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Author | Topic: So-Called "Persecution Against Christians": | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
dwise1 Member Posts: 5946 Joined: Member Rating: 5.5 |
FaceBook offered this link at patheos.com: America Isn’t Growing Hostile Towards Christians, It’s Growing Hostile Towards Religious Bullies.. One excerpt from that page is:
quote: "True Christians" will undoubtedly bridle at this, but I tend to think of certain activities of fundamentalistist in terms of viral infections, epidemics even. That is influenced in part by Michael Crichton's resolution of the problem in his first well-known novel (his sixth novel actually), The Andromeda Strain. Here was this alien pathogen that could coagulate all the blood in the entire circulatory system in an instant (albeit more slowly outside of a narrow pH range), but since that virulence greatly reduces its ability to infect more hosts, the less virulent strains start to predominate. During the "Jesus Freak Movement" (which I lived through), fundamentalist Christianity was highly virulent. A major factor of that was End-Time Revelations and all that nonsense. After the mid-1970's I lost track of the local fundamentalist nonsense, having enlisted and been shipped elsewhere, but later I heard of a charlatan who wreaked havoc on the local major fundamentalist church, the center of the "Jesus Freak Movement" (ie, the massive influx of those members had propelled it into the Mega-Church category). That charlatan mispresented himself as a former Satanist who in the 1980's cause all kind of havoc. I will regard him much as the Mule in Isaac Asimov's Foundation series, an anomaly who upset the natural evolution of things. Circa 1970, the new converts to Christian fundamentalism were mainly the burned-out hippies. They then engaged in very aggressive street proselytizing which drew in some number of new converts. We'll return to the overall consequences of those efforts. My high school best friend's mother and a few family members converted, so I became something of a "fellow traveller" (a McCarthyism term) as I observed that sub-culture while not actually becoming a member. Circa 1970, major emphasis was given to the End-Times and the Book of Revelations. This was the period when the infection was most virulent. Many new converts. Many new and very highly motivated proselytizers. The situation very quickly devolved to where you almost literally could not turn around without some religious nut preaching at you and trying to convert you. Ok, let's take that kind of religious community forward in time. The earliest Christians were convinced that the Second Coming was imminent, could happen any moment now. It is said that they wouldn't even bother to plant any trees, because nobody would ever be around to pick any of the resultant fruits. And yet the Second Coming did not happen and the resultant fruit of those trees planted nonetheless by non-believers was indeed eaten. The prophecies proved false ... and were immediately forgotten. Similarly, the Jesus Freak Movement expected the End Times to be immediately at hand. But as with that prior generation two millennia earlier, their families were still there and their children were still there and their grand-children were also still there. Despite all their religious beliefs, life still went on and their families still went on and their careers still went on. And over time, the virulence of Christian fundamentalism diminished, as with any virus.
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Adminnemooseus Administrator Posts: 3974 Joined: |
Thread copied here from the So-Called "Persecution Against Christians": thread in the Proposed New Topics forum.
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Taq Member Posts: 10033 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3 |
In my opinion, what we are really seeing is the loss of Christian Privilege, which some Christians see as persecution. There was a time in US history where the Bible was offered as valid justification for a law. Why was homosexuality against the law? The Bible says so.
These clear violations of constitutional rights were never challenged, so they stayed on the books. As US society became more secular those laws came under challenge, and they were ruled unconstitutional, and rightly so. Over the last 50 years, Christianity has lost a lot of sway in how law is written and on which laws are challenged. The loss of influence in government is seen as an attack on Christianity by some. I hear it from my parents all of the time when they have to preface religious statements with "I know it's not politically correct . . .". They feel persecuted just because people don't automatically agree with them, or because Christianity is not automatically agreed to be the law of the land.
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
Thanks for sharing. Thats an honest story. You do not strike me as a militant atheist. Do I strike you as an extremist? Just asking. I am quite literal in regards to many of my beliefs, but I have never supported legislation of morality.
My Pastor is strong in his beliefs, and is against discrimination towards men of color. GRID. The Gang reduction initiative works to develop and support a network of partner agencies and programs to provide effective and efficient prevention strategies that collectively strengthen families and communities, provide effective and efficient case management intervention strategies to high-risk gang members and their families, and ensure effective enforcement of violent gang crimes. I understand the cultural battle. Faith based organizations should be embraced as well as other forms of community assets, but no church or religion should predominate and exclude all other religious or secular approaches. The keyword is balance. Thank God there is no religious persecution in this country. Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.~Proverbs 28:26
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
In my opinion, what we are really seeing is the loss of Christian Privilege, which some Christians see as persecution. There was a time in US history where the Bible was offered as valid justification for a law. Why was homosexuality against the law? The Bible says so. This reminds me of a rapper named Bizzle. He wrote a song challenging Macklemores
Same Love video. Bizzle Responds To Macklemore's "Same Love" Christian Rapper Bizzle Responds to Macklemore Free speech lives! Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.~Proverbs 28:26
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Taq Member Posts: 10033 Joined: Member Rating: 5.3 |
Phat writes: Free speech lives! Racists have the right to tell the whole world how inferior blacks are. It is unconstitutional to write laws that discriminate against blacks. Do you understand the difference?
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
yes i do
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.~Proverbs 28:26
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
It's unconstitutional to write laws that discriminate against inferior people, whether they're black or homosexual or Christian.
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Asgara Member (Idle past 2323 days) Posts: 1783 From: Wisconsin, USA Joined: |
Phat writes: Thank God there is no religious persecution in this country. Do you really believe this? Don't you mean there is no persecution of Christians in this country? There is plenty of persecution of other belief systems.
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
yes thats what I meant. We still need to work on our bias
Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.~Proverbs 28:26
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Phat Member Posts: 18298 From: Denver,Colorado USA Joined: Member Rating: 1.1 |
inferior? dont you mean minority?
Minorities may be a smaller percentage of the population, but are hardly inferiorChance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all. —RC Sproul "A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes." —Mark Twain " ~"If that's not sufficient for you go soak your head."~Faith Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.~Proverbs 28:26
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ringo Member (Idle past 432 days) Posts: 20940 From: frozen wasteland Joined: |
Phat writes:
My point is that it doesn't matter if they are inferior. If every single black person on earth was inferior in every conceivable way to every single white person, that is still not an excuse for discriminating against them. Democracy should not be only for the superior.
Minorities may be a smaller percentage of the population, but are hardly inferior
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LamarkNewAge Member Posts: 2313 Joined: |
It involved the execution of Baal worshippers sho promoted their religion.
quote: We have a mindset here that is (more than)a bit disturbing IMO. It is a snap shot of a creationist (cum deluge/flood) mindset.
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New Cat's Eye Inactive Member
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cum deluge But seriously, I can't see any point that you are trying to make.
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LamarkNewAge Member Posts: 2313 Joined: |
People being killed for sins and beliefs.
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