Do you remember when Christians were persecuted in America for their faith? Neither do I. That’s because it’s never happened. But according to Tea Party Congressman Tim Scott of South Carolina, Christians are a relentlessly and mercilessly persecuted minority today, even though Christians dominate the American landscape.
While speaking to a Tea Party crowd in South Carolina on Monday, Patch.com reports that Scott claimed that Christians are “the greatest minority under assault today,” completely ignoring that Christians vastly outnumber and persecute the LGBT community and Muslims in the United States on an almost daily basis. But apparently Scott thinks that’s the other way around. I seem to recall that it was Christians throwing rocks at Islamic centers and preaching hate toward the Muslim community. I also recall all the hatred against homosexuals and the bullying aimed at them. Republicans in fact, have tried to make bullying the LGBT community legal as an exception in anti-bullying bills. Last time I checked there is no proposal to allow the bullying of Christians in any piece of legislation in any state in the country. The religious Right Wing is just playing the victim because they want to force Christianity on people despite the fact that the Constitution prohibits such a thing.
Scott also made it clear that the Tea Party has no intention of doing things for the American people because their goal is to bring down President Obama. ”The only thing we really have on our minds is beating Barack Obama in 2012,” Scott said. “The only way to get it done is for us to run through this primary process and be ready for the war of the centuries beginning in September. Make no mistake, what we’re doing right now is called pre-season. Get ready for the rumble.”
So, Scott and his Tea Party colleagues have declared war on the President and intend to make life miserable for the American citizenry until they vote the way Republicans want them to vote in November. Most people would call that treason and sabotage. I think the Tea Party and the Christian Right have played the victim long enough and have only proven how whiny, unpatriotic, uncaring, and full of crap they really are.
Truer words were never spoken.
If you define persecution as being unable to oppress, malign, and harm others without getting in trouble for it, well, yes, they’re persecuted. If you define persecution as being unable to live in the theocratic paradise you think is “right” for humanity… oh, excuse me, for Man… then, yes, they’re persecuted. If you define persecution as having to live in accordance to the rule of law, meaning the constitution and the laws of the land created by a representative government, instead of the rule of God’s law (as interpreted by whatever religious leader these people currently consider to be knowledgeable), then certainly, they’re persecuted. The majority of us, and most dictionaries, do not define persecution that way. For a person who is an ELECTED OFFICIAL, sworn to uphold the law of the land NOT the “law of God”, to agree with this twisted, self-pitying definition only shows that he is unfit to hold office. Hopefully his constituents will agree.
To a point at least, religion thrives on persecution. This explains part of the phenomenon, the other, scarier, aspect is that some people consider anything that prevents them from forcing their views on others as discrimination.
Claims like this are an insult to those who have truly been persecuted throughout history. It should be clear though, that there are plenty of Christians who do not persecute people of other faiths, backgrounds, or sexual identities.