How do people "live out" their Christianity in countries where religion is unpopular?

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They may think it seems ok and that they are punching up but their perception is distorted.
In which way does Christianity these days have privilege or power?
There are rich Christians and poor Christians.
Most politicians here are not living by Christian beliefs.
Christian lobby groups have little political power.
People rarely talk about Christianity in public here (in a positive sense) etc so I’m unable to see the privilege that you are referring to.
All this is referring to Australian social climate but there is no shortage of comedians mocking Christianity here.

The reality is these comedians are just settling for “low hanging fruit” because they don’t have the creative ability to come up with something more witty.

Whether it’s “picking on” people’s disabilities or saying certain people are stupid for believing a certain way,it’s all just belittling-the easy option instead of coming up with something more clever.

It’s clear that a lot of these comedians are “leftist” in their viewpoints.
Personally I am neither left or right in political view-only the middle belief is balanced imo-but it would be nice to see these comedians being a bit less predictable.
 
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Rozellelily said:
In which way does Christianity these days have privilege or power?
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I understand Christian privilege is hard to see. How can one understand how their minority faith/no faith has been an impediment in life, if they’ve never experienced it. The privileges are experienced as just “normal life”. Also it’s not one’s fault (i.e. nothing to feel guilty about), since it’s not something earned/worked for, and doesn’t reveal anything about hard someone works.

But it certainly is there, even in Australia. Although, yes, most western countries are moving quickly to more religiously diverse secular societies (I’d say the US is a few decades “behind” the move toward secularization in Europe and Australia). In the US it’s much easier to see (e.g. political suicide to be non-religious and even dangerous in some areas to be openly Muslim, lgbt, or atheist), but even in Australia there are many examples of exemptions, privileges, and funding for religious organizations (see education as one example I’m familiar with).

Acknowledging Christian privilege is an important part of developing empathy for people of other faiths/no faiths. You know, part of being Christian and loving your neighbor. Christians who stick their heads in the sand here aren’t helping at all, and a part of why they are prime candidates for the wider culture’s comedy routines.
 
Rozellelily said:
In which way does Christianity these days have privilege or power?
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I often wear a cross visibly and make no attempt to hide my religion in Australia. I have never;
  • been beaten due to it
  • had people attempt to pull my cross from around my neck (I have seen people grab headscarves from Muslims and try to yank a turbin from a Sihk)
  • been told to “go back home” because of it
  • been told I am a terrorist
  • had national discourse over whether my religion is unAustralian
  • had people boycott places that serve fish on fridays (Halal producers on the other hand… well)
  • had people raise a concerns about Lent (same as above)
I have had some ignorant folk mutter sulkily about theists in general and had a few bad jokes.
 
Depends on where you live right?

Try being a Christian in a majority Muslim country. I have and I tell you at least Muslims aren’t killed here in the West due to a common occurrence of bombs being planted in churches or markets.

There was a thread here about an Indonesian Christians wondering if it would be sin if he or she did not go to mass due to attacks on Christians.
 
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Sorry but I disagree.
I should mention that I say this as a person who is baptised Catholic but not very religious so that can give you greater confidence that my opinion is free of bias.
While you are right that in Australia,government funding is given to some Christian schools, it is also given to some Islamic schools.
This is not “privledge”, that is religious tolerance and acceptance.

For the most part though,apart from Hillsong,Christianity is pretty much “dead” in Australia now.
Ask most young people how many go to church or believe in Jesus or talk about Christianity openly and then you will see that it is not popular/not talked about.
When many people in Australia are not Christian or even talk about it where is the privilege then?
The concept of Christian privilege (i speak for in Australia) is an illusion.
Narratives have to be based in reality in society not emotions-that’s not sticking head in the sand but rather being level headed.

People do not have to believe in “Christian privilege” to have empathy or compassion for people of other religions who are persecuted or treated poorly-far from it.
This comes from simply having a good heart and caring about our “neighbour” and countering injustices wherever we see them (whether towards Muslim,agnostic,Christian or other).

www.canberratimes.com.au

Islamic School of Canberra has its federal funding restored

The school battled to prove it was independent of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils.
www.canberratimes.com.au www.canberratimes.com.au
 
I see your point.
At the same time,this is because,realistically,people are usually only affected by things that threaten them.
As a Croatian with blonde hair green eyes I have never been told to go home.I have though had people talk to my face about how “wogs” or foreigners have ruined things or should go home without them realising that I am one…
Iow they weren’t threatened by my appearance.

