Where there is the expectation of privilege, equality will be seen as persecution. America’s evangelicals are very quick to claim they’re being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others, and they are the first people who would persecute others if given the opportunity. If you want to see what genuine persecution looks like . . . hand power to the preachers.
I was in a Facebook comments section once and remarked that it's awesome how being gay is now considered not only much more acceptable, but also cool. Two men immediately started laying into me, carrying on like this was somehow an attack on their straightness and why can't people just leave them alone. In a misguided attempt at making them think I said well when was the last time you were beaten up or refused employment because you were straight? One of them got even angrier and called me a "pretentious cry-bully". I had to look that up; ironically it means someone who bullies others by playing the victim.
I never even suggested that I was gay myself. And I'm not; I'm aromantic asexual. At least I got my share of unprovoked hatred over my own orientation when dear old J.K.Rowling suddenly declared that she hates asexuals now? Either way, I vote we call these morons cry-bullies.
Indeed, the uniqueness of each individual snowflake is a marvel of the physical laws that make their varied structure possible. Christian flakes, on the other hand, are just plain tiresome in their sameness!
The single most politically powerful group of people in the United States for years is now insisting that they're more persecuted by the government they run than any other group ever in history.
I believe I once heard of a lie around that same magnitude referred to as the full Pinocchio. The divorce from the real world here is honestly breathtaking. Some Christian churches/denominations here in the US have the sort of wealth that if, for whatever reason, they went bankrupt it might well break the nation's economy for years; but they're still insisting they're the victims here. Christians have been molding politics in the US for 250+ years, but somehow insist that the government is the problem. They've determined who can and cannot be in political office from the President down the the local dog catcher, but still claim they're the sacrificial lambs.
Allow me to spell it out more clearly: Christians, if you think you are persecuted victims, you should be looking at yourselves. The rest of us don't have enough political capital to accomplish that sort of nationwide victimization you seem to think you're suffering under. This is the bed you made as Christians, and quite frankly, it's high time you looked in a mirror and did some intense examination of your own choices and attitude.
Catholics deserve it. They're every bit as insane as evangelicals. Transubstantiation? Going in a box and mumbling to a man in a dress so you can be absolved of the evil you do? (I was raised catholic)
Jesus told them that they would be blessed by him if they were persecuted in his name. So of course, they want to be persecuted. Otherwise they would be disobeying Jesus. And that would end them up in hell. And that would be uncomfortably hot.
For the entirety of my life, I have been listening to Christians say that there should be laws that make my way of loving a crime. I should be excluded from the military because I might offend some straight boys— the very same straight boys that I have had to learn to negotiate around since I was a little boy less they figure out that I’m queer, or worse, figure out that they are. They have told me my family, life, love, children, faith, freedom, and assets are simply not as important as theirs are, and they have passed laws to make sure that I know that. They have called me a threat to children, even though easily 10 times a week, we hear about child molesting pastors, priests, and professional Christians, and ten times a year— if you look really hard for it— someone who might possibly be gay. After all, Professional Christian and really- truly-absolutely-heterosexual-except-he’s-not alan chambers was arrested a few weeks ago for soliciting a 14-year-old boy.
I weighed Christianity in the balance 60 years ago, and found it wanting. And in that 60 years, professional christians have done everything in their power to make the lives of gay people as unpleasant, difficult, dangerous, and expensive as they possibly could. In short, nothing in the last 60 years has convinced me that these so-called Christians are any better than they ought to be.
They are not. Intellectually bankrupt, morally depraved, humanly corrupt, spiritually destitute, dishonest as a Trump in a money store, empathetic as a poor little billionaire.
This isn’t all of them, but it is the loudest of them. And it is the ones that seek power the most. One would almost wish their Jesus and their heaven was real. I would love to see the look on their faces when he says to them “getaway from me. I never knew you.”
True story: I used to confront regularly a true and vicious anti-gay Christobigot. I pointed out all of her hypocrisies, and said exactly the same thing: “I would love to see the look on your face…” one of her defenders, and actually intelligent but at the same time quite derogatory woman, was horrified that I said that I would love to see that. That just proved what a horrible person I was. And yet::
Not one word about the horrible things, the unending lies, the dripping contempt that the christobigot dripped like an asshole with too much prune juice coming at it.
