Evangelicals’ martyr complex mystifies critics

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/politics/12495047.htm

To outsiders, conservative Christians seem at the peak of their influence.

Books by evangelical pastors Rick Warren and Joel Osteen are best sellers. Megachurches are building satellite congregations to meet demand. Conservatives control Congress. Religious activists helped elect President Bush.

Yet many evangelicals consider themselves a persecuted majority.

They say they continue to be maligned by some of the most influential institutions in the country — the media, public schools, universities and Hollywood. Societal demands for tolerance are extended to every group but theirs, they say.

“There is an attempt by the secularists to take Jesus Christ and to take God out of every aspect of our society,” the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, said in a recent interview.

[The Traveler]

1. The faith is shaken

and their feelings hurt when others choose not live exactly as their beliefs prescribe. If they weren't so hostile, they would be pitiable.

[burythehatchet]

10. They are not people of faith

they are cultists. This is why they cannot behave like people who maintain a genuine relationship with themselves nor with God.

[phantom power]

14. "cult" is exactly what's going on here. Persecution complex is part of

cult behavior.

[applegrove]

2. They have to get out more. You know..visit missions in Africa. This

is an embarrassment. But that is what happens when you drink too much koolaid laced with neocon-juice. Also - do you think if they dialed down the hate and were christian and welcoming to their gay brothers and lesbian sisters..they might just feel better about themselves.

[Alcibiades]

3. Their sense of persecution is based on a false belief

That “There is an attempt by the secularists to take Jesus Christ and to take God out of every aspect of our society.” The little lie is that there's this attempt to secularize society, which is nonsense: society, through economic rationality, is secularizing itself.

The big lie is that "Jesus Christ and God" were, at one time, woven into the fabric of our society and government. Utterly wrong--these folks have somehow confused Thomas Jefferson with Cotton Mather.

[The Icon Painter]

13. Right On!

"these folks have somehow confused Thomas Jefferson with Cotton Mather."

What a wonderful phrase! You have summed up the mind-set of the christianists perfectly. I thank you for this witty comment.

[meow2u3]

15. Better known as delusions of persecution

These "persecuted" (read: oppressive) tyrants who try to pass themselves off as Christians are at best mentally ill, at worst, just plain evil.

These are the "Christians" Jesus Christ Himself warned us about!

[punpirate]

4. Don't know why...

... the "critics" should be "mystified." It's an exceptionally simple way to establish solidarity amongst evangelicals. Persecution, real or imagined, is a powerful unifying force, and the top televangelists and religious lobbyists are stroking that idea for all they're worth.

It's not true, but it's certainly a great way of keeping their critics at bay and of preventing political analysis of their aims and plans.

When everything their opposition does to maintain the separation of church and state is interpreted by the evangelicals as religious persecution, that builds public support for their ultimate aim--destroying that separation of church and state.

[Extend a Hand]

5. it's because fundamentalists believe

that we are living in the last days. One of the signs of the last days, is the persecution of Christians-- therefore Christians are being persecuted.

[wli]

6. they've brutalized the entire country, it's evil propaganda n/t

[Dogmudgeon]

7. It's the Specialness

Persecution complexes are common among powerful sub-cultures. It's basically the "Spoiled Child" response to the frustration of having to deal with other people who may not be like them in every way.

Subcultures with less organization -- which perceive themselves as nothing special -- do not grouse about being oppressed. They may complain about individual episodes of bias or bad treatment, or about rudeness and incivility, but they never think to blame Society for persecuting them.

So, a Christian does not make the case that his or her group is being martyred but a member of Christian Coalition or Intervarsity Christian Fellowship will.

Very few groups have actually been systematically oppressed and widely hated. The Jews, the Irish, and the Italians at times were legally and socially persecuted, but most of that has passed. The real, hard-core bigotry is usually experienced by Blacks and Latinos, as well as the remaining Native Americans.

But you'll still hear bitter complaints by some whites over the "oppression" of the KKK (a criminal organization), some Italian-Americans over the Mafia (another criminal organization), and so on.

Even here at DU, we have members with martyr complexes; few Liberals in general have such a complex, but that is because DU is more closed, and by identifying with it, the DUer embraces a "specialness" they may need. This is MUCH more prevalent among Rightist groups.

Specialness and persecution complexes even strike secular groups -- gun enthusiasts, "nerds", writers, amateur rocketeers, skeptical debunkers, vegetarians and vegans, low-carb eaters, smokers, and parents who "believe in" spanking their children all have adherents who complain that they are being persecuted for their beliefs and behaviors.

In general, the less special a person needs to feel, the less martyrdom the person will need to act out. Most Christians will continue to be secure in their beliefs -- and the minority of the fanatical ones will whine that they are persecuted when they are simply being asked to be polite.

--p!

