Among Influential American Evangelicals, a Continuing Sense of Persecution

[steve2470]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB1HKDFTCE.html

To outsiders, conservative Christians seem at the peak of their influence.

Books by evangelical pastors Rick Warren and Joel Osteen are best sellers, megachurches are building satellite congregations to meet demand, conservatives control Congress and religious activists helped put a Bible-believer in the White House.

Yet, many evangelicals still consider themselves a persecuted majority, saying they continue to be maligned by some of the most influential institutions in the country - the media, public schools, universities and Hollywood. Societal demands for tolerance are extended to every group but theirs, they argue.

"There is an attempt by the secularists to take Jesus Christ and to take God out of every aspect of our society," the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.

<snip>

[jonnyblitz]

1. haha...a persecuted MAJORITY...too funny!!

:crazy:

[bribri16]

24. I don't think God wants to be in any aspect of THIS society. n/t

[wli]

2. neither moral nor a majority

These bastards have no place in government period. Hostettler should be kicked out of office for his idiot stunts, and these "evangelicals" deserve far more marginalization than they've ever received.

[ironman202]

3. Give me a wingnut, and I'll persecute him

because he deserves it for being such a dumbass.

[rfranklin]

4. Classic projection....

They want to Talibanize every aspect of our lives and they wonder why they are not liked. Hmmmm?

[Snotcicles]

5. He's full of shit.

If you repeat it enough though it will come true.

[Avalux]

6. What a bunch of whiners!

"Societal demands for tolerance are extended to every group but theirs, they argue."

Bullshit. :nopity:

[knitter4democracy]

27. Exactly.

They do nothing but whine and whine when they know nothing of real persecution. They should all take some field trips or something.

Wait until you go to an evangelical college. :eyes: It's nothing but whining all the time. I don't miss that place at all.

[...of J.Temperance]

7. They're persecuted because they're WRONG and INSANE oh and

There's a bible-believer in the WH? My ass there is. There's a Monkey-faced, coke snorting shithead in the WH more like.

[Hissyspit]

8. It's called a 'persecution complex'

[Ian David]

13. It's also called "The Big Lie."

Big Lie
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The oft-cited "Big Lie Theory" originated with Adolf Hitler's 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf. In that book Hitler wrote that people came to believe that Germany lost World War I in the field due to a propaganda technique used by Jews who were influential in the German press. This technique, he believed, consisted of telling a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe anyone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously". The first documented use of the phrase "big lie" is in the corresponding passage: "in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility".¹

Later, Joseph Goebbels put forth a slightly different theory which has come to be more commonly associated with the phrase big lie. In this theory, the English are attributed with using a propaganda technique where in they had the mendacity to "lie big" and "stick to it".²

There is an uncited rumor to the effect that Goebbels also offered up his version of the big lie technique without attributing it to either Jewish or Allied propaganda. That uncited quote is the most wide-spread attribution of the big lie and it is usually given in a context where the implication is that the propaganda technique was invented by Goebbels, who was the propaganda minister for the Third Reich.³

The phrase was also used (on page 51) in a report prepared during the war by the Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile <1>

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it. - OSS report page 51 <2>

Mein Kampf extract

Hitler wrote in his 1925 autobiography Mein Kampf (James Murphy translation, page 134):

All this was inspired by the principle - which is quite true in itself - that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying. These people know only too well how to use falsehood for the basest purposes. ...

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Lie

[Hissyspit]

17. Yes.

It is mainly the Big Lie, of course, but it depends on the persecution complex of their followers/constituency to be effective. I was being a bit sarcastic, but even these guys believe a bit of their Big Lie deep down inside themselves. I would think that's how they came up with it.

[meow2u3]

20. It's also called "paranoia"

Mass delusions of persecution.

[Joanne98]

9. Im reading What's the matter with Kansas" right now. It's a tactic!

There victims even when they're winning.

[Cyrano]

10. Too bad they don't grasp a warning from their own bible: "Beware

of wolves in sheep's clothing."

These people will never get it until they themselves are devoured.

[Ian David]

11. Whining crybaby sore winners they are.

Maybe someday we'll even have a Xian President!

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. Of course they think they are persecuted. They keep trying

to bully us into doing everything the way they want and we said NO.

Date rapists and playground bullies may also feel persecuted. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are.

[jokerman93]

14. Maybe it's an attempt...

>"There is an attempt by the secularists to take Jesus Christ and to >take God out of every aspect of our society," the Rev. Franklin >Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, said in a recent interview >with The Associated Press.

Maybe what they're noticing is really just an attempt by critical thinkers to take stupidity out of religion.


...just saying.

:-)

[MikeH]

15. They're persecuted because they can't impose their way on everyone

They want to stop gays from marrying. They want to insist that all school children are subject to having to pray Christian prayers in school. And they're persecuted because the rest of society tries to stop them.


Poor persecuted evangelical Christians!:cry: :sarcasm:

[greekspeak]

16. They do not know what persecution is

I cannot remember the last time I heard of a person dragged to death behind a car, tied to a fence and left to die, being lynched or denied access to restaurants/restrooms/etc. because they were evangelical Christians.

How many cities have a policy where evangelicals are made to sit in the back of the bus?

Where is the data saying that evangelicals are paid a fraction of the salary of others?

Where are the laws banning evangelicals from marrying?

Where are the talk show hosts slandering them every day the sun rises?

How many evangelical churches bombed?

How many evangelical graveyards vandalized?

What Hollywood film is it that trashes Evangelicals for being Evangelicals?

These would be persecution.

What they mean by "persecution" is that they are not given full reign to run roughshod over everyone they do not agree with. That is not persecution. Saying "sorry you may not coerce public school children into praying" is not persecution. Saying "get you fat nose out of my bedroom" is not persecution. Saying that two people of the same sex who love each other should be allowed to marry is not persecution. Putting on the news the fact that your leaders pray for the death of court justices and call for assasination hits is not persecution. AND the OPINION that America is becoming secularized is NOT PERSECUTION.

[Betty]

22. actually, they do.. they persecute others

all the time. And you're right, they have never suffered it themselves.

[greekspeak]

23. They don't recognize it as persecution...it's bringing the Word to sinners

You can call it bringing the Word, evangelizing, loving Jesus, whatever...it is still persecution. So many of them are deluded into thinking that persecuting human beings is doing God's will. What a god that would be.

[Joy Anne]

18. the persecution they've created

Thanks to * and the U.S. religious right, the 700,000 Christians in Iraq are now faced with the likelihood of persecution in the near future.

[FlemingsGhost]

19. Taking every opportunity to nail THEMSELVES up on a cross.

Persecution complex, with a mega-dose of projection.

[mondo joe]

21. That's because they confuse DISAGREEMENT with PERSECUTION.

If you have the gall to disagree with them, they are persecuted.

[TrogL]

25. You betcha!

[knitter4democracy]

26. In the immortal words of brian k. reese,

I'M SICK AND TIRED OF WHINY CHRISTIANS!!!

Sorry, but he shouted it in a lit class at our Christian college, and I will never forget it. It's very true.

[MisterP]

28. persecution is a central tenet of neoconservatism:

one authoritarian self-proclaimed "Libertarian" classmate bawled about being rejected for a job by a manager--and later hearing him getting his residency papers! how dare he!
just look at the "white flight" and barely-veiled David Dukeisms in the not-Religious not-Right-at-all