Posted on 03/29/2006 1:04:29 PM PST by Crackingham
The "War on Christmas" has morphed into a "War on Christians."
Last December, some evangelical Christian groups declared that the religious celebration of Christmas -- and even the phrase "Merry Christmas" -- was under attack by the forces of secularism. This week, radio commentator Rick Scarborough convened a conference in Washington on the "War on Christians and the Values Voters in 2006." The opening session was devoted to "reports from the frontlines" on "persecution" of Christians in the United States and Canada, including an artist whose paintings were barred from a municipal art show in Deltona, Fla., because they contained religious themes.
Among the conference's speakers were former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) and Sens. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and conservative Christian leaders Phyllis Schlafly, Rod Parsley, Gary Bauer, Janet Parshall and Alan Keyes.
To many of the 400 evangelicals packed into a small ballroom at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, it was a hard but necessary look at moral relativism, hedonism and Christophobia, or fear of Christ, to pick just a few terms offered by various speakers referring to the enemy. To some outsiders, it illuminated the paranoia of the Christian right.
"Certainly religious persecution existed in our history, but to claim that these examples amount to religious persecution disrespects the experiences of people who have been jailed and died because of their faith," said Hollyn Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty.
"This is a skirmish over religious pluralism, and the inclination to see it as a war against Christianity strikes me as a spoiled-brat response by Christians who have always enjoyed the privileges of a majority position," said the Rev. Robert Franklin, a minister in the Church of God in Christ and professor of social ethics at Emory University.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Amen Corin, Amen
the word persecution with
the word bias...
...but you are free to do so.
It's merely a scientific fact pointed
out by a trained musician.
SINCERELY, SATAN
No, but crying wolf does Christians no good.
Ping.
I see. So.....following your logic here.....at what point are we allowed to bitch? When they start shooting us or hanging us? Just curious.
"How about being imprisoned for preaching that homosexuality is a sin?"
Swedish Pastor Sentenced for 'Hate Speech' http://www.cbn.com/CBNNews/CWN/091004sweden.asp
From Wikipedia under Ake Green:
Åke Green (born 3 June 1941) is a Pentecostal Christian pastor who was sentenced to one month in prison under Sweden's law against hate speech. On February 11, 2005 an appeals court, Göta hovrätt, overturned the decision and acquitted Åke Green. On March 9, the Prosecutor-General appealed this decision to the Supreme Court, which on November 29 also acquitted him. In their opinion, while Åke Green had violated Swedish law as it currently stands, a conviction would most likely be overturned by the European Court of Human Rights, based on their previous rulings regarding Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Yes, Ake Green was arrested and tried under Sweden's hate speech law. He was also acquitted by both the appeals and the Supreme Court. I agree that this case is an example of attempting to stifle free speech.
The Criminalization of Christianity http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/news/050210a.asp
These people were not jailed for their religious beliefs, despite the CBN propoganda, they were arrested for disturbing the peace when they refused a direct police order to move on.
How about being found guilty of child abuse for rasing your children as Christians?
Religion ‘a form of child abuse’ http://www.sundayherald.com/53427
No one was found guilty of child abuse for raising their children as Christians. It was an opinion expressed by the rather anti-religious Richard Dawkins in a film made by him.
Calif. Psychologist Wants 'Extreme Bias' Against Homosexuals Added To DSM ('Homophobia' a disorder?) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1566731/posts
Again, no one was found guilty of child abuse for raising their children as Christians.
"How about loosing[sic] your job because you won't perform an abortion?"
Fired EMT Sues After Refusing to Transport Woman for Abortion http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1134472/posts
Nurse fired for refusing to give abortion pill -Files Suit Claiming Religious Beliefs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1431146/posts
Someone was fired in both of these cases, that is true. However, they were fired for refusing to do their job. If your religious beliefs will not allow you to do the job for which you were hired, there is absolutely no reason why an employer cannot fire you. It has nothing to do with persecuting Christians. It has everything to do with running a business.
