Are Christians really persecuted?

Question

I'm not wanted to start a fight, I'm just really trying to understand how someone can come to this conclusion.

The dictionary states that to persecute means to:

oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, or beliefs.


Now, I understand that there are a few people in this world that DO harass you because you are Christian. And for that, I will say that in that particular instance, you can say you are being persecuted.

However, I don't understand how someone can get off saying that the ENTIRE country persecutes Christianity.

Um, huh? Would you please explain to me how this country, which even though is based on the separation of church and state is leaning STRONGLY in your general direction, is persecuting you?

I mean, if you call that persecution, then how do you think homosexuals feel when they can't marry in this country? If persecute means to oppress, and oppress means to burden with cruel or unjust

impositions or restraints, wouldn't that mean that they are more oppressed than you?

Again, I'm not attacking. I'm just simply asking why you feel so persecuted, with examples OUTSIDE of Yahoo! Answers. And I'm also curious as to which other groups in the U.S. or around the world you feel are persecuted as well.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ajw9kKk9U_RVpAhOEgEoyrvd7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20070928081821AA9l4MH

As a reference...this is an example of someone saying that America persecutes Christians... :)

I can't make this stuff up.

I apologize for not clarifying.

The entire country of the US.

I do know about the persecution elsewhere...but I'm talking about here. :)

Answer 1

Although American has more freedom, true Christians are still persecuted today.

Jehovah's Witnesses have had to go to court and won over 40 supreme court cases for religious freedom. Just recently for one town in Ohio.

Jehovah's Witnesses are known for making use of the legal system to ensure the free practice of their faith. On June 17, 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Jehovah's Witnesses and against the village of Stratton, Ohio. The 8-1 decision upheld the right of people and groups — religious or otherwise — to go door-to-door without registering their names and addresses with local authorities. In 1940 the Supreme Court ruled in a case called Cantwell v. Connecticut that to require religious groups to obtain a license was a violation of their constitutional rights. The case began after three canvassing Jehovah's Witnesses were arrested and convicted because they did not have a state-required license to solicit funds."

"I was pleased with my purchase of the Knocking DVD. As a child, I remember being persecuted while doing street work in Ohio with my parents in the early 1940s. A mob tried to turn over our car with us in it. Another mob waited for us after our meeting ended. The Police Chief was conveniently out
of town to let so many bad things happen. Your truthful film brought all these memories back again. As outside journalists, you did a good job of telling the truth the way it was."

It happens a lot, it's just not always reported. Not to mention the spreading of slander.

It is a lot worse in other countries:

"ARMENIA: 72 JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES NOW IMPRISONED FOR NEUTRALITY


By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service



Armenia's Jehovah's Witnesses have complained to Forum 18 News Service that 72 of their young men are now imprisoned for refusing both military service and the alternative service under military control - the highest number ever.

This number could rise still further as the spring 2007 call-up gets underway. "Sentences are getting harsher and are now typically up to three years' imprisonment," Jehovah's Witness lawyer Lyova Markaryan told Forum 18 from the capital Yerevan on 1 May.

"The government is saying nothing about this issue." He says the government should fulfil its obligations to the Council of Europe by freeing all the imprisoned conscientious objectors, halt further prosecutions and introduce a purely civilian alternative to military service."

"UZBEKISTAN: Entire community to be banned?
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
If, as the Jehovah's Witnesses increasingly fear is likely, the authorities strip the last surviving registered Jehovah's Witness congregation of its legal status, the entire activity by the community in the country will become illegal. "This will return us to how it was in the Soviet period, when we were also banned," one Jehovah's Witness who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18 News Service. He said the congregation in Chirchik near Tashkent received a second letter on 13 August warning that it is violating the law, an accusation it rejects. No official was available to explain to Forum 18 why an entire religious community seems set to become illegal. "If the Soviet authorities were not able to prevent Jehovah's Witnesses from practising their faith, this ban won't stop them either," the Jehovah's Witness told Forum 18. Two Jehovah's Witnesses, Irfon Khamidov and Dilafruz Arziyeva, have already been sentenced this year for "illegally teaching religion". Many more have been fined.
Exactly a year after the authorities stripped their community in the eastern city of Fergana [Farghona] of its legal status, Jehovah's Witnesses have told Forum 18 News Service that they fear that registration is about to be stripped from their last surviving registered community - in the town of Chirchik [Chirchiq] near the capital Tashkent. "This means we will be without registration in the whole of Uzbekistan," one Jehovah's Witness who preferred not to be identified told Forum 18 on 21 August. "This will return us to how it was in the Soviet period, when we were also banned."

