Reply #13: I am a Christian... [View All]

[pelagius]

...and the only persecution I've felt this Christmas season has been from relentless commercial hucksterism. And that's easy enough to ignore. Switch off the damn tube and stay away from the mall!

I freely attend the church of my choice and affirm my belief in God incarnate through the gift of a child. I kneel at the Communion rail in an ancient ritual devoutly believing that I share in the mystery of Christ's real presence. At the dismissal, I "go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit" and try my best to follow in the footsteps of my Lord, remembering always that "inasmuch as you done this to these, the least of my children, you have done it to Me."

At no point this Advent season did I scurry in fear from secret policeman stalking me. My church was not shuttered and locked, my minster was not imprisoned and tortured. Our Bibles, prayer books, and hymnals were not thrown into a bonfire nor we were, the "persecuted" Christians similarly immolated.

Yes, I've had angry people decry my beliefs, I've had others wish me ill for believing in "fairy tales". Some people have chosen to personally attack me for the sins of the institutional church throughout history. It can get quite heated until they find out I mostly agree with them!

But persecution? Preposterous. It demeans the lives and deaths of saints and martyrs, as well as the less-noted sufferings of common people who clung to their faith when authority was against them. The United States of America allows for the fullest and freest expression of Christianity perhaps in its 2000-year history. In fact, we tend to give more deference than is perhaps required to any nut with a Bible.

Anybody who spreads this nonsense is a dissembler and anyone who believes it is a fool. Fascism is the politics of eternal grievance and in the absence of actual persecution, it must be manufactured.