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Eric_Hilbert
Guest
Done.
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cheese_sdc
Guest
Thanks!
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Peter_J
Guest
Good post.Hey guys,
You live in a country where 70% of the population shares you religion. Where 90% of the elected officials are christian. Where the police force is overwhelmingly christian. Where you can pick up the phone book or internet and find dozens of churches within a few miles of you. Churches advertise on billboards and TV.
You live in a country where your churches are afforded special tax exempt status and can even hire the local police forces to direct traffic so that worshippers leaving the service aren’t inconvenienced.
You live in a country were every president ever has been Christian.
You can wear symbols of your faith opening and without fear of reprisal.
Where the birth control mandate was struck down by the highest court in the land due to a corporation’s “sincerely held religious belief”.
Truly you live in a hell of discrimination and intolerance.
If this country were, let’s say, 70% Muslim instead, I have a hunch that it would be slightly less tolerant than it is.
This year’s Understatement Award.Good post.
If this country were, let’s say, 70% Muslim instead, I have a hunch that it would be slightly less tolerant than it is.
Jon
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cheese_sdc
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But it’s not.Good post.
If this country were, let’s say, 70% Muslim instead, I have a hunch that it would be slightly less tolerant than it is.
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MacBP
Guest
Ironically, I suspect that the situation for Christians in North America or Europe in a few decades will be roughly equivalent to the situation Christians experience in the historical Middle East. As much as the ME is now a hotbed of religious persecution, under the Ottoman Empire, there was a surprising degree of religious tolerance. Christians were free to worship at Churches and practice their faith, but they were barred from certain professions and government positions.Good post.
If this country were, let’s say, 70% Muslim instead, I have a hunch that it would be slightly less tolerant than it is.
While I highly doubt there will ever be an explicit for Christians entering any profession or position, I foresee a time when practicing Christians will be implicitly incapable of entering into certain jobs. For example, in Canada, two of the three major political parties have explicitly said that their MPs cannot hold pro-life views. Similarly, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario have recently adopted policies which compel Christians physicians to indirectly or (in limited circumstances) directly participate in abortion, sterilization, contraception, etc.
The idea, here, is that moral and behavioral demands of orthodox Christianity may eventually ensure that they are barred from positions of influence.
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MacBP
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I don’t think anyone believes that the US/Canada/Europe is the worst possible place to be a Christians, but I do think that many Christians are afraid that Western Society increasingly marginalizes orthodox Christians acting consistently with their faith. The HHS mandate, for example, is problematic in that it essentially allows individuals to be a practicing Catholic, a business owner, but not both.Hey guys,
You live in a country where 70% of the population shares you religion. Where 90% of the elected officials are christian. Where the police force is overwhelmingly christian. Where you can pick up the phone book or internet and find dozens of churches within a few miles of you. Churches advertise on billboards and TV.
You live in a country where your churches are afforded special tax exempt status and can even hire the local police forces to direct traffic so that worshippers leaving the service aren’t inconvenienced.
You live in a country were every president ever has been Christian.
You can wear symbols of your faith opening and without fear of reprisal.
Where the birth control mandate was struck down by the highest court in the land due to a corporation’s “sincerely held religious belief”.
Truly you live in a hell of discrimination and intolerance.
It is true that it is better to be a Christian in the West than anywhere in the world (except, perhaps, for Latin America). With that said, it’s better to be a woman, a racial minority or a sexual minority in the West than anywhere else in the world. Does that mean that women, racial minorities and sexual minorities should be prevented from safeguarding the rights they possess and pushing further? Does the fact that women can vote and work (far from globally universal) mean that they can’t or shouldn’t push for equal wages?
It is good to be a Christian in the West, and all of us should take care to thank God for winning the geographical lottery. As much as the orthodox Christians need to be careful not to make mountains of molehills, we also need to be vigilant. Orthodox Christianity is already an unpopular minority position and is only expected to become more unpopular and more of a minority. If we don’t start looking out for ourselves now, by the time it becomes a major issue it’ll be far too late.
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Peter_J
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Exactly.
I wonder how many Americans want a president who delivers pro-Muslim, Christian-critical, lectures at every opportunity?
But that aside, I ought to bow out of this thread shortly, because I really don’t have any idea what the blog post in the OP is talking about.
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