I grew up as a Christian and I still am one and I'm here to tell ya, it's not an easy game. For starters the morality bar is set way above the average for the nation making it nearly impossible to both practice Christianity and be included in the group as a whole.
But that's without any external force being applied against it. I think the U.S. is moving fast to start persecuting Christians. It seriously won't be long. Our self hatred as a country seems to be brimming over into our Christian heritage to the point that identifying yourself as a Christian (or worse practicing one) destroys your credibility to the academic community and places the world's problems squarely on your shoulders.
Take Bush for example. The mention of his name will stir hatred in the majority of the poppulation. But every hate that people have for Bush transfers over to all Christians by that simple connection.
How long will it be before Christians are treated as second class citizens?
2006-10-19 05:47:44 · 32 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
In school we are taught to hate christians through every venue. From the science classroom that refuses to accept the possibility of anything outside the material universe, to the history classroom that teaches an excessively biased view of Christian history (focusing on an even more biased interpretation of the crusades).
Every book I was ever required to read showed Christianity in a negative light. I never heard a possitive word about Christianity.
We wonder why there is a rise of atheism in America today. Contrary to poppular opinion, it's not because we're smarter. It's because we are brought up to hate Christianity and emprace humanism.
2006-10-19 05:52:09 · update #1
Allilue: I'll be at the soup kitchen this afternoon thanks.
2006-10-19 05:54:58 · update #2
It will not be long before all the governments in the world turn on all the false religions in the world, including those who profess to be Christians.
"9 “Here is where the intelligence that has wisdom comes in: The seven heads mean seven mountains, where the woman sits on top. 10 And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while. 11 And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth [king], but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.
12 “And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast. 13 These have one thought, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast. 14 These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him [will do so].”
15 And he says to me: “The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire. 17 For God put [it] into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out [their] one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished. 18 And the woman whom you saw means the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.”
Next they will turn on true worshippers, but that signals their own destruction.
ADDED to POST:
There has already been persecution in this country both by legal action and illegal mob action taken against Jehovah's Christian Witnesses, especially back in the 1940's, because of our upholding Scriptural principles.
2006-10-19 05:57:00 · answer #1 · answered by Abdijah 7 · 2⤊ 7⤋
Many posts have incorrectly linked Christians with Republicans and the majority. The only reason why the Republican party has held the majority for so long is that the MAJORITY of Democrats simply do not show up and vote at the poles-look at the statistics. Christians have never fully endorsed any political party, or else you would see GOP stickers in Bible covers in the pews wouldn't ya? Persecution of Christians in the US is imminent, but there isn't a collected body in the government yet w/ the intentions of doing just that. The Bible says that all those things must come before things start to get better. Read Ephesians Chapter 5-get yourself back on track. God Bless
2006-10-19 06:09:26 · answer #2 · answered by resilience 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Many people are disgusted with religion in general. This is due to the hypocrisy that many people see within these religions. In the Bible, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies(Matthew 5:4), and the Bible also says "if anyone makes the statement:'I love God' and is hating his brother, he is a liar" (1 John:4:20) Yet, how many religions can you think of whose members engage in war?
They also meddle in politics, which is contrary to what Jesus taught.
It won't be long before governments turn on all religions, not just Christians. If you take a look at all the conflicts throughout the world, what is usually at the root? Even with the terrorism we are seeing, what is at the root?
The Bible fortells this very thing happening. I encourage you to look for your personal copy of a worldwide message that is being distributed. It is entitled the End of False Religion is Near.
2006-10-19 06:22:34 · answer #3 · answered by izofblue37 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Awww, poor Christians. Afraid of persecution? At least you don't have to fear your children being taken from you for your faith. The great irony of this country is that they fled for religious persecution, yet the Puritans turn around and BAN any other faith from Masachusetts. They would brand people or cut off their ears for not sharing the same faith!! And the Founding Fathers were not necessarily Christians, they were Deists. As in, there's a higher power, we just aren't sure exactly what. Hence that little clause about freedom of religion.
It's the extremists that bother me. And if you want to start in on being "second class citizens", let's look at country clubs that kept out blacks and Jews. Or regarding all Muslims as terrorists. Is that fair? Any other faith that isn't Christian are regarded by a lot to be devil worshippers. Many people: Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslim, Paga, Wiccan, Atheists are treated as second class because of their beliefs. In the United States, no less.
2006-10-19 06:51:00 · answer #4 · answered by lj_utter26 1 · 2⤊ 3⤋
i am a jew and usually i don't answer religious question. i am answering yours because you proposed a very intelligent questions. right now i believe that our country is being run by fundamental christians and because of their actions and the concequences, it is blurring the the line of what christianity is and what people think it is. just like what is happening now with muslims. everyday we see through our media sources how "evil" muslims are bases on the actions of a few fundalmentalists. no one stops to see if they truly agree with what is happening. because of a few people, an entire religion gets hijacked. regardless of the religion. do i think people will persecute christians in the US? no, because christianily is the largest demographic religion in the US. but do i think it will take a while for people to sever the association with Bush and christianity outside the US? definatly!