[NMMNG]

8. The problem is

That the evangelicals want to instill their God and dogma into every facet of society, disregarding the fact that not everyone in America is a Christian. They think that they have the right to have their faith forced on everyone via the law, the Constitution and public monuments in every town square and park across the nation. Then if anyone raises a whisper of protest, the evangelicals begin yelping about "anti-Christian bigotry". :eyes:

[tom_paine]

18. That is what Totalitarinism ALWAYS seeks

This is nothing new, be it from the Left or Right: Totalitarianism seeks to control and dominate EVERY facet of a society

Busheviks and their Faithful Followers are Totalitarians (though many don't know it and would feel the shaqme of the Germans if they could but understand where they are being led).

It's as simple as that, because Totalitarian IS a simple tenet with only one real rule: OBEY.

Sadly, the structure of religion and it's reliance on Blind Faith and Unquestioning Obedience makes that group of people more susceptible to becoming the Playthings of Tyrants (Hitler sold himself as an uber-Christian sent by God...just like our own Emperor Bush).

This is not to say that faith is wrong, for it most certainly is not.

[Rich Hunt]

9. what are they talking about

How much God and Jesus is enough for them?

[no_hypocrisy]

11. "Complex" is not that mysterious because it's lying and manipulation.

Plain and simple.

In order to gain more political power, a majority will lie and claim in fact to be a persecuted minority without protection from harm by other sectors of society. And it's asssumed that a religion, particularly Christians would not lie about something like this. Unthinkable. Perish the thought. So they stay on message and pretty soon, it's "Truth" and government responds accordingly with the religion's list of remedies: prayer in school, religion taught in school (their version, naturally), government funds to their church, etc.

To call them on this lie is a political hot potato. Would you want to be the Senator who holds a press conference calling a minister of God, Jesus' servant, an out-and-out liar? I doubt it. Even recasting the claim that these majority religions are not being persecuted is playing with political fire.

[Stuckinthebush]

12. They are dangerous

They are not some benign "group" that deserves the respect and tolerance of the US public. They have admitted that their aim is to take over America and make us all live under their sick, twisted rules. They deserve no quarter in the Universities and public schools. They are a blight on our country, and these extremists must be made to see that the US public does not want their brand of religious belief running their local, state, and federal governments.

We must all continue to stand up and say "No!". They are free to worship how they like and follow the rules that they wish in their own homes (as long as those rules don't endanger children or harm others). But if they continue to remain on a war footing, it is our duty as Americans to resist them with every ounce of our being. The founding fathers would recoil at their desires for absolute power.

[Bridget Burke]

16. The Critics need to look at the Dominionists....

Also known as Christian Reconstructionists--who take Evangelism & Fundamentalism a few steps beyond. The meme is "Christianity Under Attack"

An all-out assault has been launched to uproot the foundations of Christian civilization in America.

If you're intellectually sensitive to the presuppositions underlying current events, you've already seen the explicit agenda of humanists to silence the Christian voice in America.

No doubt you are greatly disturbed by the efforts of secularists, pluralists, and false religious groups to remove the Judeo-Christian God "from every post and pillar." The following is just a few of the wicked strategies imposed by such humanist organizations as the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and other secular and false religious groups...

www.chalcedon.edu/underwriters.php

R J Rushdoony founded the Chalcedon Foundation & his heirs carry on the work. This "persecution" concept has really caught on.

(P.S. to any Catholic leaders allying with these fanatics because of "Right to Life" and "Sanctity of Marriage." They REALLY hate Catholics.)

[tom_paine]

17. That the Bullies In Control feel like The Persecuted is nothing new

It is a deliberately cultivated mindset specifically designed to keep everyone in line and frothing at the mouth.

Close your eyes: Imagine the Courtyard of Auschwitz. In it, a Nazi Guard stands screaming and kicking a Jew to death. What is the guard screaming "Filthy (kick) Jew (kick kick), stop (kick) perscuting (kick kick) the German (kick) People (kick kick kick)!"

I don't know the scienitifc name for this effect (any sociologist DUers care to give the scientific name for it?), save to say that it is most common and often inculcated in the Followers of Totalitarianism by their Masters to kep them frothing and angry.

And while the Busheviks are not YET fully Nazified (they may never be FULLY so because American Culture won't allow the Busheviks such a close imitation of their Spiritual Forebears, but they may get close in the next 30 years...damned close.

But the feects are related, of the same family, just as a Fox-watching Bushevik is of the same family as a Der Sturmer-reading Nazi. Kissin' Cousins.

[yellowcanine]

19. Too bad for them when the Flying Spaghetti Monster Church takes off.

http://www.venganza.org/

Flying Spaghetti Monster be Praised!

[NMMNG]

21. Yes, all hail His noodly appendages!

[Jade Fox]

20. They have taken Jesus out of Christianity....

http://www.harpers.org/ExcerptTheChristianParadox.html