Those poor persecuted evangelicals!

[oil]

And yes, the word "persecution" itself was absolutely thrown around until it lost all real meaning, and that was true of every IFB church, camp, youth revival, or anything else I ever attended.

I really appreciate this. I am a fair person and also a precise person, to mean that show me the fact plain and simple. I dont want speculation, presumption, what they appear to do...just the real thing. I only want to snark in fairness to those christians, not for made-up shit about them.

You experienced this your self in person with the word persecution actually being spoken. Thank you for telling me this. I am sensitive about false accusations and judging people by their their inuendo behavior and not specific behavior. Im sorry if I offended you, truly I dont meant for that at all.

[klavierspieler]

I really appreciate this. I am a fair person and also a precise person, to mean that show me the fact plain and simple. I dont want speculation, presumption, what they appear to do...just the real thing. I only want to snark in fairness to those christians, not for made-up shit about them.

You experienced this your self in person with the word persecution actually being spoken. Thank you for telling me this. I am sensitive about false accusations and judging people by their their inuendo behavior and not specific behavior. Im sorry if I offended you, truly I dont meant for that at all.

You didn't offend me at all, I just wanted to give you a personal perspective. One thing I've noticed about the IFB culture, especially in my parents and former church in particular, is that they are much more cautious in using that word in front of anyone who isn't IFB. It's almost like somewhere inside they know they are overdoing it and don't want to be called on it, but that also makes it harder to point to the specific language. You have to know the culture, and the context behind the language they use in order to understand what they're really saying. When it's just other IFB's around, there's no attempt to hide the persecution word and/or the attempts to one-up each other with personal persecution stories. And a lot of it ties back to the verses where Jesus says that if you follow him, the world will persecute you. They spend so. much. time. telling themselves and everyone else that they are the "real true Christians" that I think they feel like they HAVE to be persecuted or maybe they aren't real Christians after all. It's totally fear driven, in more ways than one.

[Minerva]

There are fundamentalist Catholics in Canada who legitimately believe that they can be thrown in jail if the police hear them saying something homophobic. Completely batshit...

[oil]

Breaking lurkdom to answer a question. :)

Oil, try googling 'Josh Duggar attacked." There's an article on wnd.com that discusses Josh applying to join the Family Research Council. The commentors on the article are downright scary, and many of the commentors directly state that they are being persecuted for having Christian values.

Hoping that I've broken the link successfully, because we definitely don't need them here. The carpets would be completely ruined. :)

Thank you.

[oil]

You didn't offend me at all, I just wanted to give you a personal perspective. One thing I've noticed about the IFB culture, especially in my parents and former church in particular, is that they are much more cautious in using that word in front of anyone who isn't IFB. It's almost like somewhere inside they know they are overdoing it and don't want to be called on it, but that also makes it harder to point to the specific language. You have to know the culture, and the context behind the language they use in order to understand what they're really saying. When it's just other IFB's around, there's no attempt to hide the persecution word and/or the attempts to one-up each other with personal persecution stories. And a lot of it ties back to the verses where Jesus says that if you follow him, the world will persecute you. They spend so. much. time. telling themselves and everyone else that they are the "real true Christians" that I think they feel like they HAVE to be persecuted or maybe they aren't real Christians after all. It's totally fear driven, in more ways than one.

Wow thank you very much, I undestand now.

[Savoring Samsara]

Wow thank you very much, I undestand now.

oil, I think it's also important to note that not all American Christians would say that they are persecuted - in fact, probably the majority would not. If you attend a mainline or progressive Protestant church, or most Catholic churches, it is a claim you are unlikely to hear. However, at fundamentalist churches such as the ones that the people discussed here belong to, it is a much more common belief. (It is also, I think, a very American Protestant sort of belief. It's not something I can really picture, say, an Italian Catholic claiming.)

[jenny_islander]

oil, I think it's also important to note that not all American Christians would say that they are persecuted - in fact, probably the majority would not. If you attend a mainline or progressive Protestant church, or most Catholic churches, it is a claim you are unlikely to hear. However, at fundamentalist churches such as the ones that the people discussed here belong to, it is a much more common belief. (It is also, I think, a very American Protestant sort of belief. It's not something I can really picture, say, an Italian Catholic claiming.)

Yes. In the Lutheran church of my childhood and in my current Anglican church, the word "persecution" is only used about Christians in other countries where our faith really is an oppressed minority. We are supposed to pray for them and send them money if possible. When I was a kid, my church was able to get together the money to get a Vietnamese refugee to the States and get her started.

[2xx1xy1JD]

I took a look at the link http://www.patheos.com/blogs/publiccath ... ick-takes/

Rebecca Hamilton kindly provides her own fuel for snark. Seriously, she needs to read her own article. Four of the examples involve some rather hideous, genuine persecution. Just reading them should provide a hint that folks claiming on a survey in Great Britain that they "feel persecuted" because of the legalization of same-sex marriage should STFU and learn something about real persecution. Note that when we follow the link to the article on these poor persecuted Britons, there is not one shred of evidence that anyone has actually lost their job or otherwise experienced anything remotely resembling persecution. Mass paranoia does not = reality.