2006-10-19 05:59:43 · answer #5 · answered by Patrício Euilhã 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋
I think I understand where you were coming from with this post, but even the athiest can see that our present "persecution" is nothing compared to that which the early church endured. Therefore you have made your post laughable in their sight.
I suppose I will start crying foul (out loud) when they start tossing us to the lions and covering us in tar and lighting us on fire at their garden parties. Until then, I really can't complain, though it is sad to see our Christ whom we hold so dear, buried under the mud and muck of a society that hates him so much.
It is important to put our "persecution" into perspective and not snivel about it, but instead rejoice in such a calling which Jesus told us we would be called to endure for His name sake.
Bottom line: You (We) ain't seen nothin' yet. If you can't handle today, Lord willing, I hope he pulls you out of this earth before tomorrow, because you certainly won't be able to stand it when things get worse, which they will.
2006-10-19 06:01:54 · answer #6 · answered by NONAME 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The question asked was how long this would take to happen, not that it was happening ALREADY. Right now the forces arrayed in seeking to diminish Christian influence in public are in the minority. the great apostacy has not happened yet. But my guess is it will happen before this generation is out. all it needs is for Christian symbols to be removed publically and any mention of Christ to be dimished, as it is now at schools.
We only have to look to Germany under Hitler to see how short a time it took for him to replace Christianity. He deliberately worked on substituting Christian festivals with German pagan rune festivals over a period of a decade and re-educating children on his new "twelve commandments" till he became god in the place of God to most German schoolchildren. Then Germans aquiesced to the occult powers ruling them almost en masse. What is especially of note is that he replaced the Christmas celebration with the celebration of the bearer of light. the aim being to substitute this in the minds of the Germans and phase out Christinaity within ONE generation. The move against the Christian holiday of Christmas is the start of something similar. So it could happen in less than one generation, probably this one.
2006-10-19 06:28:40 · answer #7 · answered by defOf 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋
Persecutions against the LDS people (a Christian church) already happened and was legally condoned by the U.S. government about a hundred and fifty years ago.
I suppose if it could happen to one denomination, anything is possible for all of us put together. I guess at the moment, I'm not to worried about it though. These days most people who are anti-Christian are too politically correct to even consider burning down houses.
2006-10-19 05:57:55 · answer #8 · answered by daisyk 6 · 1⤊ 3⤋
Since you're the one taking Bush, for example; He has been in power for 6 years. The republican party (which is supposed to be the Christian party, I'm not even getting into that), but the conservatives have control over the House, Senate, and the Supreme Court. But you're still being persecuted as a second class citizen. Let me cry you a friggin river. Why don't you try volunteering at a homeless shelter or a soup kitchen or somewhere that people may actually have something to complain about.
2006-10-19 05:51:41 · answer #9 · answered by Allison L 6 · 8⤊ 5⤋
That is to laugh....persecuted Xians?????
Give me a large, personal break !!!!
It is always amusing to me how "persecuted" christians claim to be, yet the USA has the highest level of belief in god of any industrialized nation, the Republican party is heavily supported by christians and currently has control of the white house, the congress, the senate and the supreme court.
there are 24 hour religious channels on TV and radio. There is a tax exempt church on every corner. An (open) atheist has as much chance of being elected to high office as Osama bin Laden.
Your constitution guarantees you the right to practice your religion without interference from government, and your right of free speech to talk about it. Your religious holidays are mandated into law. Your money has "in god we trust" written on it...not "in allah we trust" or "there is no god". You say a pledge of allegiance that includes reference to your god...but all are forced to say it.
Yet here you are, whining about being persecuted. You really don't know what the hell you are talking about. Look up the meaning of the word persecution......"to harass or punish in a manner designed to injure, grieve, or afflict; specifically : to cause to suffer because of belief"
I long for the day when an atheist could have as many freedoms and perks as those that believe in the unbelievable.
2006-10-19 05:54:44 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 3⤋
wow. um, yeah, every organized religion has its good points and bad points, but in this country, christianity has got it made. have you ever thought about how hard it would be for you to be part of any other religion? i have several friends and family members who are pagans, and you wouldn't believe how much persecution they get. and it all comes from people who know nothing about their religions, they just make assumptions on what they know nothing about. people think that if a person practices wicca, then they're using black majic to cast evil spells on people. ignorant morons. you should educate yourself on as many different religions as possible, maybe then you'll have an appreciation of how much your religion is accepted.
2006-10-19 05:55:58 · answer #11 · answered by LoriBeth 6 · 3⤊ 2⤋