Under Uzbekistan's harsh controls on religion, legal status is vital for a religious community to be able to carry out any activity at all. Those leading or participating in unregistered religious activity risk fines or imprisonment."

This is going on all over. Not to mention the 1000,s of Jehovah's Witnesses that were imprisioned in concentration camps during WWII due to not joining Hitlers army or Heiling Hiter.

Answer 2

I have yet to see the day where Christians feel like the minority and are intimidated by the majority who aren't Christian because they claim to be right. Not happening! And that's why I'm not Christian. :) If anything, I think its Christians persecuting each other, with the Fundies and all, you know. But "It'll all be okay if you just repent and surrender your life to God and Jesus Christ! And put a little more than a dollar in the plate when you come to join us in worship, and then tell all your other little non-Christian friends to be Christian too, because there's no other way to salvation!" Yeah, thats how it is, that and $9.99 plus shipping and handling. Thank Goddess I'm not Christian.

Answer 3

Not being able to impose their views on government and society in general makes some (certainly not all) feel like they are being persecuted.

Just look at the 'War on Christmas'. This was an example of some right wingers claiming that by saying 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas' your were somehow disrepecting Christianity.

These people literally got offended by people using a greeting that included everyones religion. They wanted everyone to exclude every religion except Christianity or else they felt persecuted.

Of course this an extreme example, most Christians are not this far out. But still, this goes to show that some feel like being treated like everyone else is persecution.

Answer 4

Christians in the U.S. are not being persecuted, mainly because we have freedom of religion and freedom of speech. But there are other countries in which Christians are being persecuted and treated as second class citizens by using the Shariah Islamic Law. This law is found in many countries like Iran, Iraq. So far ,in Iran,3,000 Muslims have converted to Christianity but they have to remain in hiding for fear of persecution.In Iraq, there were 1.2 million Christians; but due to increased persecution after the war started, there are now 600,000. Christians are also persecuted and killed in North Korea, China and Africa.

Answer 5

not in the west, but in the third world, christians are HEAVILY persecuted. i'm sure you'll be able to find plenty of stuff online about the persecution (torture, execution, etc) of christians in china, india, most of the middle east. i think we westerners are far too soft, personally.

edit- old guy 63 rocks. we have largely become what i would call ''cheesecake christians.'' christians in the sudan are sold into slavery and given the ''choice'' to convert to islam or die. many of them choose the latter. but here in the so-called ''home of the brave,'' people get mocked a little bit, cry persecution, and go belly up. the worst part is that this is is a result of what is nothing more than peer pressure and schoolyard bullying. as a christian, i say this kind of weakness in the church needs to stop.

Answer 6

Christians have enjoyed many special privileges for many generations.

Now they are being called on it, and are losing some of the special PRIVILEGES they have enjoyed for many years.

Some confuse no longer being allowed to DOMINATE everyone else, with persecution.

The claim that Christians are PERSECUTED in America is utter nonsense.

And those that utter this NONSENSE are usually completely UNSYMPATHETIC when other religions are REALLY discrminated against in this country. (for example, schools that allow students to wear Christian themed jewelry, but not stars of David or Wiccan Pentagrams) When asked about THAT sort of discrimination they usually justify it with some rhetoric about America being a Christian Nation.

In short, some Christian Nationalists think they OWN this country. When they find out that they don't, they scream "Persecution !!"

Answer 7

If persecution can be defined as people speaking bad things about you, then wouldn't the majority of Christians persecute those who believe differently on a daily basis? Judging gays for their choices, calling nonbelievers unsaved heathens, etc.

Therefore, in essence, wouldn't persecution be commonplace, and not signify the martyr of Christianity? It seems to me that far more Christians persecute those around them than are persecuted against, and then claim persecution when theirs is opposed...

Answer 8

In the U.S., very few Christians are persecuted for their beliefs. While it does occur, it is rare.

Real persecution, however, does occur in the rest of the world. In fact, during the 20th century, there were more Christians who were killed because they were Christian, than all the previous 19 centuries combined.

Answer 9

Sounds like you are talking about the U.S. in general no what happens here is not persecution.

In China and many parts of the world Christian's are killed and imprisoned for their beliefs so in a worldly sense Christian's are definately persecuted.

Answer 10

by your definition, sure, in some areas of the world they might be. In america, they are the ones who do the persecution. They persecute homosexuals all the time for instance. Even tho they are not the majority, they claim majority in government, and even tho church is sopposed to be seperate from government, they havent been able to figure that out yet, and use their government influence to persecute those they dont agree with, including homosexuals, and other religions.

Answer 11

Yes. In Saudi Arabia. But not in America, Britain etc.

As you are talking about America,I would like to say that the notion of 85 percent of the population, including the state's leader, being persecuted is absolutely retarded.