5 Reasons the Religious Right Should Stop Whining About Being Persecuted

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/story/153207/5_reasons_the_religious_right_should_stop_whining_about_being_persecuted?akid=7909.277129.xPrY54&rd=1&t=5

I’ve been writing about the Religious Right for nearly 25 years now, and one thing that never ceases to amaze me is when the leaders or supporters of these organizations claim they are being persecuted. Really? In a country that has a strong Christian culture and where at least 75 percent of the population professes some form of Christianity, it would seem odd that Christians would be persecuted. Yet the claim is made, constantly.

A new study on the power of religious advocacy groups in Washington by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life show yet again how absurd that claim is. Pew researchers examined 212 religious groups on the right and the left that engage in advocacy work in the nation’s capital. Their findings are illuminating. Anyone who believes the old saw that conservative Christians don’t have a voice in D.C. should take a look. With that thought in mind, here are five reasons why the Religious Right should stop complaining about persecution:

1. Of the 10 largest religious advocacy groups in Washington, seven take the Religious Right line on most issues.

Five of the top-10 groups (Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, Home School Legal Defense Fund, Focus on the Family’s Citizenlink and the Traditional Values Coalition) are Religious Right organizations. The two other groups are the U.S. Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops, which marches in lock step with the Religious Right on issues like abortion, same-sex marriage and taxpayer funding of religion, and the National Right to Life Committee, a more narrowly focused group that shares the Religious Right’s views on abortion. Marginalized movements don’t have this much representation in

[Kurmudgeon]

1. Just please remember, not all religious are members of the right.

[xchrom]

2. i do. i'm a believer.

but the faux persecution complex is still real.

[bemildred]

3. Religion is fine, good, great, as long as it is not marketed like toothpaste or insurance. nt

[mwb970]

14. All of the ones we hear about are, though.

I have come to associate the "christianity" of these falsely pious "believers" with hate and intolerance. They appear to go against everything Jesus said, taught, and did with their every word and action. It would be nice to hear more often from people who are Christian but not insanely right-wing.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. They should stop whining but they won't.

Acting the victim fires up their base and brings in money. Nothing like claiming persecution to get the true believers all riled up and angry.

[Demeter]

5. Perhaps it's that the Reliigious Right Think That They Are Exempt From Man's Law

and object to criminal prosecutions for any reason....after all, if God forgives, then why should the State care?

[zanana1]

6. Whenever someone from the Christian right whines about that...

I tell them "you should try being an atheist". Now that's persecution.

[Beam Me Up]

7. Advocates of intolerance shouldn't be surprised when others practice what they preach. n/t

[unblock]

8. those who want the entire world feel deprived when they only get 99%.

they have no perspective and no respect for other religions and non-religions and they won't be satisfied until the entire planet joins their fold.

[Populist_Prole]

9. Got sucked into a conversation at work

2 people, one of them quite religious, the other I'm not sure heard me chuckle when one of them complained about the use of "holiday" instead of christmas.

I was asked to explain and I basically said I don't see what the big deal is: Some are religious, and some not, and why set the bar with the religious view?

The first says: "Do you think there is a place for God in our country?"

"Place for God?" I say. "I see no example of anybody or anything stopping you from practicing your religion...what's the fuss?"

He says: "Then you don't believe there is a place for God in our country then"

I said: "I have no problem with religion whatsoever, as long as it's a private matter and it has nothing to do with setting public policy"

He was visibly taken aback, though I suspected he added some drama to try to tug at my conscience.

Therein lies the disconnect. They are not happy to merely exist, they must dominate.

[saras]

10. Yes. You can add "do it in private, like Jesus commands you". That gets 'em.

Matthew 6:5-6, New International "Whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray while standing in synagogues and on street corners so that people can see them. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you”

[Igel]

11. "Persecution" is a loaded word.

I prefer "discrimination." They're not persecuted for their beliefs; they're discriminated against because they're believers.

Not often, to be sure, and not in all geographical areas or fields. But I've seen people discriminated against, both in hiring and in quasi-social/quasi-professional group membership, because they were some sort of Christian.

There's all kinds of discrimination out there. Political, ethnic, geographic, age, sex, etc., etc. Most comes across as random noise in the stats.

Then again, I've seen non-whites refuse to hire whites or lament that they were forced to hire whites (only to treat them badly because their skin wasn't the proper shade of brown). I've seen women refuse to hire men ("too much testosterone in this office"); interesting once had an office manager refuse to hire Asians and women on the grounds that she, an Asian women, refused to have an all female and mostly Asian staff--so out of 80 applicants, overlooked the mostly female, mostly non-white applicants in order to hire the one white male who applied.

[treestar]

12. K&R

I have relatives who really think that prayer in the public schools will solve everything. It's a form of derangement.

And their defensive statement of how they will say Merry Christmas - to someone you know, and know their religion maybe, but are they going to be obnoxious enough to say it to people they know aren't Christians?

[jmowreader]

13. They're not actually whining about being persecuted

Persecution is part of their creed. Jesus was persecuted for his beliefs, so to be like Jesus they simply must be persecuted.

I used to work with a serious bible-thumper who taught either Awana or Sunday school. He left his lesson handouts at his desk when he went home at night (we worked different shifts) so I read them. One week it was all about persecution, and how every Christian WILL be persecuted, and you should take your persecution as a sign God loves you. Which of course is pretty strange to me--if one of the parts of your club is being thrown in prison for no reason, beaten for no reason or shot for no reason other than you're an infuriating twit, I don't want to be in your club.