and, indeed, the Greeks in general, is the persecution complex.
(Church and State are NOT separated in Greece and the Church uses its leverage against other religions. In particular they dislike the clean-cut young men from Utah who knock on doors. Me too, I have to admit, but not for the same reasons. : ) )
Perhaps it stems from lost glory or status, regained. Many people and people’s who have slipped from power and/or been honestly persecuted acquire a huge chip on their shoulder when they clamber up the ladder again. In the case of the Greeks, it is impeding them from leaning into the future. In the case of some nearby countries, it is impeding peace and reconciliation. In the case of the American fundamentalists, they are using it in their power play for perpetual political dominance of the US.
Diaries such as this one are one of the reasons why they may fail.
Ah, the absurdity of the absurdities. Unfortunately a good number of the so-called Christian Ministers are preaching this very gospel from their pulpits. Give me a break!
GDW, thank you for this quotable line:
“don’t have. . . an IQ greater than their shoe size”
I hope you don’t mind if I steal it. A great line!
it really is not mine to give away, I don’t remember who told me that one, but you are more than welcome to use it, as I think I was told that it was not copyrighted anywhere by anyone and that it was a public domain thing, lmao.
Just don’t want to get into hot water with RIAA or Hollywood picture conglomerates or TV guide or who ever else wants to sue the public for infringement on their copyrights.
Anyway have fun with it, I know I sure do.
here. It was from a Prince song. The line is “act your age, not your shoe size…”
This I can remember…but the time of my conference call today? Got to go look it up. Short term memory loss or a serious case of CRS?
Great diary GDW.
Did you catch any of Tom Coburn on CSPAN today? He was talking about the budget and how Oklahoma needs more funds for Indian health care, related to diabetes and alcohol/drug abuse. I dislike Tom Coburn as a Senator, but he really did a solid job of fighting for the increased budget for Native Americans.
Sometimes, even at my age, I can still be pleasantly surprised.
I don’t know how many people know that diabetes was unheard of in the native populations until after the 1920’s and the reason was the peoples diet. It was not until the white mans diet was introduced into the community that diabetes rates began to climb.
killer. My Uncle died from ir, and many family members, including two of my younger brothers suffer from it. Heart disease, depression and diabetes. The big three in our family, and so many many other Native American families.
In studies with Native Hawaiiians and Somoans science has found that returning to traditional foods will reduce many health problems, including obesity.
Ummmm, buffalo meat with a side of crushed boiled acorns anyone? Had canuchi (crushed boiled acorns) once, and truth be told…I would be thinner, cuz it was not good. Must be an aquired taste, like poi. Yuck.
Now, Navajo tacos- that’s another story!
would love to try navajo tacos and some fry bread, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Guess I will have to get on down the road a couple of hours from here to visit my friends and their adopted Navajo Daughter who will make me Navajo Tacos and Fry Bread!
Nothing has sounded that good to eat to me for quite a while. . .yep, time to hit the road for a visit.
Though I’ve eaten them out west. Mmmmm. Reading this, of course, I had to look up some recipies. These are from a Navajo site:
fry bread:
http://dine.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/bichiya/breads/fry_bread1.html
Navajo tacos:
http://dine.sanjuan.k12.ut.us/bichiya/other/navajo_tacos.html
Time to get out the skillet 😉
Thanks for another great diary, ghostdancers way.
The problem, in my opinion, is that Biblical literalists interpret the persecution passages in the Bible to mean that they WILL be persecuted for all times. The persecution complex for these people is codified – a part of their belief system. This means that for the fundamentalist literalists the problem is not open for question. Thus, we have an ingrained persecution complex which is now being wielded to persecute everyone who is not a fundamentalist literalist.
I prefer to believe that these Bible passages are part of the times in which they were written, when Christians were indeed persecuted.
Thanks again for your diary. I am in complete agreement with you….once again.
I did not mean to imply that some Christians and others are not still being persecuted in some places, as you mentioned. Just that the U.S. is not one of those places.
In addition to the inbuilt persecution complex is the inbuilt proselytizing of Christianity. As they see it, it is their duty to spread the word. When we make the reasonable request that they keep their religion private, they see it as an attack on their religion.
But, the righties are using the persecution complex and proselytizing duty as excuses to claim victimhood. How ironic that the party that preaches personal responsibility whines about being picked on.