You’ll know where Christians by our love. Tra la la la la.
Well, the good news is these number have drastically decreased over the past 20 years. It took us a while to get there, but I think another 20 and anti-SSM feelings in the US will be about as prevalent as anti-mixed marriage feelings.
Full props to all the out gay folk (like you) who bore the brunt of it. But you did bring about change. And IMO this isn't merely Plank's "[acceptance] advances one funeral at a time". This was changing minds. I can tell you from personal experience that all the baby boomers in my family got more liberal precisely from knowing gay friends and couples. So pat yourself on the back and recognize that while we'll never be fully rid of such bigots, they've gone from majority to minority in your lifetime, and will likely go from that to insignificant minority in another generation.
Thanks. That’s pretty much been my mission for the entirety of my adult life. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are about it. And maybe the current efforts of the religious right will be their last hurrah.
But as Jefferson or Adams observed, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. And I don’t trust them as far as a mythical Jesus could toss them by their underactive gonads
I’m fine with it if they limit themselves to taking themselves out. It’s when they want to include the rest of it in their party that I have a problem.
"…and [sic] actually intelligent but at the same time quite derogatory woman, was horrified that I said that I would love to see that. That just proved what a horrible person I was."
My comeback to statements like that is "Why? How many times have I heard people like you take delight in the tought of people they don't like burning in hell forever?"
Your response is of course the correct one. I’ve seen this myself. There are actually engravings of Rich Renaissance people looking down on the circles of hell and having a good time watching everybody burn.
The persecution complex is strong with them. They see persecution everywhere, and when you scratch the surface, they define persecution as any time they receive the slightest bit of criticism. They seem to believe that it is persecution if another Christian disagrees with them. They see persecution when someone who is not them gets the same privilege they get.
To those used to privilege, equality seems like persecution. Christian Fucking Privilege needs to end.
"Christian Nationalism requires a permanent sense of victimhood."
A perfect summary of the Jesus Delusion. Jesus: the almighty, omnipotent, omniscient deity who needs his believers to defend him from all the mean bullies.
So ... the liars that lie about everything else now want to marshal mendacities about anti-Christian discrimination. "Okay, Jan." These are the same people who will gladly if surreptitiously discriminate against blacks or other people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, any time they get a chance, but will scream bloody murder when they mistakenly assert that the law discriminates against their perceived "right" to discriminate. And now they want to immortalize their butt-hurt in celluloid. 🤦♂️
How many times have we said it? "Every accusation is a confession."
The Christian Nazionalists think they are being persecuted if they aren't allowed to persecute everyone that doesn't strictly conform to their narrow ideas.
I'd love for there to be a movie treating these guys the same way they treat others. It would make their protests of Golden Compass look mild in comparison.
In the given example of "persecution", if the guards had instead denied entry to an individual wearing a pro-choice t-shirt, they would have wondered why the t-shirt wearer wasn't arrested for disturbing the peace. If it wasn't for double standards, the would have no standards at all.
...and also that the toddler-in-chief's planned closure of the Center, on the grounds that nobody of consequence wanted to perform there with his name crapping up the building's facade, must be halted pending further litigation.
Where there is the expectation of privilege, equality will be seen as persecution. America’s evangelicals are very quick to claim they’re being persecuted any time they are prevented from forcing their religion on others, and they are the first people who would persecute others if given the opportunity. If you want to see what genuine persecution looks like . . . hand power to the preachers.
They see persecution where someone publicly disagrees with them on something minor.
I was in a Facebook comments section once and remarked that it's awesome how being gay is now considered not only much more acceptable, but also cool. Two men immediately started laying into me, carrying on like this was somehow an attack on their straightness and why can't people just leave them alone. In a misguided attempt at making them think I said well when was the last time you were beaten up or refused employment because you were straight? One of them got even angrier and called me a "pretentious cry-bully". I had to look that up; ironically it means someone who bullies others by playing the victim.
I never even suggested that I was gay myself. And I'm not; I'm aromantic asexual. At least I got my share of unprovoked hatred over my own orientation when dear old J.K.Rowling suddenly declared that she hates asexuals now? Either way, I vote we call these morons cry-bullies.
Barry Goldwater did warn us.
Ahh, the fragility of Christian Nationalists!