If we be totally honest then my guess would be that the person who tried to remove the Sikh’s turbin was ignorant and thought the Sikh was a Muslim or thought he believed similar to Muslims.
I don’t think most religions in Australia suffer greatly from the things you mentioned (ie:Christian,Buddhists,Hindus,or Sikhs).
If we be honest the majority of the hate or “discussion” is towards Muslims.

Why is that?Its because those people are threatened by them and believe they threaten their “Australian way of life”.
Visually,as you know,Australia is a very liberal country.
Some Muslims have a way of dress that certain Australians are threaten by.
Some Australians believe (whether through ignorance or sometimes right) that some Muslims have a way of treatment towards women that is different to Australian society etc…
Re:halal food,I don’t think deep down these people really care less about if food is halal or not,what really is threatening them is that they irrationally fear the Islamic culture encroachment onto “their” Australia.“Strict Muslims” having power and taking over.
That is why they care less about places serving fish on good Friday because they arnt emotionally threatened by Christianity and don’t view the Christian culture as being incompatible with their culture (as they do with Islam).

Muslims get harassed by these people because these these people come from fear and ignorance and feel threaten by them.
That doesn’t mean that Christians are privileged.
I have no doubt that if Christians started openly living and discussing things in a way that was diametrically opposite to these peoples way of life and that made them feel threatened then they would target Christians too.

"had national discourse over whether my religion is unAustralian"
Personally I think national discourse is a good thing but terms like unAustralian should never be used.

If I had a choice I would still rather be a Muslim in Australia than a Christian in some Middle Eastern countries.
 
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Its also Jews. But the point of privilege is that we don’t have to deal with such prejudice. Its not about whether the prejudice is right or wrong (Its wrong), it’s that it exists.

Nor is it about the relativism of whether it’s better to be muslim here or Christian there; shouldn’t we aim to be a bit better than that?
 
My school is a very atheist ,secular , liberal school (long story but wasn’t my fist choise ) to give you an idea of how bad it is there are in my class atleast two anarchists so I would say that most pupils are consious or unconsiously hostile towards religion. What i do is 1 show my intellectual capabilities that way i combat Some stereotypes these people hold 2 be un apogelicly Christian , I’m Christian and i make shure they know it (sometimes it earns there respect othertimes they might get enoyed. )
 
Alex337 said:
Nor is it about the relativism of whether it’s better to be muslim here or Christian there; shouldn’t we aim to be a bit better than that?
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True.
I disagree though that Christians are free from prejudice here though and primarily in the media.
When comedians mock Christians or Christianity it is a form of prejudice.
That’s regardless of whether some people reason to themselves that it’s ok to do so because they mispercieve that Christians are still in some form of power.
For example I sometimes watch the Tom Ballard show and I have heard him say very derogatory things about Christians.
To use American type terminology,there are some people who are “extreme left” who are threatened by Christianity (due to Christianity not support of gay marriage etc) in the same way as those who are “extreme right” are threatened by Islam.
If someone doesn’t recognise that this exists,then I will consider they have bias.

Ultimately,imho,people should care about all discrimination/derogatory speech,regardless of who it’s aimed at,and promote religious (or non religion) tolerance.

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/...r/news-story/d09c836487c147602a492756040049ad
 
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I’ve always felt there’s a difference between comedians telling jokes and actual hate. But I was raised among theatre geeks.
 
For evry one who wonders why its okay to mock christians and not other religions Well that has to to do with a certain school of marxism you see the entire west has been build on christianity what easier way is there to subvert a socity then to destroy its moral and intelectual foundation
Also if you mock islam there is the change that you might get killed in an nailbomb ‘accident’
 
It depends how the joke is told.
Sometimes it’s just a joke,othertimes it is hate or an “agenda” in the guise of a joke/comedy.
 
Im glad you like comedy😃.
I like comedy too.
With art (including comedy) comes responsibility too though and should involve some thoughtfulness and creatively instead of just reaching for the low hanging fruit.
Good comedians will be clever and not mean spirited.
That’s not just regarding religion topics but also other things such as fat jokes,jokes about disabled people etc.
I’m definitely against censorship but surely the line has to be drawn somewhere.
 
Rozellelily said:
Im glad you like comedy😃.
I like comedy too.
With art (including comedy) comes responsibility too though and should involve some thoughtfulness and creatively instead of just reaching for the low hanging fruit.
Good comedians will be clever and not mean spirited.
That’s not just regarding religion topics but also other things such as fat jokes,jokes about disabled people etc.
I’m definitely against censorship but surely the line has to be drawn somewhere.
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I agree. I just don’t think Christians are alone in being the butt of bad jokes. And it’s a very small thing compared to all the privileges we have.

I think people get confused when talking about privilege. People aren’t saying you shouldn’t have those privileges, they’re saying everyone should have them.
 
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