Persecution complexes

I thought of blogging about the horrific situation of Christians in Iraq, but then Mad Priest already did that.

You hear some American fundamentalists whine about how Christians are "persecuted" in America. Do they even fathom what that word means? Do they have any idea what Christians face in Iraq, or Algeria, or Vietnam? Or in any number of places where professing your religion can get you arrested or killed?

"Persecution" does not mean "People get angry with me when I proclaim the U.S. a Christian nation." Persecution does not mean "I have to refrain from using public funds and public spaces to prostelytize for my own flavor of Christianity." "Persecution" does not mean "It's awful that I am forced to deal with people who say 'Happy Holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas.'" Heck, it doesn't even mean "People tell me I'm silly for believing in a miracle that happened 2000 years ago" or "People get mad because they think Christianity is responsible for most of the institutionalized evil in the world since Costantine," even though that hurts a lot. (I know, I've faced those myself.)

Persecution means having your priest abducted and killed because the Pope made some less than judicious remarks for which he has since apologized (which were taken out of context, but which were not that smart to begin with). Persecution means having your daughter raped on her way to school because she is a Christian. Persecution means having to hide your Bibles -- or not have them at all -- because they are dangerous contraband. Persecution means being beaten or murdered for holding church services.

Persecution means something as simple as wearing a cross becomes a political statement.

I would never wish real persecution upon American Christians who feel "persecuted." I just wish some of them would look around at the larger world a bit.



Update: Yet another case of real persecution, this time from India, as passed along by the Mad Priest. Gee, nothing like having a bunch of people beat you up for your religious beliefs and then you being charged because of it.