Are Christians persecuted in America?

[Josh]

I had this discussion with my parents tonight and wanted to raise the question to you pholks. Do Christians in America face persecution on a national level? Are there any areas of our culture or our government that you think are anti-Christian? Any legislation that is anti-Christian?

[adriftconscious]

I would think not necessarily anti-christian, but the way the courts are interpreting the constitution is making our whole government very frosty towards organized religion. Of course, in this country, that has the largest effect on Christians. I don't want to sound like a conspiract theorist, but even though on paper it seems like it targets everyone, many of these decisions effect Christians most, so maybe there is a slight bias in the courts, who knows?

The way our government was set up, it should be benevolent neutrality to all faiths.

That addresses the governmental parts. As far as our culture goes... look at most rap videos. There are many things in our culture, be it music, film, or literature, that are anti-christian, or at least strictly secularist in their approach.

Side note: I always cringe when I see rappers wearing crosses...

[PaulDA]

I had this discussion with my parents tonight and wanted to raise the question to you pholks. Do Christians in America face persecution on a national level? Are there any areas of our culture or our government that you think are anti-Christian? Any legislation that is anti-Christian?

With all due respect, I have to laugh at the idea that some Christians might think they are 'persecuted' in America!
Oh yes, there are people who discriminate (that's probably a better word) against and laugh at Christians in the USA, but I hardly think it can be called 'persecuted'.
You want to see 'persecuted Christians', go to The Sudan where black Christians are being slaughtered and enslaved by black Muslims, or go to any number of foreign countries where it is a crime to have a Bible or to be a Christian, where people are routinely jailed and even murdered by the authorities or citizens just because they are Christians.
I think the problem with many Christians in this country is everytime someone looks at them crosseyed they lose their nerve and feel intimidated.

[plumb_fan]

With all due respect, I have to laugh at the idea that some Christians might think they are 'persecuted' in America!
Oh yes, there are people who discriminate (that's probably a better word) against and laugh at Christians in the USA, but I hardly think it can be called 'persecuted'.
You want to see 'persecuted Christians', go to The Sudan where black Christians are being slaughtered and enslaved by black Muslims, or go to any number of foreign countries where it is a crime to have a Bible or to be a Christian, where people are routinely jailed and even murdered by the authorities or citizens just because they are Christians.
I think the problem with many Christians in this country is everytime someone looks at them crosseyed they lose their nerve and feel intimidated.

I'm almost in complete agreement with you Paul.  I do believe Christians are persecuted in America (though perhaps not by the government or on a large scale).  In most cases however, i'd say in pales in comparison to what occurs in other countries.

[danny316]

No, Christians are not persecuted in America. I think a handful of nutty leaders started telling people that to take control of the collective consciousness of the church. What better way to scare Christians into believing something than to tell them that some other group is out to get them. It's become pretty standard for nutcases to tell Christians that any even remotely leftist political idea is anti-Christian, and it seems like Jews and Atheists are similar targets for some Christian groups. Oooh, and how can I forget gays and postmodernists?!?

...which is funny, because when Christians try to react on these things, they wind up "persecuting" people of other beliefs even more than the Christians were allegedly persecuted in the first place.

Although, I'm starting to think it'd be a real hoot if we could get some good anti-Christian groups going. Give all the whinier Christian groups something they can rightfully complain about so they'll stop picking on everyone else!  

[danny316]

With all due respect, I have to laugh at the idea that some Christians might think they are 'persecuted' in America!
Oh yes, there are people who discriminate (that's probably a better word) against and laugh at Christians in the USA, but I hardly think it can be called 'persecuted'.
You want to see 'persecuted Christians', go to The Sudan where black Christians are being slaughtered and enslaved by black Muslims, or go to any number of foreign countries where it is a crime to have a Bible or to be a Christian, where people are routinely jailed and even murdered by the authorities or citizens just because they are Christians.
I think the problem with many Christians in this country is everytime someone looks at them crosseyed they lose their nerve and feel intimidated.

