Christians: Privileged or Persecuted?

According to a seminar at George Washington University, I've been getting "Christian Privilege" all my life! That's on top of my patriarchal, white, gluten/peanut tolerating privilege!

But is that really true? Or is it one of those #FirstWorldProblems things?

Globally, the idea of Christian privilege is pure sophistry. Christians are the recipients of up to 80 percent of religious persecution around the planet, making it the most persecuted religion in the world. Worldwide, Christianity is the opposite of privileged unless you consider it a privilege that the day your faith is discovered in Somalia is the day you die.

"But we're just talking about the evil empire – the United States, David."

OK – let's consider that. Christians in the United States don't blow people up; they don't riot in the streets; they do billions of dollars of good work. But they are still persecuted. Examples:

• Facebook refused an ad from a Catholic University because it was too violent – it pictured a statue of Jesus on the cross.
• Obama tried to force Hobby Lobby and The Little Sisters of the Poor to fund abortifacients against their Christian belief. Horrible people those "Little Sisters" – caring for the elderly poor and destitute as if they were family.
• In 2012, Chick-fil-A owner Truett Cathy said he supports biblical marriage: one man/one woman. The mainstream media went ballistic, and his restaurants were vandalized and received threats of violence from homosexual groups.
• A case is currently before the Supreme Court regarding a baker. The baker will sell homosexuals cupcakes, cakes and brownies, but, believing that same-sex marriage is a sin, won't bake cakes for their marriage ceremonies. So Colorado is trying to force him to violate his religious beliefs.

None of that sounds "privileged" to me. One could argue that Islam is much more privileged than Christianity these days.

After 9/11, when Muslim terrorists killed 3,000 Americans, U.S. leaders went to GREAT PAINS to distance Islam from those guys who claimed to kill in the name of Islam.
After 9/11:

• We were told we must watch out for "Islamophobia." "Phobia" refers to an irrational fear – like the fear that one of the 100 million Muslims sympathetic to terrorism might fly a plane into a building in the name of their religion. Crazy.
• George W. Bush, confronted with this act of terror, declared, "Islam means peace." Wrong. Who advised this guy? It's not a secret – Islam literally means, "submission." I guess "peace" sounded better.
• Both Bush and Obama refused to say the term, "radical Islam." It's not radical Christianity (they handle snakes) or radical Krishnas (used to accost you with love and bald heads in airports) or radical Girl Scout cookie pushers that are the problem.
• Obama invited dozens of real Islamic terror suspects to the White House.
• Obama criticized Christianity for the Crusades, which happened 1,000 years ago, but never criticized Islam for the terror of today.
• Trump banned travel from seven of 50 Muslim majority countries (they were terror incubators); the mainstream media was apoplectic calling it a "Muslim Travel Ban." Weakest ban in history since it left out 43 countries. "All Muslims are BANNED. Except for 86 percent of them. But it's BIG BEAUTIFUL BAN."

Bottom line?

• Islamic terrorists kill 3,000 Americans, and everyone runs around making sure no one offends Islam.
• Faithful Christians refuse to pay for abortion drugs or believe in biblical marriage, and they are the Taliban and must be destroyed!

So in one sense in 2018, anyone that goes around claiming Christians have special "privilege" is cloistered from reality.

But, I must admit, here in the U.S., every single person is a recipient of a specific type of Christian privilege. Here's the truth. The United States is:

• the greatest country in the world,
• the safest country in the world,
• the most prosperous country in the world,
• the most secure country in the world, and
• the freest country in all of history.

Why? Because of the Christian values and principles that informed its founding and governance. Christian values led to the forming of a country unlike any in history – dedicated to protecting the individual's right to freedom and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"But what about all the atrocities the U.S. has committed?" America has her flaws, but those flaws exist in spite of Christianity, when the U.S. has not fully embraced Christian values. And we work hard to right the wrongs: Slavery was the norm around the world, and we were the only nation in human history to fight a bloody civil war to end it.

In every election cycle, Barbra Streisand and her buddies declare they will leave the country if the conservative or Christian or Republican wins. And we wait, and we wait, but THEY NEVER LEAVE. THEY PROMISED! WHY WON'T THEY LEAVE?

Because there's nowhere better to go.

Instead of "Christian privilege" seminars, there ought to be seminars everywhere on how you should thank your lucky stars if you're an atheist, your lucky charms if you're a witch, or whoever it is you worship, that you live in a country that was founded by Christians and/or those who respected Christianity and the Bible. Because you are more blessed than the 95-plus percent of the world's population that lives elsewhere. You have freedom and liberty unlike any other people in history.

Posted with permission from ilikemycoffeeblack.com