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Christians Most Persecuted

seayakin

Graduate Poster
seayakin
Joined
Nov 30, 2003
Messages
1,437
I heard this last week and haven't seen a post.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/16/pope-calls-christians-persecuted/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121601955.html

The pope declares that Christians are the most persecuted. I've been more inclined to believe Christians have a persecution complex. According to the articles, he raises concerns about persecution of Christians in the Middle East. However, I don't see Christians any more persecuted than other groups who fall outside the mainstream group in a given cultural area. I suppose since Christians are the most populous religion, numerically they may be more persecuted because there are more of them.

What are others reactions?
 
People of every religion, and people with no religion, are sometimes oppressed and persecuted when they are the in minority - the out-group. Christians are not unique in this regard, nor are they always innocent of oppression and persecution when they are the in-group.

But there are times when the majority group feels oppressed because others demand equality.

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They could be (and are) persecuted where they are in a tiny minority in a country.
 
They're always crying persecution, particularly when they aren't allowed to preach their nonsense on the public dime.
 
The truth is "bigger” than their beliefs. They are being persecuted by the truth.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Christians aren't persecuted. There are billions of Christians. How could they be persecuted? In my opinion they do the persecuting.
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Many are in areas where they are the religious minority. Do you really think that a Christian in the middle of, say, Iran is going to have the same level of dominance and acceptance as one in the US?
 
Gao said:
Many are in areas where they are the religious minority. Do you really think that a Christian in the middle of, say, Iran is going to have the same level of dominance and acceptance as one in the US?
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There are always exceptions to the rule , but the fact remains in the vast majority of first world countries, they are the majority and wield power and influence beyond that of most other organizations.

Now, isn't a big part of christianity turning the other cheek? One would think in order to synch up actions with the bible, they would simply deal with the persecution. But following the rules in their book when it would negatively impact them has never been something christianity is good at.
 
sadhatter said:
There are always exceptions to the rule , but the fact remains in the vast majority of first world countries, they are the majority and wield power and influence beyond that of most other organizations.
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Yeah, I don't intend to back the claims made by the pope or anything. I'm just arguing against the idea that they're not persecuted anywhere.
 
Gao said:
Many are in areas where they are the religious minority. Do you really think that a Christian in the middle of, say, Iran is going to have the same level of dominance and acceptance as one in the US?
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...



:)




... sorry, I was imagining a Christian in Iran and grinning.
 
Gao said:
Many are in areas where they are the religious minority. Do you really think that a Christian in the middle of, say, Iran is going to have the same level of dominance and acceptance as one in the US?
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In places like Iran, all non-shi'ites are persecuted so christians aren't specifically targeted.
 
The ones in the US who cry persecution aren't defining the word in the standard way.

They think criticizing, exposing flaws, and simply not believing are all forms of persecution.
Sometimes when I hear that, I wish I had some pictures of the various "ethnic cleansings" the world has seen, so I could show them and say "When someone does that to you and yours because you are a Christian, then you can cry 'persecution.' Right now, all you're experiencing is annoyance. Get over yourself."

Yes, I know that's hyperbolic. But I feel sometimes people who have never really been oppressed need to see strong oppression to understand just how badly they're mistaken.
 
Gawdzilla said:
A religion based on killing your savior has a strong martyrdom streak in it.
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Also, the early Christian church was a cult of martyrs. If I recall correctly early Christians did not consider a church to be sanctified until it had the body of a martyr buried in it (in or under the alter stone I think). This may have even led to early Christians purposefully insulting and aggravating the people in power in an attempt to create more martyrs.
 
Weak Kitten said:
Also, the early Christian church was a cult of martyrs. If I recall correctly early Christians did not consider a church to be sanctified until it had the body of a martyr buried in it (in or under the alter stone I think). This may have even led to early Christians purposefully insulting and aggravating the people in power in an attempt to create more martyrs.
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The sad thing is they'll be quoting the subject line as proof that they ARE being persecuted. "See? It's says so right there on JREF!" And they will have never read the thread, of course.
 
seayakin said:
The pope declares that Christians are the most persecuted. I've been more inclined to believe Christians have a persecution complex. According to the articles, he raises concerns about persecution of Christians in the Middle East. However, I don't see Christians any more persecuted than other groups who fall outside the mainstream group in a given cultural area. I suppose since Christians are the most populous religion, numerically they may be more persecuted because there are more of them.

What are others reactions?
Click to expand...

I'd like to ask the pope how he thinks atheists fare in the Middle East.
 
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