The bottom line is that fear motivates. How did the GOP GOTV so effectively in 2004? By fear mongering. By claiming others are out to get you, you can rally the troops. It is one of the 14 elements of fascism to identify a scapegoat or boogeyman as a unifying cause.
Incidentally, atheists actually had to go the Supreme Court to get state laws banning them from employment by the state overturned (Torcaso v. Watkins, 1961; Silverman v. Campbell, 1997). That is a heck of a lot different than going to the SC to have the state display your religious doctrine in the courthouse.
So how do we combat this nonsense without giving them more ammunition to claim further persecution?
You are right on the mark here. The question is not strictly resolvable. I have no idea what to do other than to persist in our own beliefs and hope that reason and logic will prevail over this mis-interpreted religious dogma.
We may even have to preserve our beliefs in the face of a modern-day Inquisition at some point in the future. Remember the legend of Galileo: when he had to recant his statement that the world revolved around the sun, he is said to have muttered under his breath, after his public recanting, “But it’s true, the Earth does revolve around the Sun”. Small comfort, I know, but I believe that the truth does win in the end.
is what the religious right has chosen to rally people to their cause. Not all Christians choose to emphasize that aspect of the New Testament. (Of course, these fundies aren’t talking about the NT, are they?)
As an ecumenical Christian, I choose to learn from other faiths. My goal is to be ever-changing, more and more loving, kind, gentle, peaceful, and joyful. That’s the part of Christianity I choose to focus on. Many faiths share these values, and the additional perspectives enrich my faith.
It’s hard to forgive those who use faith to gain power, but unfortunately there’s been a lot of that in Christianity. Someone chooses a passage from a book that has been modified over thousands of years and uses it to terrify people into following them in spreading fear and hate.
Please let me stand with you — even if virtually — against the abuse being heaped on all our heads.
In the 50’s, we had the “wonderful” world that these people want so much. Some of my highlights:
. The Jewish cemeteries and synagogues were vandalized several times. Jewish homes were also targets.
. When I was 7, a boy ran me down with his bike while calling me “a dirty kike Christ killer.” Jewish kids getting called names and being spat on was not uncommon.
. Jewish kids got the choice of participating in Christian prayers or standing out in the hall. For the special Easter or Christmas programs, we got to sit in a classroom if we didn’t want to participate.
. The assembly my entire 5th grade year started with the singing of “Onward Christian Soldiers”. I made up my own words.
. There were various businesses, clubs, organizations, and neighborhoods that were not open to Jews.
Once overt Christian prayer and religious observance was removed the public schools (and the 1964 Civil Rights Act outlawed other discrimination), anti-semitic activities waned as well. By the time I graduated high school in the late sixties, I hadn’t been called a name or snubbed in years and the vandalism had stopped as well. I think the change was in large part a result of the schools no longer reinforcing the message that Jews were different and inferior.
The idea of persecuted Christians in this country is ridiculous. There are churches literally on every corner. Christian holidays are treated as national holidays and are pervasive throughout popular culture. The vast majority of those in power in both government and business are Christians. Christian beliefs are dominate American life and culture.
A vastly dominant group cannot claim to be persecuted. What they really mean by persecution is that they are denied the use public institutions to force their religion on every non-Christian in this country.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. I remember well when others found out I was Indian, a heathen, a dirty redskin and no one stood up to say, hey that is not the christian thing to do. I don’t even begin to think I have any answers, yet I know that inactivity is far more dangerous than attempting something to stop this inaccurate description of christian persecution in the USA.
You’re welcome. Believe me, I understand all too well how you feel. I appreciate your diary giving me a chance to vent.
But I am also somewhat hopeful that the fundies will not get what they want, not just because the courts will not let them go that far but also because this country is much more aware of the diversity of people than it was in the 50’s. Many more Christians have been exposed to other belief systems and understand that they must respect the views of non-Christians (even if it would make them very happy if we would all convert).
What a fantastic, incisive comment. Your experiences (and I’m truly sorry you ever had to have them) highlight perfectly the absurdity of the ‘persecution’ claim by right-wing Christians.
I think what worries me is not so much the nut jobs doing the agitating, as it is the general public that doesn’t understand what the big deal is. I sing in the choir at my mom’s Episcopal church. It’s a small congregation, and the congregants’ political views are all over the board. They are generally well-educated, smart, compassionate people. Our choir director/accompianist is out of town next weekend so we’ve been trying to dredge up hymns that everyone knows well enough to sing a capella. We finally settled, over my strenuous objections, on the National Anthem. That’s right, the National Anthem. It’s in the frickin’ Episcopal hymnal.
