‘Help, help, I’m being repressed!’: How conservatives make a mockery of the oppression of religious

[DonViejo]

‘Help, help, I’m being repressed!’: How conservatives make a mockery of the oppression of religious minorities

Some Christians equate not getting their own way in the political sphere with brutal and unjust persecution

Adam Lee
theguardian.com, Sunday 17 August 2014 09.12 EDT

n much of the rest of the world, religious persecution involves forced conversion, mob attacks and genocide by violence or by neglect. In America, your employee might be able to use the health insurance for which you pay a part of the premium to get an IUD.

American conservatives who inveigh against the erosion of their religious liberties are crying that they’re the oppressed minority: not because they face forced conversion or death, but because they’re not getting their own way on same-sex marriage or the Obamacare contraception mandate (though the US supreme court’s conservative, male majority did side with them in the Hobby Lobby contraceptive access case).

But actual minority religious groups – including Christian groups – who face genuine persecution, cast American Christians’ claims of persecution in a ridiculous and embarrassing light.

The eyes of the world have been on Iraq’s Mount Sinjar, where members of the Yazidi religious minority were besieged and threatened with death by the brutal fighters of the Islamic State, for more than a week. Though American airstrikes and Kurdish militia cleared a way for 20,000 to escape, others remain trapped and in need of help.

more
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/17/conservative-christian-oppression-religious-minorities

[annabanana]

1. good post

and right on the mark, this article....

[raccoon]

2. K&R bookmarked to read entire article later. nt

[phylny]

3. It's beyond ridiculous.

I'm a bleeding heart, liberal Christian and I had a client I worked with who talked about "The War on Christmas and Christians" and I responded to her, "You have to be kidding. Christmas day is a NATIONAL HOLIDAY! Where's the war?"

Her response was that when she was teaching in Florida, she couldn't teach about her views in public school.

I beat my head against the wall sometimes. I do.