They make snowflakes seem structurally sound!
One BIG difference, T....
Snowflakes are expected to be unique, not identical.
Indeed, the uniqueness of each individual snowflake is a marvel of the physical laws that make their varied structure possible. Christian flakes, on the other hand, are just plain tiresome in their sameness!
Tiresome, rigid, whiny, shrill....
🎯🎯🎯
...dull, monotonous, boring,
The single most politically powerful group of people in the United States for years is now insisting that they're more persecuted by the government they run than any other group ever in history.
I believe I once heard of a lie around that same magnitude referred to as the full Pinocchio. The divorce from the real world here is honestly breathtaking. Some Christian churches/denominations here in the US have the sort of wealth that if, for whatever reason, they went bankrupt it might well break the nation's economy for years; but they're still insisting they're the victims here. Christians have been molding politics in the US for 250+ years, but somehow insist that the government is the problem. They've determined who can and cannot be in political office from the President down the the local dog catcher, but still claim they're the sacrificial lambs.
Allow me to spell it out more clearly: Christians, if you think you are persecuted victims, you should be looking at yourselves. The rest of us don't have enough political capital to accomplish that sort of nationwide victimization you seem to think you're suffering under. This is the bed you made as Christians, and quite frankly, it's high time you looked in a mirror and did some intense examination of your own choices and attitude.
A very good analysis. Thank you
I'm willing to bet there isn't a single mention anywhere in this movie of Christians persecuting other Christians when we were British colonies.
They still do that shit to Catholics, don’t they?
Only when they don't need the votes- same as the Mormons.
Catholics deserve it. They're every bit as insane as evangelicals. Transubstantiation? Going in a box and mumbling to a man in a dress so you can be absolved of the evil you do? (I was raised catholic)
Same, and I was using them as an example of Christians hating on other Christians.
Shush. We hold the knives behind our back until 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 we're in control of the government.
Source of their claims: “trust me bro”
Ha, I had someone use that line on me when what I'd said was in fact entirely correct. I answered "source: I read a goddamn book".
Jesus told them that they would be blessed by him if they were persecuted in his name. So of course, they want to be persecuted. Otherwise they would be disobeying Jesus. And that would end them up in hell. And that would be uncomfortably hot.
For the entirety of my life, I have been listening to Christians say that there should be laws that make my way of loving a crime. I should be excluded from the military because I might offend some straight boys— the very same straight boys that I have had to learn to negotiate around since I was a little boy less they figure out that I’m queer, or worse, figure out that they are. They have told me my family, life, love, children, faith, freedom, and assets are simply not as important as theirs are, and they have passed laws to make sure that I know that. They have called me a threat to children, even though easily 10 times a week, we hear about child molesting pastors, priests, and professional Christians, and ten times a year— if you look really hard for it— someone who might possibly be gay. After all, Professional Christian and really- truly-absolutely-heterosexual-except-he’s-not alan chambers was arrested a few weeks ago for soliciting a 14-year-old boy.
I weighed Christianity in the balance 60 years ago, and found it wanting. And in that 60 years, professional christians have done everything in their power to make the lives of gay people as unpleasant, difficult, dangerous, and expensive as they possibly could. In short, nothing in the last 60 years has convinced me that these so-called Christians are any better than they ought to be.
They are not. Intellectually bankrupt, morally depraved, humanly corrupt, spiritually destitute, dishonest as a Trump in a money store, empathetic as a poor little billionaire.
This isn’t all of them, but it is the loudest of them. And it is the ones that seek power the most. One would almost wish their Jesus and their heaven was real. I would love to see the look on their faces when he says to them “getaway from me. I never knew you.”
True story: I used to confront regularly a true and vicious anti-gay Christobigot. I pointed out all of her hypocrisies, and said exactly the same thing: “I would love to see the look on your face…” one of her defenders, and actually intelligent but at the same time quite derogatory woman, was horrified that I said that I would love to see that. That just proved what a horrible person I was. And yet::
Not one word about the horrible things, the unending lies, the dripping contempt that the christobigot dripped like an asshole with too much prune juice coming at it.
You’ll know where Christians by our love. Tra la la la la.
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑠𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒.
