An Observation
I should probably be quicker on the draw with stuff like this, but I'm both lazy and rather busy and, more and more lately, a bit intimidated by posting anything remotely controversial. I used to relish it, as any number of folks in my FList can attest, but the arguing has gotten to be more and more of a burden lately, one I'm happy not to pick up.
But, well, I guess I will, because this has been on my mind for a while.
John Scalzi recently made much of the feelings of persecution by some Christians, coining a cute phrase in the bargain. For the most part, I agree with him. The erosion of privilege, which had been based on a Christian quasi-consensus, does not quite constitute persecution, however much it might offend tender sensibilities.
That said, I'd like first to point out that, though 76.5% of Americans self-identify as Christian, that's down 9 point from 10 years ago, and the trend is expected to continue. Christians, someday, will become an absolute minority in this country, though they've long been, at best, a political plurality. Significantly less than that 76.5% are committed Christians who vote some kind of Christian party line--and the understanding of what is a Christian party line varies as much as the fractious identity of American Christianity. Sometime in the next ten years, the bare majority that self-identifying Protestants hold in America will disappear and that, really, has been what dominated the past 230 years.
In fact, what most people identify as the major motive force of conservative politics these days comes from a handful of Protestant Christian denominations numbering no more than 10 million total people in the US today. And that's total total, not total voters. They've achieved power on the back of a coalition of loosely like-minded voters, though those denominations quietly regard the likes of Catholics and Mormons as apostates at best, devil-worshipers and idolaters at worst.
So let's come full circle. One of the things that cements this coalition is the perception of persecution. Now, do fifty-five percent of all voters really get worked up over the Ten Commandments being removed from this or that court house? No, but those who really are pissed off about it weave it in as part of a larger tapestry of "persecution," including things like abortion and gay marriage, but most importantly, ridicule.
Ridicule?
"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me." Matthew 5:11, spoken by Christ himself. For many, the ridicule Christians endure for their belief in Christ is a precursor to more egregious abuse and limitation. This theme weaves its way through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, and the progression is usually the same: ridicule and scorn is followed with a more naked persecution.
And, personally, I can't fault most Christians for feeling ridiculed and marginalized.
My impression of the coverage of a few recent stories, such as the Gospel of Judas and the Tiktaalik creature (the transitional fish-with-legs fossil) seems to be a lot less even-handed than I would expect out of an objective news media. (Scalzi goes so far as to point out the evident snarkiness in Time and Newsweek's coverage of the Tiktaalik creature. Personally, I'm no fan of Intelligent Design-as-competing scientific theory, but I think the snarkiness is uncalled-for and helps reinforce the ridicule/persecution impression.)
And that's not even considering popular media. Jon Stewart once protested, on the Daily Show, that Hollywood has no power. They're not Congress or the President and they can't make law. But I think that's deliberately rather disingenuous. After all, from where does Congress and the Prez derive their powers? And for the people, where do they get most of their information about the world around them?
For all the notional majority Christians have in this country, there is a distinct disparity in the quantity of media that portrays a positive Christian image, and most of what is out there is specifically for consumption by Christians. The last positive portrayal of a sincerely Christian character, that I can recall, was in the otherwise terrible Raising Helen. Oh, wait, Aunt May from Spider-Man, that's right. All we see of her faith is praying the Lord's Prayer before bed one time, but I guess that's enough.
Most of the time, the religious convictions of movie and televisions characters are never touched upon, but when Christians are presented, they tend to be caricatures, rather than actual people. Catholic priests, especially, but that's a pet peeve that I won't go into further.
At any rate, I mean mostly to say that I don't find it surprising that Christians feel persecuted. Yes, Christians are still free to worship as they please, and all the rest, but that's really only official persecution.
Now, for my part, though I understand the feelings, I don't understand why Christians protest the ridicule and persecution that they feel, since, as Matthew 5:12 says, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
But I guess I've rarely understood why the Evangelicals and their ilk do much of what they do.
But, well, I guess I will, because this has been on my mind for a while.
John Scalzi recently made much of the feelings of persecution by some Christians, coining a cute phrase in the bargain. For the most part, I agree with him. The erosion of privilege, which had been based on a Christian quasi-consensus, does not quite constitute persecution, however much it might offend tender sensibilities.
That said, I'd like first to point out that, though 76.5% of Americans self-identify as Christian, that's down 9 point from 10 years ago, and the trend is expected to continue. Christians, someday, will become an absolute minority in this country, though they've long been, at best, a political plurality. Significantly less than that 76.5% are committed Christians who vote some kind of Christian party line--and the understanding of what is a Christian party line varies as much as the fractious identity of American Christianity. Sometime in the next ten years, the bare majority that self-identifying Protestants hold in America will disappear and that, really, has been what dominated the past 230 years.
In fact, what most people identify as the major motive force of conservative politics these days comes from a handful of Protestant Christian denominations numbering no more than 10 million total people in the US today. And that's total total, not total voters. They've achieved power on the back of a coalition of loosely like-minded voters, though those denominations quietly regard the likes of Catholics and Mormons as apostates at best, devil-worshipers and idolaters at worst.
So let's come full circle. One of the things that cements this coalition is the perception of persecution. Now, do fifty-five percent of all voters really get worked up over the Ten Commandments being removed from this or that court house? No, but those who really are pissed off about it weave it in as part of a larger tapestry of "persecution," including things like abortion and gay marriage, but most importantly, ridicule.
Ridicule?
"Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you because of me." Matthew 5:11, spoken by Christ himself. For many, the ridicule Christians endure for their belief in Christ is a precursor to more egregious abuse and limitation. This theme weaves its way through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, and the progression is usually the same: ridicule and scorn is followed with a more naked persecution.
And, personally, I can't fault most Christians for feeling ridiculed and marginalized.
My impression of the coverage of a few recent stories, such as the Gospel of Judas and the Tiktaalik creature (the transitional fish-with-legs fossil) seems to be a lot less even-handed than I would expect out of an objective news media. (Scalzi goes so far as to point out the evident snarkiness in Time and Newsweek's coverage of the Tiktaalik creature. Personally, I'm no fan of Intelligent Design-as-competing scientific theory, but I think the snarkiness is uncalled-for and helps reinforce the ridicule/persecution impression.)
And that's not even considering popular media. Jon Stewart once protested, on the Daily Show, that Hollywood has no power. They're not Congress or the President and they can't make law. But I think that's deliberately rather disingenuous. After all, from where does Congress and the Prez derive their powers? And for the people, where do they get most of their information about the world around them?
For all the notional majority Christians have in this country, there is a distinct disparity in the quantity of media that portrays a positive Christian image, and most of what is out there is specifically for consumption by Christians. The last positive portrayal of a sincerely Christian character, that I can recall, was in the otherwise terrible Raising Helen. Oh, wait, Aunt May from Spider-Man, that's right. All we see of her faith is praying the Lord's Prayer before bed one time, but I guess that's enough.
Most of the time, the religious convictions of movie and televisions characters are never touched upon, but when Christians are presented, they tend to be caricatures, rather than actual people. Catholic priests, especially, but that's a pet peeve that I won't go into further.
At any rate, I mean mostly to say that I don't find it surprising that Christians feel persecuted. Yes, Christians are still free to worship as they please, and all the rest, but that's really only official persecution.
Now, for my part, though I understand the feelings, I don't understand why Christians protest the ridicule and persecution that they feel, since, as Matthew 5:12 says, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
But I guess I've rarely understood why the Evangelicals and their ilk do much of what they do.