Is anyone else getting the feeling

[Mezzoforte]

This exactly!....Hypocrisy is rife within devout Christian communities.

That is sort of silly to say. Since all humanity is rife with hypocrisy. Noone is immune to it. Noone is above it. That is more a flaw with humans than it is with any specific organization, religion, or group.

[SoloWingMetatron]

That is sort of silly to say. Since all humanity is rife with hypocrisy. Noone is immune to it. Noone is above it. That is more a flaw with humans than it is with any specific organization, religion, or group.

True. But the difference being in (using all the reference points I have) almost all Christians I have encountered have put themselves on a moral high horse....acting like their farts smell of roses...when in reality they literally picket Pride events, try to prevent equal rights, try to control what women do with their bodies, openly disrespect other religions by claiming their faith is false...yet literally none of these groups asked them to interfere with their lives....yet they're happy to play the victim once they are punished (and rightly so) for their attempts to control peoples lives, where they have no such authority to....

So I disagree, it is not silly. It's simple truth.....I will however admit that other religions are just as guilty of this, so it's more accurate for me to say religious groups as a whole tend to show hypocrisy more than other communities, from my experience. Also of course not every person of faith is like that...but then again not every person is so consistently hypocritical.

[Crystal_Raven]

Christians feeling persecuted always amuses me considering the past 2000 years of history

I'm just gonna leave this here.

[SoloWingMetatron]

I'm just gonna leave this here.

Wait......the Knights Templar had rocket launchers?!.....damn son. Them poor witches

[Bright-Flower]

Waiting on Primal Jesus to make an entrance so we can CRUSH him and his followers like we do with Gods from many many other religions.

Christians feeling persecuted always amuses me considering the past 2000 years of history and even nearly any hot topic in the news today which is always "something something should be outlawed, so and so shouldn't have rights to..., something something cause my christian values something something"

I feel obligated to share this.

https://youtu.be/NrN_paMEKhE?t=1016

[NessaWyvern]

Waiting on Primal Jesus to make an entrance so we can CRUSH him and his followers like we do with Gods from many many other religions.

Christians feeling persecuted always amuses me considering the past 2000 years of history and even nearly any hot topic in the news today which is always "something something should be outlawed, so and so shouldn't have rights to..., something something cause my christian values something something"

To be fair, and saying this as an agnostic/atheist, in some parts of the world Christians are still being persecuted. The recent Easter Sri Lankan bombings, for example. Not sure if its something to be amused about :/

[Ronduwil]

To be fair, and saying this as an agnostic/atheist, in some parts of the world Christians are still being persecuted. The recent Easter Sri Lankan bombings, for example. Not sure if its something to be amused about :/

I don't think they mean globally. I may be wrong, but I think they're talking about uses of the term similar to the annual Fox News report about the war on Christmas. Stores have been changing their seasonal messages from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" in an effort to be more inclusive. Somehow this is supposed to translate to persecution of Christians. I am well-acquainted with this annual report because it riles my father-in-law up to no end, ironically making him very unpleasant to be around when I take the kids down for Christmas. The OP in this thread also frivolously interprets the term. I agree that persecution of any group is a serious problem that should be taken seriously, but I, too, am amused when people make frivolous claims. I agree that the bombings to which you refer as well as recent actions against Christians taken by various African governments are legitimate examples of persecution. As such, they are no laughing matter. Those are a far cry, however, from the presence of zealots in a fantasy game who resemble medieval church-sponsored institutions. Most Americans, when they claim domestic persecution of Christians, have no basis for the complaint. 75% of Americans are Christians. It's kind of hard to persecute a group that is a majority in terms of population, wealth, and political power.

[Melichoir]

I don't think they mean globally. I may be wrong, but I think they're talking about uses of the term similar to the annual Fox News report about the war on Christmas. Stores have been changing their seasonal messages from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays" in an effort to be more inclusive. Somehow this is supposed to translate to persecution of Christians. I am well-acquainted with this annual report because it riles my father-in-law up to no end, ironically making him very unpleasant to be around when I take the kids down for Christmas. The OP in this thread also frivolously interprets the term. I agree that persecution of any group is a serious problem that should be taken seriously, but I, too, am amused when people make frivolous claims. I agree that the bombings to which you refer as well as recent actions against Christians taken by various African governments are legitimate examples of persecution. As such, they are no laughing matter. Those are a far cry, however, from the presence of zealots in a fantasy game who resemble medieval church-sponsored institutions. Most Americans, when they claim domestic persecution of Christians, have no basis for the complaint. 75% of Americans are Christians. It's kind of hard to persecute a group that is a majority in terms of population, wealth, and political power.

