Why Persecuted Christians Suck

Can you believe there’s an actual Christian website named The Persecution Times?

I found the site a few days ago, and the most recent story is a Dec. 10th ditty written in response to the recent shootings at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The story, written by Dan Wooding, “Founder of ASSIST Ministries,” is titled “Has persecution finally come to the Church in America?”

The very name of the site is enough to raise your eyebrows, but the title of the piece – if you know anything at all about “the Church in America” – threatens to drive them all the way over the top of your head so they end up on the back of your neck like lost caterpillars. It’s like a sulky 6-year-old deprived of the biggest slice of cake, running to his room screaming “Why does everybody hate me?!?”

Here’s a juicy bit from the story:

Many will be asking if this is the beginning of persecution of Evangelical Christians in America or if these were just isolated incidents.

If it is the start of persecution here, I wonder if we are ready for what lies ahead? Will Americans think twice about going to church in the future knowing that a crazed gunman could repeat these atrocities?

And how about this?

My plea to the Evangelical Church here in America is that we prepare for what might be ahead and unite under the banner of Jesus Christ who showed so much love for us.

And please don’t stop going to church. Let us realize that his “banner over us is love,” and we must not allow the gunmen to stop us worshiping the risen Savior.

This was before we found out the shooter was a home-schooled boy from a very religious Christian household, but even then the piece sounded over-the-top clueless.

The site had a comments section, so I jacked in and left one. I left this one (which readers here will already have seen):

Poor persecuted Christians. You make up more than 80% of the people in the U.S., and yet you still manage to imagine yourselves a downtrodden minority. Truly a miracle!

Just so we’re clear on how mistreated and discriminated-against American Christians are NOT, note that every member of Congress – save one recent Muslim and a few scattered Jews – is a Christian. Every governor of every state is a Christian. On the local level, it’s virtually impossible to get elected to any office without paying homage to Jesus.

Most of my life, you had to swear on the Bible even to serve on a jury. And lest we forget, the President of the United States, George W. Bush, the most powerful man in the country, the most powerful man in the world, is a very vocal Christian.

Every piece of U.S. money, every coin and bill, serves double duty as a Christian tract, with “In God We Trust” stamped on it. Rich, powerful televangelists blanket the airwaves of every city and state.

Christians sit on every official policy-making body in the nation. It is absolutely impossible to pass any bit of public legislation, to create any least scrap of public policy, without it passing through the hands of Christians. Every bill, every law, every ordinance, every legal decision, has Christian input.

Further, every corporation in America likely has a majority of Christians on its board of directors. Every school principal in America – and every teacher – is about 20 times more likely to be a Christian than any other religion. No matter where you live in the United States, it’s a good bet you can walk to a Christian church.

And while we’re at it, since we’re talking about a shooting here, let’s ask ourselves who owns most of the guns in the U.S.? Bingo. Christians.

Christians are not downtrodden. NOT discriminated against. They own America, and everything in it. The rest of us can’t even sneeze in public without the Christian presence making itself known in a chorus of god-bless-yous.

Oh, but, you poor things, do please rush to unite under the banner of Jesus Christ. Huddle together for safety against the small, powerless, disorganized – but DANGEROUS! THREATENING! – non-Christian remainder of America.

And while you’re at it, why not pass some new laws limiting the freedom of the rest of us to speak up in public, to have equal rights and representation, to pursue science and free education?

After all, we do want you to feel safe.

Notice that there are no “F” words? No threats? What there is, is my own mild outrage at the ridiculousness of the idea that huge Christian majority in America is somehow persecuted by the small, fragmented fraction the rest of us make up. When anyone who is not a Christian in the U.S. knows the situation is exactly the reverse.

The comment appeared with a flag “Your comment is awaiting moderation,” which I certainly understand. But when I checked on the site yesterday, the comment had been deleted.

Hmm. I’ve seen this before. Look, if you’re a blogger, you either stand out in public and take whatever comes, or you’re quickly identified by the rest of us as a childish little weenie who can’t take the heat.

Controversy is part of what MAKES a blog interesting. It provides a spark that gets people interested in the lively give-and-take of open discussion.

If your blog opens up an arena in which that give-and-take can happen, you’re a successful blogger. Sure, if someone signs on and does nothing but throw tantrums, slinging F words and insults at everybody in sight, ban ‘em. But if you’re so thin-skinned you can’t take criticism or disagreement, however strongly worded, you’re like those paranoid malcontents who write anonymous letters to the newspaper, hoping to have their nutty say without being identified as the writer. You probably shouldn’t be a blogger.

So I signed back on the next day and offered this followup comment:

Deleting comments that disagree with you? Can't stand up to public critique, huh? Very courageous. You should be proud.

Nice exclusive little clique you've got here.

Next time I checked, THAT comment had been deleted.

Checking in today, I find this:

Why comments are closed: Over the last 3 days, I have received over a dozen comments from atheists attacking the content of the site. Therefore, effective immediately I am closing the comments.

I wonder if these individuals think that by attacking this site, and me personally, they are proving that God does not exist. Please pray for these misguided individuals who feel they must smear and attack Christians in order to make themselves feel superior.

Dan Wooding, that looks to me like a flat-out lie. But I expect no less from a nice Christian such as yourself. Can’t stand up to a little disagreement like an honest American, so you have to fall back on this too-typical fundamentalist Christian paranoia – the paranoia which is the very foundation of your website – and brand every American who doesn’t agree with you as an “atheist” and an “attacker.”

Dan, you’re probably a peach of a Christian, but you’re a lousy blogger, and if you think other people have no right to respond to the things you say, you’re not too hot at being an American either.

You’ve guaranteed that your blog will be an echo chamber for your own words, and not one new idea will flow into your safe little world from all those messy “others” who can’t see how wise and brilliant and RIGHT you are.

And good luck with that.