Oh dear! The high school football coach can no longer say a prayer over the loud speaker system at the end of the game. Christians are certainly being persecuted in this country. Aside from the fact that Jesus told people not to pray in public like the hypocrites, but to pray in a closet (Matthew 6:5–6)… And aside from the fact that public employees (like coaches at public schools) are constitutionally-prohibited from leading prayers… And aside from the fact that we live in a religiously plural society…
Give me a break! I have spent the last couple of days reading about real religious persecution, as part of an article I am working on. I invite all Christians (and anyone else, for that matter) to read the following reports to learn what persecution actually entails: U.S. State Department Report on Religious Freedom for 2014 http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm#wrapper U.S. Commission on International Freedom Annual Report for 2015 http://www.uscirf.gov/reports-briefs/annual-report/2015-annual-report Human Rights Watch Annual Report for 2015 https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2015 I am torn over whether or not to provide the gruesome details about what happens to members of Falun Gong in China; or what happens to Baha’is in Iran; or what happens to Muslims in Burma; or what happens to Jews in France; or what happens to Jehovah’s Witnesses almost anywhere in the world. The claim that (some) American Christians make that they are being persecuted is not only preposterous, but is outrageous—I’m tempted to say despicable—in the face of actual persecution. The Founders of the U.S. attempted to mediate between differing religious beliefs by prohibiting religious tests for public office. The issue wasn’t Christians versus Muslims: it was Anglicans versus Baptists, Congregationalists versus Quakers, and pretty much everyone versus Catholics and Jews. They also wrote into the First Amendment that your free exercise of religion ends when it is forced, by the state, on other individuals. That’s what the non-establishment clause means: freedom of religion, in this country, is not absolute. So the next time you’re upset because some sales clerk didn’t say “Merry Christmas” to you, I’d like to ask that you respond in a friendly manner; and then say a prayer in your heart for the Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned in 20-foot metal shipping containers in Eritrea. Comments are closed.
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Author Rebecca Moore is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies at San Diego State University. She is currently Reviews Editor for Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions and Co-Director of The Jonestown Institute. Archives
December 2021
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