...and ANOTHER winner from Paul! Great post. It's important to keep this stuff in mind when dealing with the alleged anti-Christian sentiments around here - it really gives us some important perspective about how silly the complaints in America are.

[Brenden]

With all due respect, I have to laugh at the idea that some Christians might think they are 'persecuted' in America!
Oh yes, there are people who discriminate (that's probably a better word) against and laugh at Christians in the USA, but I hardly think it can be called 'persecuted'.
You want to see 'persecuted Christians', go to The Sudan where black Christians are being slaughtered and enslaved by black Muslims, or go to any number of foreign countries where it is a crime to have a Bible or to be a Christian, where people are routinely jailed and even murdered by the authorities or citizens just because they are Christians.
I think the problem with many Christians in this country is everytime someone looks at them crosseyed they lose their nerve and feel intimidated.

I have to agree here.

[Vlad!]

[Tom]

here's my 2 cents.

many Christians ARE persecuted in this country. but they are persecuted for carrying crosses that Christ didn't ask them to bear.

the media maligns Republi-christians on a nearly daily basis. but Christ never asked us to blend His truth into a soapbox that rallies around Caesar.

so i'd say Christians are persecuted and maligned in America, but most often it is for the sake of their politics and not for their defense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

[bloop]

However, I do think that the marginalization Christians sometimes experience in academia

Frankly, though, I think a lot of Christians have brought this on themselves.

[phaith]

I remember having this discussion with some people several times...I commented that the only Christians I know who are being 'persecuted' are those who are persecuted by the church. My friend said, 'that is not persecution, it's spiritual abuse, and it's far worse.'

[Josh]

With all due respect, I have to laugh at the idea that some Christians might think they are 'persecuted' in America!
Oh yes, there are people who discriminate (that's probably a better word) against and laugh at Christians in the USA, but I hardly think it can be called 'persecuted'.
You want to see 'persecuted Christians', go to The Sudan where black Christians are being slaughtered and enslaved by black Muslims, or go to any number of foreign countries where it is a crime to have a Bible or to be a Christian, where people are routinely jailed and even murdered by the authorities or citizens just because they are Christians.
I think the problem with many Christians in this country is everytime someone looks at them crosseyed they lose their nerve and feel intimidated.

Paul, this is an excellent post.

In fact, that's very similar to what I said to my parents. I'm tempted to print this out and show it to them.  =)  

[Brenden]

I remember having this discussion with some people several times...I commented that the only Christians I know who are being 'persecuted' are those who are persecuted by the church. My friend said, 'that is not persecution, it's spiritual abuse, and it's far worse.'

I also agree here. Abuse from the church itself is far worse than abuse from people who aren't christians. I expect it from non-christians.

[PaulDA]

the media maligns Republi-christians on a nearly daily basis. but Christ never asked us to blend His truth into a soapbox that rallies around Caesar.
 

Now, that is about the coolest post I have read in a long time.  8-)  

[murlough23]

Are Christians persecuted in America?

As an overall category, no. In individual cases, yes, though not to the extent that they are in other parts of the world. Stereotypes of Christians are brought up and made fun of in the media, and Christians are antagonized by certain non-Christian groups, but that's hardly unique to us. I think people of all religions find that some people are prejudiced against them for various reasons, be they based on truths or myths.

I'll grant that it's a lot less "PC" to do that to other religions, whereas pot-shots taken at Christianity are a lot easier to get away with because it's much more of a majority religion than any other one, at least in the U.S., and apparently it's OK to make fun of the majority, just like how it's "OK" for black people to make fun of white people, but not really the other way around.

But this overall perception does not, in my mind, mean that there is actually more persecution of Christians going on than anyone else (unless you quantify it by saying that there are simply more Christians to persecute). For every group that exists in America, I think there is another group that intentionally or inadvertently persecutes that group.

I totally recognize that what goes in in Sudan, China, wherever, and what has gone on in history, is far worse than what happens to Christians here. But you don't have to be the most persecuted group in the world in order to be considered persecuted. If some dude denies me a job because I'm a Christian, it may not be a life or death situation, but it still isn't right, and it's still persecution.