The Persecution Delusion

[Warpy]

The bitter tears of the American Christian supermajority, http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/3/christians-persecutioncomplex.html

It's hard to pick out any one to four paragraphs from this article, the whole thing is a gem, but a couple are stellar:

And yet the persecution complex of American Christianity blares its sirens, well beyond the surly hype about a “war on Christmas” that has become as much a part of the yuletide season as eggnog. Take the Catholic bishop of Peoria, Ill., Daniel R. Jenky, sermonizing in 2012 against the Affordable Care Act, blasting it as of a piece with governments that “have tried to force Christians to huddle and hide within the confines of their churches,” not skimping on comparisons to Stalinism and Nazism. Texas Gov. Rick Perry asserted that “Satan is attacking the great institutions of America” and vowed to “end Obama’s war on religion” during his 2012 presidential campaign. Another former presidential candidate, Mitt Romney also accused Obama of waging a war on religion. Right-wing Christians have even had the gall to conscript anti-Nazi Protestant martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer to their cause, comparing his persecution to their hysterical simulacrum.
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The persecution of Christians is the historical equivalent of a false memory, she argues. Early Christians were persecuted by Rome only sporadically, less for religious heterodoxy than for political insubordination in an empire that was draconian across the board. Early Christian writers Irenaeus, Justin Martyr and Tertullian chronicled such incidents as proof of the faith’s righteousness, laying a scriptural basis for a self-image of eternal persecution.
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The scholarly book referenced throughout can be sampled at http://www.harpercollins.com/browseinside/index.aspx?isbn13=9780062104526

It's an interesting take on the historical record versus the record of martyrdom that was written long after Christianity had become the Imperial religion it remains today.

It explains a lot about the thin skin Christians seem to develop whenever anyone reminds them that their book is allegory or that atheists exist.

[TxDemChem]

1. A good read.

Considering xtians have spent quite a long time BEING the persecutors, the irony is still lost on them.

[AlbertCat]

2. Christians are just pissed that other people exist.

Muslims too.


The "salvation" religions are the worst!