An epic misunderstanding

I think that this is the most profound misunderstanding we've had in months! I do *not* think that Christians are persecuted because of Prop 8*. I was trying to get your thoughts about the foo-foo-rah about the aftermath. But since it seems that you didn't know about the foo-foo-rah... I'll have to tell you a bit about it to explain.

Prop 8 was pushed heavily by the church, and funded thereby. Not only Protestants, but the Catholic church and the Mormon church heavily funded the "Protect Marriage" campaign. No surprises there, I'm sure.

In the aftermath of the "Yes" vote, the homosexual community has risen up, and there have been numerous marches against large, visible churches, particularly the Mormon church. I hear that somewhere in Castro, activists broke into a church service and threw condoms.

Because of this, and because of individual unpleasantness like "Yes" groups being flipped off or sworn at and people being beaten up (again, very individually), a lot of the blogosphere is crying "persecution". The only blog I read that countered this thinking was the blog on revelife, which said, "um... guys... this isn't persecution. You don't know what you're talking about".

So the question I was trying to ask was, "Why do you think Christians in the blogosphere are crying persecution, and do you have any thoughts about Christian persecution in the social sphere to add".

I have a number of thoughts on this issue, which I'd put down quickly before, but would like to expand on at length. I was gonna blog this separately, but might as well put it here and copy/paste, since I've not managed to even start this essay separately.

1) We know that persecution has to come to the Church as a sign of the End Times, and most of the conservative protestants who would take an interest in the one issue take interest in the other. I know I want to go Home, want the Bridegroom to return, so of course I take all signs hopefully - even the ones that mean personal inconvenience.

2) My husband brought this one up. Most people of my generation who live in the West have absolutely no idea about what real hardship is. We don't know about war, we don't know about violence, we don't know about any of that on a PERSONAL level, no matter how many bloody videogames we play or how much TV news we watch.

3) We know that there are martyrs to Christ right now in other parts of the world, and we feel vaguely guilty about not being part of that movement. It's not particularly comfortable, knowing that you're the beginning of the church of Laodicea.

4) America was formed by Protestants. For four-hundred years, protestant Christianity has been the approved of norm. "Christian" used to be a synonym for "good/nice" in the same way that "white" used to be a synonym for "pleasant/civilized/kind". The former word didn't have anything to do with the person's religious associations any more than the latter word had to do with the absence of a tan. The dominant paradigm of Christian = good is that hardwired into our culture. (Which of course it OUGHT to equate, but that's another post we've covered often). So, when people who were raised to go to church and potlucks and be 10% more modest than the world at large suddently aren't "good" by default anymore - it's freaky.

I do know that individual Christians are being persecuted in America for their religious beliefs. My OB/GYN is... I wrote about him before. There are pharamacists who are. There are city clerks who got fired. *That* is persecution. There always have been people who have lost jobs because they wouldn't be dishonest. There always will be people who will lose friends, whose families will be permanently at odds because they follow Christ. We were promised that, it shouldn't be a surprise. Being the target of marches is *not* persecution.

Eyes open, we see the tide change and turn against Christian = nice. Eyes open, we see what that means, and will mean. But we are grasping at what the world will be like in ten years, or five - not what it is today. And I think we *are* dragging the word persecution down into non-meaning when we use it today, even as my emotions are with those who are doing so.

Why do YOU think we're doing that? Have you seen it for yourself? Thoughts? I think the Western Church is going to have a BIG "come to Jesus meeting" (Southern expression) when we are actually facing real hardship for our beliefs.

*Prop 8 defines marriage in California as only between a man and a woman. We voted this into law in 2000, the Supreme Court of Cali overturned it this Spring, and then prop 8 made it part of our state's constitution. Hope that clarifies.

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I am very sorry to hear that you're still in mourning for your dog. I agree with your belief that animals were certainly not meant for just food and work, I think they were supposed to be much more than that. Glad to hear that your other lady is doing better. Stitches are no fun!