The thing that gets me is no one understood why I didn’t think it was appropriate to sing a nationalistic song in church. It’s the same reason it’s not appropriate to sing Christmas carols in school. When you start to mix up church and state, no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time, you are on dangerous ground. Better to just steer clear. I think the people at church would object to any big, clear violation of the separation, but by the time we get there it may be too late.
It makes my skin crawl to see red, white, and blue crucifixes. That absolutely cheapens what it means to be a real Christian, and as far as I’m concerned, it breaks 2 commandments at once.
see section (i), especially…
But that might hurt small business! We have to break the law to keep our economy strong. Oh, wait…
Ya know, I think I might just make up 100s of copies of the flag code for the 4th and everywhere that I see a violation, just tape one on there….
You might put at the bottom, that those great patriots on the right in our congress are going to make sure that all violators will prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, except those that voted republican in the last elections.
How about:
All violations will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, pending a Republican vote in 2006.
??
Good diary! This is something that just makes my skin crawl–wingers bandying around the word “persecuted” without any acknowledgement of what that word has historically meant. “Joey got told to put his Bible away during study hall! He’s being persecuted as a Christian!” Boo fucking hoo. When Joey is getting beaten up at lunch time for wearing a cross, or having his Bible burned by the city council, then we can maybe start using the p-word.
“Persecution” doesn’t apply to people who are simply not being allowed to run religious roughshod over everyone else.
Are Christians being told by divorce courts that they can’t expose their children to their religion–even when there’s no religious dispute between the parents?
Well, these Wiccans are.
And then there’s the cop in South Carolina who pulled over a couple whose car had a bumper sticker reading “It’s a Druid Thing”–and proceeded to try to convert them into Baptists. (Here’s the couple’s side of the story.)
Back when I had a car, I put a bumper sticker on it that read “The Earth is Our Mother: Treat Her With Respect.” One day I pulled into a supermarket parking lot and a middle-aged guy in a truck followed me, got out of the truck, and started lecturing me about Jesus. I wonder how many people with Jesus fish on their cars are subjected to harangues about Judaism or Buddhism.
to that guy would be: “Hey, if the Landlord’s Son is coming to visit, the last thing I’d want Him to see is how bad we’ve trashed his Dad’s place.”
But that’s just me…
Bravo
Once more, D.C. Simpson says it better than I ever could.
A few years ago, a group of Muslims in my state wanted to rebuild an abandoned Girl Scout camp so they could run a Muslim-oriented youth camp. They applied to the Corp of Engineers, but their proposal met with a surprising amount of resistance from the neighbors (none of whom had ever opposed the Girl Scout camp). Besides the usual NIMBY arguments, one group said it was unfair that Christians weren’t allowed to use Federal land, but that Muslims were. Its hard to believe, but these people were entirely serious, and very self-righteous – until the Army pointed out that Christian groups ran over 200 camps on Corps land alone, not even counting the other Federal agencies. The Corps eventually approved their camp, but the opposition was pretty ugly.
I don’t know where it comes from, but the persecution complex is real, and it affects people from all walks of life (the neighbors tended to be pretty well off).
This perception is also vigorously fed by wingnut leaders and rightwing radio, and is completely dishonest.
From the wonderful http://www.idrewthis.org/
is, yeah, and how about them crusades you folks put on, dayum man, now that was some real persecution ; )
They usually get that deer in the headlight look, and go on…stops them every time…LMAO
referring to Scalia’s dissent in McCreary County v. ACLU:
… and that the First Amendment applies to me less than it applies to him.
Why? Not because I am a liberal. Not this time, anyway.
It’s because he does not think that millions of American Hindus (or Buddhists, Jains, Unitarians, or atheists) have standing under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Scalia writes in his dissent in McCreary County v. ACLU:
Yes. He said “Deists.” Not kidding. Apparently he thinks his beloved Founding Fathers are second-class citizens as well! I don’t feel so bad now: Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and I will have a rockin’ party in Hell! That Benjamin Rush guy is not invited, though. He is such a dweeb.
These people aren’t going to be happy until they are in complete control.
More.
Note the other comments above from those who are publicly nonChristian. The christofascisti won’t be satisfied with total control; they want exclusivity.
