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The Demonization of Christianity
Townhall.com ^ | October 4, 2015 | Michael Brown

Posted on 10/04/2015 9:42:39 AM PDT by Kaslin

When a white supremacist murdered black parishioners in Charleston, SC, there was national outrage leading to the banning of the Confederate Flag and a fresh discussion of race relations in America. But when Christians are targeted and murdered on a campus in Oregon, much of the nation yawns.

According to eyewitness reports, the Oregon shooter asked students what their religion was, and if they said “Christian” he shot them in the head. Yet the secular media, for the most part, is focusing more on gun laws than on the shooter’s alleged anti-Christian motivation. Why?

Can you imagine what would have happened if the shooter went into a creative arts class, asked the students to declare their sexual orientation, and if they said “gay” shot them in the head?

There would be a massive media frenzy, with instant accusations of national homophobia and pulling of quotes from Christian leaders whose failure to support same-sex “marriage” would somehow make them complicit in the deaths.

The same thing would have happened if the killer had targeted Muslims, with immediate charges of “Islamophobia” shouted from coast to coast.

Not so, though, when it’s Christians who are killed for their faith.

Is it any surprise, then, that hours after the eyewitness accounts had been released and well after conservative news outlets were reporting the alleged targeting of Christians, liberal news outlets had not said a word about the alleged anti-Christian connection?

It could well be that the Oregon shooter suffered from a mental illness, which suggests that we can’t read too much into his actions. But why, then, did we read so much into the Charleston shooter’s actions, since he reportedly suffered from a mental illness as well?

The Oregon attack is also one isolated incident, which suggest that we can’t extrapolate too much from it in terms of national sentiments towards Christianity. But why, then, did we extrapolate so much from the Charleston shooting in terms of race issues?

When it comes to the Oregon massacre, we still don’t know all the facts and, at this point, only God knows the motivation of the murderer. But we do know there is a growing national climate of extreme hostility towards Christianity, and from professional news media to popular social media, it is open season on committed followers of Jesus.

It’s one thing to have a civil debate on the meaning of marriage or to disagree on what the Bible teaches on sexuality or to have different perspectives on the best way to address transgender issues.

It’s another thing entirely when your failure to support the redefinition of marriage or your adherence to biblical sexuality or your opposition to gender-neutral bathrooms gets you branded as a sick, vile, bigot worthy of death.

Today, it is not just the Bill Mahers and Dan Savages of the world who are trashing Christianity and vilifying conservative believers. It is not just radical liberal professors on college campuses who continue their aggressive attack on people of faith.

Today, Bible-bashing and Christian-mocking is a favorite pastime on social media, replete with unprintable insults, ugly invective, and death wishes galore. Simply stated, it has become part of the larger pop culture.

Within a 72-hour period last week, at least 6 different people posted death wishes on my Facebook page, some getting into graphic detail (including the person who didn’t know how to spell pancreatic), while scores of others posted comments that were so ugly they were immediately blocked.

At about the same time, a reviewer of my newest book (which, by the way, has an entire chapter calling on Christians to take the highest moral ground and to overcome evil with good and hatred with love) claimed that, “This book is in pure and perfect alignment with the views of white supremacy groups and the KKK.”

Also about this time, someone posted on my Facebook page, “Oh goody another neo Nazi crazy fanatical zealot posting their b****** on my wall.” (Actually, we post things on our page; we didn’t post anything on that person’s wall.)

Of course, this is nothing new for me or other conservative believers, since ridiculous rhetoric like this has been coming our way for years.

The problem is that more and more people actually believe this baseless drivel, and instead of comments like this coming from the most extreme anti-Christian groups and individuals, similar remarks are becoming more and more mainstream.

In short, we are not just dealing with the incremental criminalization of Christianity in America (to use the words of Janet Folger and Mike Huckabee) but with the demonization of Christianity (and Christians) in America. And while this is hardly the first time in the last 2,000 years that believers have been demonized – far from it – it may well be the first time in American history that hostility to the faith is so vile, mean-spirited and widespread.

At this point, we have no idea whether this hostile climate contributed to the Oregon massacre. But it is certain that words have consequences, that hateful people do hateful things, and that when you declare an ideological war against Christianity, the results could be deadly – literally.

This calls for renewed faith, renewed courage, and renewed boldness.

As we unashamedly confess Jesus’ name here on earth, He will unashamedly confess our names in heaven.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: ac; christians; hatespeech; oregon; persecution; umpqua

1 posted on 10/04/2015 9:42:39 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

The nation didn’t yawn, the press yawned. Democrats and their press monkeys yawned. The obamists yawned. Perverts yawned. The same ones who yawn when babies are decapitated and sold yawned.


2 posted on 10/04/2015 9:44:44 AM PDT by marron
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To: Kaslin

Bible-bashing and Christian-mocking is a favorite pastime on social media, replete with unprintable insults, ugly invective, and death wishes galore.

