I thought this was an interesting analysis of the reasons many evangelicals believe they're persecuted.

http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/heres-why-why-right-wing-christians-think-they-are-americas-most-persecuted/

"A recent Pew study found that white American Evangelical Christians think they experience more discrimination than Blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, Atheists or Jews."

"In the case of Christianity, the theology of persecution serves to give the faithful hope. It inspires persistence in the face of hardship, including the many hardships that life brings on all of us through no fault of our own. But it has also blinded generations of believers to the possibility that sometimes the hardships they face are due not to their faith or evildoers hating Jesus, but to the fact that they hit first. And sometimes the bewildering hostility they perceive may simply be something that the theology of persecution set them up to expect, whether it is there or not."

you think you are being "persecuted" when you are no longer able to obtain it so easily...

Pretty much!

Exactly.

Great article. Growing up in a non-lds family with an evil, psycho older sister created the curse of persecution in my life. Like a black cloud following me everywhere I was persecuted for my religion from folks outside the cult, faith in God from folks inside the cult, for my intelligence from folks at work and in the cult, for my achievements from my narcissistic older brother, for my caring attitude from a so-called friend, for being white from many minorities, for being a woman, white and American when I worked at the UN, etc. It amazes me that anyone especially strangers would get so upset about who I was and what I did or didn't do. In today's culture and hyper politically correct world, being persecuted about something seems the norm. Whether persecution stems from anger, fear, deprivation or some perceived wrong, it will never vanish from global society; it's become a learned behavior, too ingrained to overcome as a society.

I'd like for anyone who feels persecuted to walk in my shoes on a typical 1973 day in a high school run by my father, the most hated man in town. Bullied every day. Punched, kicked, head slammed into lockers. I made the newspaper over it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 08:21PM by donbagley.

Sounds awful! Glad you made it through it!

It would be funny if it wasn't so destructive to society, that it's the literal belief in their beloved bible which is persecuting them.

Someone needs to let them know that the wolves are in the pulpits (which they won't hear from *their own* pulpit), and that criticism and persecution are not the same things.

Put these ideas together, and it's clear how any critique of such a brittle, easily-debunked belief system becomes "persecution."

Truth and facts "hurt" them.