Persecution Complex

[vulcanlogician]

I assume the people who don't want to bake cakes have spent very little time murdering folks who disagree and ruling the western world.

People are individuals, and should be treated as such.  A 21st Century Christian isn't responsible for all acts of Christianity in the history of the religion.  That's just a dumb idea.

In the same vein, I don't feel responsible for atheism stuff in the USSR, slavery in the US, or whatever bullshit my ancestors were up to in yesteryear.  None of it has anything to do with me.

Its like with vulcan's other thread titled "hug a theist" where it starts of by talking about the horrible things theists of a long long time ago have done, as if it applies to us.

Fair enough. Fair enough. At least concerning any blame falling on modern day Christians concerning events that transpired in the dark ages.

The gripe was more aimed at the idea of Christendom than Christianity. My real beef is not with Christians in general so much as proponents of evangelism who believe that the more Christianity is in power, the better off everybody is. Christianity dropped the ball when it had power. Those who want Christians to influence government are often nostalgic of those days when said ball was dropped.

The shoe might not fit you, Cinderella, but that doesn't mean there isn't some evil bitch standing next to a pumpkin who's a perfect size 9.

Evangelicals make up a significant portion of the electorate. If you listen to them (and I do), they make it sound like things were so much better when Christians were in power. They think they are being persecuted like no no other class of people in America. You don't even have to go that far back in history to find Christians supporting sodomy laws, which were little more than an excuse to put gays in jail at a whim. If Christians are going to complain about their situation in contemporary times, it would be nice if they at least acknowledged how poorly they treated atheists and gays when the shoe was on the other foot.

In my "Hug a theist" thread I made passing mention of historical atrocities but also said that Christians have "stood in the way of intellectual progress, and hindered minorities trying to attain civil rights..." Contemporary Christians are guilty of these things. Some Christians still want to push design in science classrooms. Some Christians still want to reverse gay marriage. Again, not you... not all Christians. In the future I'll make it a point to direct my commentary directly at fundamentalists/evangelicals when they are the intended target of my criticisms.