It has become part of the larger pop culture.


3 posted on 10/04/2015 9:53:58 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
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To: marron

Now that right there is the cold sad fact of the matter. The prerequisites for becoming a media whore are you must be liberal, immoral, unethical and hate Christianity, among many other things that are too numerous to list here.


4 posted on 10/04/2015 9:57:31 AM PDT by Roger Kaputnik (Just because I'm paranoid doesn't prove that they aren't out to get me.)
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To: Kaslin; marron; MarvinStinson
If the killer has asked, “gay or straight’ and blown the heads off the gay students... the Sunday morning talk shows would have focused on homophobia...

When it's Christians being targeted the left ignores it BECAUSE they're in on creating the hostile environment traditional Americans have to live in...

5 posted on 10/04/2015 9:59:42 AM PDT by GOPJ (Liberal elites have created an environment that encourages hatred of Christians.)
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To: Kaslin

The answer is simple: jealousy. Those who reject
God’s authority over them cannot or will not believe or accept that The US has been wildly successful, beyond all other nations, BECAUSE of our foundational institutions and Constitution, with their basis in Judeo-Christian principles and mores.

Their antipathy towards the notion of a Judeo-Christian God in authority over them is so deep that they, especially Obama, will even throw in with religions and/or belief systems that run counter to all their liberal/progressive ideals, such as the rights of women and gays. Anything goes, if it will undermine Christianity.


6 posted on 10/04/2015 10:02:03 AM PDT by mtrott
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To: Kaslin

Bflr


7 posted on 10/04/2015 10:14:05 AM PDT by sauropod (I am His and He is mine.)
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To: Kaslin

What happens when the muzzies start beheading sexual deviants? Who’s side will the media take then?


8 posted on 10/04/2015 10:18:03 AM PDT by Old Yeller (Obama's Iran nuclear deal - The Devil is in the details.)
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To: Kaslin
What everyone is missing here is that two of the four groups in the name of whom our country is being "fundamentally transformed" are chrstian: Blacks and Hispanics (usually morphed into a single word by liberals).

Liberals may despise chrstianity when practiced by white Protestants or non-Hispanic Catholics, but they celebrate it as part of the "authentic culture" of Blacks and Hispanics.

If Black or Hispanic chrstians think chrstianity is under attack, they certainly aren't complaining. So either Blacks and Hispanics "aren't really chrstian" or else they have special liberal permission to practice that faith.

9 posted on 10/04/2015 10:57:01 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The "end of history" will be Worldwide Judaic Theocracy.)
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To: Kaslin
As we unashamedly confess Jesus’ name here on earth, He will unashamedly confess our names in heaven.

Black, Hispanic, and other "minority" chrstians don't seem to be getting any flak.

10 posted on 10/04/2015 11:11:09 AM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (The "end of history" will be Worldwide Judaic Theocracy.)
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To: MarvinStinson

I gather you’ve seen some of the anti-Christian sites. It is truly amazing how very much they hate hate hate Christians. It’s scary to even read those sites. He did say “You will be hated by all men on account of Me”. So, I guess we have it coming; the darkness is exposed by the light and they love their darkness.


11 posted on 10/04/2015 11:27:58 AM PDT by hulagirl (High Horse Drifter)
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To: Kaslin
Yet the secular media, for the most part, is focusing more on gun laws than on the shooter’s alleged anti-Christian motivation. Why?

Because the fifth-column media are Christian-hating leftists.

12 posted on 10/04/2015 12:51:05 PM PDT by Carl Vehse
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To: Old Yeller

Christians need to learn that response to a deadly threat means being prepared to cut angry flesh.


13 posted on 10/04/2015 1:25:43 PM PDT by elcid1970 ("The Second Amendment is more important than Islam.")
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To: Kaslin

And the adoration of Islam.


14 posted on 10/04/2015 2:18:16 PM PDT by MarMema
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To: Old Yeller

They already hang gays in Iran.


15 posted on 10/04/2015 2:19:34 PM PDT by MarMema
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To: Kaslin

Not to mention this mass murder was also Black-on-white hate crime.


16 posted on 10/04/2015 3:25:05 PM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed.)
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To: Kaslin

Good article. Thanks for posting it.


17 posted on 10/04/2015 6:43:52 PM PDT by bronxville (Margaret Sanger - “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population,Â)
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To: marron

“The nation didn’t yawn, the press yawned. Democrats and their press monkeys yawned. Perverts yawned. The same ones who yawn when babies are decapitated and sold yawned.”

Sounds like the opening lines of a future history of this period in the United States. (Hopefully to be written from the perspective of someone who watched the demise and total delegitimization of the “Progressive Movement”, or better said, the Communist Revolution.)

IMHO

IMHO


18 posted on 10/05/2015 5:45:47 AM PDT by ripley
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