I repeat my original opinion, which is, grow a pair and learn to deal with reality.
"Imagine allowing a Christian call to prayer 5 times daily?? Will NEVER happen."
NEVER happen? You're kidding, right? In the Louisiana town where my parents live the Catholic church down the street uses its chimes to VERY loudly play relgious music to call the faithful to Mass. And does so VERY early in the morning.
"Businesses encourage employees to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas."
And this is a concern why? I mean I know that shopping at Walmart IS at the heart of the real meaning of Christmas, but...
"In Tennessee recently, a child was forbidden from reading his Bible at recess."
The child in question wanted to hold a "Bible study" during recess and the teacher wanted the children involved in physical activity (imagine that!!!!). The school argued that recess was part of the structured school day and the teacher could ban any reading during that time. It was NOT an attack on the Bible, per se. You also conveniently leave out the fact that as a result of this the school system implemented a policy making it clear that children can read any religious texts at recess. So this was in fact a victory for religious freedom (althgough you should also note that this makes it easier for a Muslim kid to read the Koran at recess). The judge in the case also scolded the kid's parents AND the school system for turning a basic misunderstanding into a federal case.
Perhaps if we're following the example of Christ on the way to the cross, we just might. Many who walked with Jesus expected Him to free them from the persecution of the Romans.
Being "forbidden" to display my plastic baby Jesus is not persecution.
If you weren't persecuting me, I'd have my pony by now...
Using that logic, a black person can't call being fired from his job for being black racism because in history, blacks have been enslaved, lynched, and other terrible things.
No one is claiming that persecution is at its highest level, or that it is everywhere. But it is CLEARLY there, and worse, it is most frequently found in powerful places like liberal judicial opinion and other government institutions such as schools and social services -- places liberals largely control. That's the bottom line. Liberals are the instigators. The worst attacks on Judeo-Christian values and on Christians in particular are by the media, the government schools, liberal interest groups such as the ACLU, and in certain aspects of social services where being a Christian means you need to be re-educated by the gospel of tolerance (tolerate everything but that which is wholesome).
The liberal idea that government can't make moral judgments (which it the "principle" that drives their attack on real faith) is like saying gov't can't distinguish between sense and nonsense because the "sense minorities" might get their feelings hurt or feel oppressed.
I got into the habit because there is a proscription within Judaism to writing the whole word. It is a sign of respect I found worth adopting. I do not advocate it as a rule for all.
About that many of them are specifically prohibited from being the basis of laws.
In addition to the ones you correctly noted as un-Constitutional, any attempt to base law on the 4th (the Sabbath) would constitute a clear establishment of religion by elevating one Sabbath over another), and any attempt to base law on the 10th (covetousness) would clearly infringe upon freedom of speech (since even the expression of a wish to honestly buy out one's neighbor's property would be covetous).
Discrimination is not persecution. That doesn't necessary make discrimination okay, but let's not be pansies. We don't need to yelp "Persecution!" every time the government or an employer looks at us cross-eyed. Until the government tells us, "Worship this way, or you'll be punished," there is no persecution.
Exactly.
Nonsense. It was on TV last night.
The bias was evident to Millions of Americans when Mandissa sang a openly Christian Praise Song (a bona-fide song selection) on American Idol.
The judges responded to her EXCELLENT performance with confounded/confused and EXTREMELY PREJUDICED and UNBALANCED responses compared to what they were handing out.
You are ridiculous. The reason they were confused was not because it was a Christian song, but because she SUCKED!!!!! PERIOD!!!! Don't give people the stupid sob story that it was because it was a Christian song. Everyone talking today said she SUCKED!!!!!!
The judges responded to her EXCELLENT performance with confounded/confused and EXTREMELY PREJUDICED and UNBALANCED responses compared to what they were handing out.
Dear God I hope that is sarcasm.
It must be. The is one of the craziest posts on record for FREEPERS.
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