The cries about "attacks on religious liberty" says a lot more about those making the charges than the parties accused of such offenses.
On the surface, the claims evokes images of ugly persecution, including the rounding up of people into camps where they will be the victims of all sorts of evil.
Now while there may be anecdotal examples of people and companies being too zealous to not show religious favoritism, such an image is a serious flight of fancy.
This is not to say that there weren't cases of religious persecution in the past. The Romans accused Christians of cannibalism and starting the Great Fire, thereby justifying their feeding them to the lions and other brutal acts.
Mary I of England - a Catholic stalwart - burned over 300 of her subjects at the stake for practicing the so-called wrong religion of Protestantism.
Even as we speak, Christians are being persecuted in foreign countries.
But the argument of "attacks on religious liberties" cries out for a degree of levity
Being fed to ravenous lions by vindictive Romans in no way compares to Catholic Charities not being able to take gay taxpayers' money for the adoption of children while declaring these gays unfit under the guise of religion.
Nor does being burned at the stake by a zealot queen compare to not being able to interfere with women receiving vital contraception.
To even imply so is the flight of fancy of an entity with a martyr complex. And more to the point, it is an indictment on the faith of those who would push such bogus images.
I come from the black worship experience, which was very vital to the survival of the African-American community in this country.
Before the days of the mega-churches and the sold out arenas, my people clung to their songs, wooden churches, and faith even in the face of ugly oppression. Down south, we sang and worshipped with vigor even though we were aware that at any moment, any racist with a bad attitude would and could snuff out our very lives and get away with these wanton acts of violence.
So why did we do it? Simply because of our faith in God. We knew that in spite of all that we faced, God would see us through our trials and tribulations and into better days.
And to a degree, we were right.
So to those crying about "attacks on religious liberty," many of whom have it better than any of my black ancestors, I say where is your faith?
If you truly believe in God, then you have nothing to worry about. The Bible which you claim to follow says that no weapon formed against you will prosper.
If there is some type of conspiracy to beat down your "religious liberty," wouldn't it be doomed to fail?
What are you scared about?
Or could it be that these cries about "attacks on religious liberty" are nothing more than cynical ploys to either scare your followers or appeal to your own egos?
On the surface, the claims evokes images of ugly persecution, including the rounding up of people into camps where they will be the victims of all sorts of evil.
Now while there may be anecdotal examples of people and companies being too zealous to not show religious favoritism, such an image is a serious flight of fancy.
This is not to say that there weren't cases of religious persecution in the past. The Romans accused Christians of cannibalism and starting the Great Fire, thereby justifying their feeding them to the lions and other brutal acts.
Mary I of England - a Catholic stalwart - burned over 300 of her subjects at the stake for practicing the so-called wrong religion of Protestantism.
Even as we speak, Christians are being persecuted in foreign countries.
But the argument of "attacks on religious liberties" cries out for a degree of levity
Being fed to ravenous lions by vindictive Romans in no way compares to Catholic Charities not being able to take gay taxpayers' money for the adoption of children while declaring these gays unfit under the guise of religion.
Nor does being burned at the stake by a zealot queen compare to not being able to interfere with women receiving vital contraception.
To even imply so is the flight of fancy of an entity with a martyr complex. And more to the point, it is an indictment on the faith of those who would push such bogus images.
I come from the black worship experience, which was very vital to the survival of the African-American community in this country.
Before the days of the mega-churches and the sold out arenas, my people clung to their songs, wooden churches, and faith even in the face of ugly oppression. Down south, we sang and worshipped with vigor even though we were aware that at any moment, any racist with a bad attitude would and could snuff out our very lives and get away with these wanton acts of violence.
So why did we do it? Simply because of our faith in God. We knew that in spite of all that we faced, God would see us through our trials and tribulations and into better days.
And to a degree, we were right.
So to those crying about "attacks on religious liberty," many of whom have it better than any of my black ancestors, I say where is your faith?
If you truly believe in God, then you have nothing to worry about. The Bible which you claim to follow says that no weapon formed against you will prosper.
If there is some type of conspiracy to beat down your "religious liberty," wouldn't it be doomed to fail?
What are you scared about?
Or could it be that these cries about "attacks on religious liberty" are nothing more than cynical ploys to either scare your followers or appeal to your own egos?
4 comments:
or to solicit donations.
Eugene Delgaudio is CONSTANTLY screaming, and making up lies, and then asking for money. He likes to reference a fictitious bill called "The Homosexual Bill of Special Rights" which does not exist, anywhere.
Alvin, just a quick historical note: There *were* no burnings in England...that was a strictly European phenomenon. Though, if I recall correctly during the late witch-hunts there *may* have been one or two VERY isolated examples in remote districts of Scotland (though, don't quote me). Interestingly, many current scholars are finding more and more evidence that Paganism did, in fact, survive under the guise of medieval witchcraft-belief: Eva Pocs (Hungary), Emma Wilby (Britain), and Carlo Ginzburg (Italy) to name but a scant few. Unfortunately, many hard-nosed British scholars refuse to acknowledge this data on principle alone, rather than daring to discuss the evidence.
Catholic Charities in Boston had been placing children with gay families for decades before the bishops quashed the entire business to erase the irony of their saying gays were unfit to be parents while their own agency was finding them fit.
According to the history books I've read, there were something like 200+ people burnt at the stake in England during the Marian Persecutions (Mary I's reign.)
And thank you, Alvin. You make the point I've tried to make myself in many conversations with some persecution-complex-suffering American Christians. Where is your faith folks? And why are you so governed by fear when one of Christ's most frequent admonishments was to "Fear not."
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