To play devil's advocate here, wouldnt blanket statements about groups that actively dismiss their concerns as "frivolous" generally be considered a form of persecution? This is like saying "Youre the majority, therefore by virtue of that, you have no right to complain and you cannot be persecuted."

To show a different perspective with the same thought process, this would be saying you cant be racist towards whites on the simple basis theyre the majority in the western countries generally. The only way this argument works is if you make racial groups a monolith, rather than treating incidences and people as individuals.

At the individual level, people can persecute others by faith in individual acts.

[AnimaAnimus]

To play devil's advocate here, wouldnt blanket statements about groups that actively dismiss their concerns as "frivolous" generally be considered a form of persecution? This is like saying "Youre the majority, therefore by virtue of that, you have no right to complain and you cannot be persecuted.".

No but when an organization that holds tremendous power and influence and use that to create laws and govern a nation in a way they see fit then undermine in every way they can anyone asking for any recognition or the rights to do the most common or simple of things, is so used to being untouchable that even the perception of the slightest criticism or critique in a game that a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the population will play and comes with no consequence personal or otherwise makes them cry persecution while they still hold all then power, it is frivolous and frankly, as I stated before, is funny. not to mention another way to hold on to said power through the magic of sympathy. Just because your feelings were hurt, doesn't mean you are persecuted. If you were persecuted that means you would have your rights taken away, you couldn't get a job, you were forced into poverty, you were not allowed to marry, you would have to hide yourself physically, mentally and spiritually. You could face violence and possible death. If you were persecuted you would have to fight every day just to exist and be who you are.

With the amount of cultures, languages, histories, stories, etc that have and continue to be erased and undermined thanks to certain institutions with incredible power in already powerful countries, I think a little critiquing of them, purposeful or not, doesn't really add up to persecution.

[Ronduwil]

To play devil's advocate here, wouldnt blanket statements about groups that actively dismiss their concerns as "frivolous" generally be considered a form of persecution?

No. Dismissing someone's concerns is not persecuting them, especially when those concerns are unfounded. Of course, you have the right to complain. I never said otherwise. You just don't have the right to be taken seriously when your complaint is silly. For example, I'm not persecuting my kid when she complains that I won't let her eat Doritos for dinner. She has the right to whine and cry about it all she wants, but that doesn't mean I'm going to take her seriously. In the real-life example that I gave earlier, all the stores were flooded with wreaths, Christmas trees, Santas, and religious music. How is that a war on Christmas? How is that persecution? The cashier saying, "Happy Holidays," is not an attack on Christianity. After all, Christmas is a holiday too.

This is like saying "Youre the majority, therefore by virtue of that, you have no right to complain and you cannot be persecuted."

No, it's not. As I said earlier, you have the right to complain. You don't have the right to be taken seriously. If you're going to complain that you're a Christian being discriminated against in a room full of Christians on the basis of your religion, then you'd better bring pretty compelling evidence because I'm going to find it unlikely, especially when all the visible evidence suggests otherwise. "Cannot be persecuted" is not the same statement as "not being persecuted." You're jumping to a completely different conclusion from what I stated.

To show a different perspective with the same thought process, this would be saying you cant be racist towards whites on the simple basis theyre the majority in the western countries generally.

This is a straw man argument. It's one thing to say that racism against whites can't exist. It's another to say that racism against whites does exist. I'm certain that racism against whites exists in some neighborhoods and among various cultural groups. Does it exist on a systemic basis in the United States? Absolutely not. It's less likely to exist when whites are a majority. When most of the people in charge are white, they are unlikely to discriminate against their own.

The only way this argument works is if you make racial groups a monolith, rather than treating incidences and people as individuals.

At the individual level, people can persecute others by faith in individual acts.

What does this even have to do with what I was saying? The only point I was trying to make was that many Christians in the United States claim that they're being persecuted despite widespread evidence to the contrary. Most Christians don't make that silly claim. Very rarely, you'll find a case where a Christian was legitimately persecuted. The case of a guy who was forced to wash the ash off his forehead at school on Ash Wednesday comes to mind. More often than not, though, claims of persecution in the United States range from two men kissing in public to cashiers conveying season's greetings in a non-denominational manner.