Originally Posted by hyperRevue
I do agree that all this talk about the persucted Christian is pretty funny. They only make up the majority of our country and, oh yeah, run it.
I think what is being talked about here is sort of the extreme secular/liberal view that Christians and religious people are stupid and backwards and hateful. Shows like Bill Mahr and The Daily Show (two shows of which I am a big fan, in the interest of full disclosure) sort of propagate this view. In general, I don't really care and think it's mostly done in jest. And like I said before, this assessment generally refers to a small minority of religious people.
I'm not religious at all. I tend to have a prejudicial view of the Christian Right and zealots of any stripe who perverse religious doctrines. I think religion can be fine, when not taken to the extreme. I personally don't need the bible or jesus to tell me how to treat other people or live my life, but whatever. It's when people twist the bible or take it too literally and use it as justification for hatred (homesexuality is an abomination) or subjegation or as a realistic alternative to science that I have a problem with it. And, again, I feel that those who tend to do that are those in the lime light, a small and vocal minority.
My point is that all of that doesn't change the fact that it helps NOTHING to make fun of someone.
What really pisses me off is that the more people are made fun of, the more defensive they get, even if things aren't directed at them, and it feeds the fear that the people in power in this country are so fond of. Divide and conquer.
I will tell you that beyond the shadow of a doubt that the majority of Christians are being told by the Christian media that the world is getting worse, and that the longer things go the way they are, the more persecution there will be of Christians (the Bible is full of that sort of thing) and they are afraid, which means they're going to be even MORE extreme and adamant because they're being told they MUST TURN THE TIDE OF EVIL!!!!
The truth of the matter is that ignoring someone is a much better way of getting them to shut up than making fun of them is. The more you put them on the defensive, the more they're going to hiss and howl like a cornered mountain lion.