While there exists one person in the world who does not practice their particularly narrow repressive flavor of religion, there remains work to be done. Their definitions and positions are predicated on the idea that they, and they ALONE, have the right to determine what constitutes “religion.” This is very much a Forward Into The Past scenario.
To the Christian Right persecution=not having total domination, free of criticism. A very convenient definition, it seems.
I believe it was in M. Scott Peck’s book, “Further Along the Road Less Traveled : The Unending Journey Towards Spiritual Growth,” that he analyzed the stages of spiritual development.
If my memory serves me correctly, the first stage which often coincides with early adolescence is very black and white. This may occur later in life when someone attaches themselves to a religion. I have often thought how President Bush fits into the stage.
One of the attributes of this stage is a total acceptance of a religion’s structure and strictures. The relevant point of this stage is that there is very little TOLERANCE for believing anything else. Other belief systems are a THREAT because they can cause doubt and questioning.
Those who are in this stage do feel persecuted when their beliefs are challenged, and not just challenged directly, but implicitly by the very existence of other religions.
We might say that fundamentalists of all religions are living in fear. Who thinks rationally when afraid?
The question might be: how do we minimize the fear of fundamentalists?
Thanks for a thought-provoking diary.
Where did this streak of religion come from? The south and perhaps Appalachia?
Doesn’t this region include a substantial percentage of descendents of Highland Scots run out of their homes and country during The Clearances?
The stereotypes of Highland Scots seem very similar to stereotypes of lower classes that descend from them in destinations from the Canadian maritimes to Australia and Appalachia (lately “red necks” to us).
The Gaels have unquestionably been a persecuted population both in Ireland (which between famine and deportation lost half its population) and the Highlands (where most of them were run off, many to the American colonies).
I don’t want to make great claims but it really feels to me as though this is in the mix of factors that led up to the fundamentalist right.
Well, I wouldn’t limit the streak of religion to the south, Appalachia, or the Scots. Consider the Puritans of New England, the Quakers and Amish of Pennsylvania, and the Catholics of Maryland. Each came to this country to avoid persecution.
Then consider all the splinterings of the original groups with the immigration of the 1800’s. We have multiple sources of religious forces.
Another analysis of religion and its role in the development of societies is in Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel.” Religion has been used for eons to establish and reinforce the power structure, i.e., the kleptocracy.
This use of religion to maintain the status quo drives so many of us crazy – those who have no use for organized religions, those of us who separate spirituality from religious structures, and those who have moved into religions tolerant of other religions.
A few years ago I read an analysis of the changes in the Southern Baptist conference. There was a change in the creed about two or three years ago that caused former President Carter to leave. This was a culmination of efforts that began over thirty years ago by people with a very strong fundamentalist belief system working together to get people into positions of power.
In turn, there has been a very conscious effort by those with power and money tapping into the religious organizations. To me this was evident last fall in the front yard of a modest abode; there were two signs: Bush/Cheney and handpainted, Rabbits 4 sale.
How do we identify ourselves? Which identities are the strongest and in which contexts? When are we Americans and when are we Baptists?
I remember being dumbfounded when a fundy told me that he was tired of being persecuted…I didn’t know what to say. A white, middle-class Christian male in this society is about the LEAST persecuted group on this planet now and for centuries. He also mentioned the “holocaust”—i.e. abortion that kills millions of “innocents” each year.
I truly believe that these people want the laws to reflect their own values, so abortion would be outlawed, for example. He apparently has scriptural evidence for why the death penalty is different than “thou shalt not kill” (I’d love to ask him for it, but I’d be afraid I’d throw up)
He also home schools his children so that they don’t have to learn the “non-scientific” theory of evolution. We had a long discussion about intelligent design. My argument was that as long as ID does not have refutable hypotheses…one of the hallmarks of a scientific theory, then it is, by definition not science. His rebuttal to that was “well, then let’s not teach evolution either”.
Dumbfounded. Again.
Have you ever looked around places like the “Christian Underground” site?
No rational argument can address this stuff because it is not founded in rationality.
This mindset is being nurtured by those who wish to turn the USA into a “Christian” theocracy. If you read the tales of “persecution” what it all adds up to is: anything short of a theocracy where they are in charge is “persecution.”
Very convenient.
Excellent diary and great contributions.
The Brittany Settle incident is well known, and unsurprisingly, the persecution claimants conveniently leave out a key part of the story. The assignment to the class was to research a topic unfamilar to them. I’m pretty sure Brittany already knew (or thought she knew) a thing or two about that Jesus person.