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American evangelists report feeling persecuted
“many evangelicals still consider themselves a persecuted majority, hounded by ‘secular fundamentalists’ intent on driving religion from public life.” — Rachel Zoll – Associated Press Writer
This was in the Lawrence Journal-World this morning. Hounded? Are they kidding? They obviously haven’t been paying attention to what’s going on in Oz. Given that conservative Christians exhort the greatest influence in the Republican party, have a look at the results of the 2004 Presidential election for Kansas (red indicates Republican votes, blue represents Democratic votes).
See that tiny blue speck towards the northeast corner, floundering in a rising red sea? That’s us. The persecutors. Myth: America is a Christian Nation
America was founded by Western Europeans. As a whole, Western European society was, and still is, influenced heavily by Christianity. For most of American history, Western Europeans have comprised the largest constituent of immigrants into the country. It is factually incorrect, however, to claim that America was founded as a “Christian Nation”. John Adams, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and every other participant in the formation of America’s government was very deliberate about forming the government with no basis in religious doctrine of any persuasion. According to the many writings and diaries of America’s founding fathers, as well as the Constitution and Bill of Rights, religious freedom was a coveted goal meant to be enjoyed equally by all, but certainly not meant to play a role in governing the country. However, historically, Christians as a whole have enjoyed disproportionately high favor, in terms of privilege, in influencing public policies and public religious expression. A simple example is religious holidays. The Feast of Ramadan is not a legal U.S. holiday, nor is Hanukah. Christmas is.
Everyone in America has a right to equal influence in public policy making and equal privilege in public religious expression. No single religion should enjoy consideration that another does not. Does that mean we should make every major religious holiday of every religion, mainstream or not, a legal holiday as we do Christmas? Absolutely not. That simply is not practical. So, we are then forced, in our quest to balance everyone’s rights and privileges equally, to consider the possibility that where privileges are unequal, they must be altered to accommodate this end.
Persecution is punishment or harassment usually of a severe nature on the basis of race, religion, or political opinion in one’s country of origin. The erosion of one group’s unequal privileges, in the arduous process of balancing everyone’s privileges fairly, hardly constitutes persecution. To even suggest it indicates how deeply skewed these claimant’s perceptions are, and how inconsiderate they must be of the world around them.
Credit: The map was adapted from Robert Vanderbei’s map of national election results.
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