Well, the good news is these number have drastically decreased over the past 20 years. It took us a while to get there, but I think another 20 and anti-SSM feelings in the US will be about as prevalent as anti-mixed marriage feelings.
Full props to all the out gay folk (like you) who bore the brunt of it. But you did bring about change. And IMO this isn't merely Plank's "[acceptance] advances one funeral at a time". This was changing minds. I can tell you from personal experience that all the baby boomers in my family got more liberal precisely from knowing gay friends and couples. So pat yourself on the back and recognize that while we'll never be fully rid of such bigots, they've gone from majority to minority in your lifetime, and will likely go from that to insignificant minority in another generation.
Thanks. That’s pretty much been my mission for the entirety of my adult life. I wish I could be as optimistic as you are about it. And maybe the current efforts of the religious right will be their last hurrah.
But as Jefferson or Adams observed, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. And I don’t trust them as far as a mythical Jesus could toss them by their underactive gonads
Also: extinction bursts by the fundies/evangelists have got to be really bad.
I’m fine with it if they limit themselves to taking themselves out. It’s when they want to include the rest of it in their party that I have a problem.
"…and [sic] actually intelligent but at the same time quite derogatory woman, was horrified that I said that I would love to see that. That just proved what a horrible person I was."
My comeback to statements like that is "Why? How many times have I heard people like you take delight in the tought of people they don't like burning in hell forever?"
Your response is of course the correct one. I’ve seen this myself. There are actually engravings of Rich Renaissance people looking down on the circles of hell and having a good time watching everybody burn.
Typo apology - "thought"
𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑒𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑢𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑢𝑚 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 𝑟𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦.
The persecution complex is strong with them. They see persecution everywhere, and when you scratch the surface, they define persecution as any time they receive the slightest bit of criticism. They seem to believe that it is persecution if another Christian disagrees with them. They see persecution when someone who is not them gets the same privilege they get.
To those used to privilege, equality seems like persecution. Christian Fucking Privilege needs to end.
"Christian Nationalism requires a permanent sense of victimhood."
A perfect summary of the Jesus Delusion. Jesus: the almighty, omnipotent, omniscient deity who needs his believers to defend him from all the mean bullies.
So ... the liars that lie about everything else now want to marshal mendacities about anti-Christian discrimination. "Okay, Jan." These are the same people who will gladly if surreptitiously discriminate against blacks or other people of color and the LGBTQ+ community, any time they get a chance, but will scream bloody murder when they mistakenly assert that the law discriminates against their perceived "right" to discriminate. And now they want to immortalize their butt-hurt in celluloid. 🤦♂️
How many times have we said it? "Every accusation is a confession."
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑦𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦, 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑𝑙𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑔𝑢𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦’𝑟𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠.
The Christian Nazionalists think they are being persecuted if they aren't allowed to persecute everyone that doesn't strictly conform to their narrow ideas.
I'd love for there to be a movie treating these guys the same way they treat others. It would make their protests of Golden Compass look mild in comparison.
In the given example of "persecution", if the guards had instead denied entry to an individual wearing a pro-choice t-shirt, they would have wondered why the t-shirt wearer wasn't arrested for disturbing the peace. If it wasn't for double standards, the would have no standards at all.
They literally have a persecution fetish mixed with main character syndrome. I wish they were self aware to see how cringe they are.
Think I'll wait for Noah Lugeons and the gang at God Awful Movies' review. Anything Kevin Sorbo-adjacent will get a hilarious send up.
I’ve not heard of this podcast but I need to get on board: “if god existed, his PR couldn't possibly be this bad” 😂
Have read his book, it proves how bad they can be.
Every accusation by christers is a confession.
In memory of Ed Brayton:
By Dawn’s Early Light, Electric Boogaloo
OT- Judge rules that Chump's illegal piss-marking of the Kennedy Center was, in fact, illegal: https://apnews.com/article/trump-kennedy-center-renovations-closure-1857159baf8db4692324acb7ef62f249
...and also that the toddler-in-chief's planned closure of the Center, on the grounds that nobody of consequence wanted to perform there with his name crapping up the building's facade, must be halted pending further litigation.
A judge also nixed that $1.776 billion slush fund! Stuff just not going Donnie's way lately!
Waiting for that massive stroke...any day now....
pleezepleezepleezepleezepleezepleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze
There's always Cuba.