Status Asthmaticus - as per someone's request...

Julie, this one's for you. It took me six hours and twelve cups of coffee to write and edit and tweak, so I hope you like it. *grin*


Q: In the United States of America, is Christianity an oppressed religion?

A: Short answer is a resounding "NO!" But, alas, as with everything, there are no simple black and white answers here. So, I will attempt to give a longer answer. This, as always, is my own personal opinion. This will also include many links, some of them to Wikipedia articles. Never let it be said that I didn't source my rants and ravings!

I personally have some experience with the kind of American Christianity that is always on the defensive, that always sees open hostility and derision on the part of America at large, and especially in an official or semi-official capacity. Back in the 1990s, you see, my mother subscribed to several weekly and monthly newsletters published by churches and Christian organizations, including one that came from James Dobson's Focus on the Family, and another from Immanuel Baptist Church, one of Wichita's premier fundamentalist churches. My mother encouraged me to read these things, and so I did, voraciously as a matter of fact, for many years. Eventually I grew disgusted with the whole lot of them, but it did give me a valuable insight into the fundamentalist worldview, especially since I was a Catholic kid for whom such things were essentially foreign. They opened up a new world to me, one that eventually I decided was hidebound, paranoid, and unconscionably intolerant.

Week in and week out these publications were filled with all manner of horror stories and fearful predictions that, looking back from more than a decade on, seem to be about as legitimate as the worst kind of UFO conspiracy-theory nonsense. But, there was no doubt then and there is none now that the folks who published and preached these things actually believed them quite sincerely. The world was, basically, a scary place to be if you were a fundamentalist American Christian in the 1990s: the whole world was dead-set against you, determined to stamp out your very existence, and not in some piecemeal or random way; oh no, on the contrary, there was a huge and diabolical worldwide conspiracy to crush True Biblical Christianity.

Does that sound crazy? I'm not using hyperbole here, folks. The America of ca. 1995 as portrayed in these newsletters was a place where Christianity (and by "Christianity" I mean here, narrowly, Fundamentalist Christianity since, significantly, these folks regarded themselves as the only "true" Christians and other claimants of the name to be rank apostates) was suffering under a constant, determined, and more than anything premeditated assault by a vast, Satanic conspiracy between the Clinton Administration, the Democratic Party, the liberal media, the abortion lobby, pagans, gays, academia, Hollywood, the United Nations, and atheists. All of these elements wished to establish what was various called the New World Order or the One World Government, which naturally required the extreme suppression or elimination of True Christianity from America.

The New World Order would achieve its goals by first strictly regulating and then criminalizing Christian activities such as prayer, communal worship, and the reading of Scripture; support for this was given by anecdotal evidence, generally involving isolated incidents such as a school disallowing prayer at a graduation ceremony, the removal of a Ten Commandments display from a government building, a Christian youth being ostracized or punished for wearing anti-abortion or anti-gay shirts to school, and other similar things. Each incident would be presented in the newsletters with shrill and elaborate analysis of how such-and-such incident was merely the latest in an unending line of diabolical attacks against Christianity by The Government/Hollywood Liberals/Secular Humanism or any of the other myriad elements in the vast left-wing conspiracy. Christians, this evidence would prove, were being systematically persecuted in schools and workplaces across America, while their very faith was being deliberately purged from public life. Soon, the newsletters predicted, Christians wouldn't even be able to read the Bible in their own homes, because, inevitably, the New World Order would declare it to be subversive and dangerous. Prayer in public would be punished by force of law, and churches would soon be closed under government orders.

Immanuel Baptist's newsletters added to this conspiratorial soup the specter of the imminent End Times, which sure as Jesus was white were a' comin' soon. The 90s were a glorious time for the kind of Christian eschatology that predicted the world would end very soon and constantly looked for signs of the coming Apocalypse, usually picking items out of the daily news and trying to fit them in with various verses of Scripture like a Jigsaw Puzzle of Doom. People spent their spiritual energies on trying to predict the events of "The Rapture" and "The Tribulation," and the Left Behind books sold like hotcakes.

Things have calmed down a bit since then on the eschatological front, but in Fundamentalist Christianity there remains a persistent sense of being an oppressed minority, a persecution complex that pits Us Vs. Them in starkly religious terms. The same True Christians are there, as are many of their old opponents (the Democratic Party, the liberal media, the abortion lobby, pagans, gays, academia, Hollywood, the United Nations, and atheists), to which can be added juicy new antagonists such as Osama bin Laden, radical Islam, and the Kyoto Protocol.

Fundamentalists regularly complain about how oppressed they are as Christians, about how they face opposition and even persecution to their faith in school, at work, by the government, when they go to the movies, as they turn on the television, if they drive by a gay pride parade, and at the hands of all manner of other real or perceived enemies. This opposition takes many forms. It may be a school administration that is seen as "too liberal" or which has disallowed things like See You at the Pole. It may be places such as San Francisco or Massachusetts legalizing gay marriage. It may be the fact that none of the nightly news anchors on the broadcast networks are True Christians. It may the very existence of Planned Parenthood. It could be anything.

What still amazes me is that these Christians believe these things in spite of the fact that:

1. We have had a Fundamentalist Christian president for the past seven and a half years, who has openly espoused a very Fundamentalist Christian worldview.
2. Christians make up an estimated 76.5% of the United States population.
3. In many parts of the country, especially in the Bible Belt, Christianity, and especially the Fundamentalist brand, is a de-facto established religion, and refusal to be a part of it is seen as ungodly defiance (see, for example, the case of John Doe and Jane Doe v. Wilson County School System).

Now, of course being the majority does not necessarily mean that oppression against you is not occurring (see: Apartheid), and I do not deny that there is some hostility towards Christianity in some places; I have witnessed some of this myself in college, where some elements have grouped all Christians together as being hateful, ignorant bigots and are not shy about voicing their opposition to the faith. I've seen art shows where the main theme was how evil and oppressive Christianity is.

No, there aren't many movies coming out of Hollywood these days that are explicitly Christian (and many movies are seemingly offensive to some Christians for a wide variety of reasons), and no, there aren't many Fundamentalists in the upper ranks of mainstream academia. Does this imply persecution? Not necessarily. Fundamentalist Christians, for example, maintain their own little academic world with a wide array of institutions that is almost wholly separate from the evil, secular mainstream American one. I can name several right now.

1. Bob Jones University
2. Pensacola Christian College
3. Liberty University
4. Regent University
5. Oral Roberts University

...and so on.

With regards to the media, Fundamentalism has its own collection of radio, television, and print news agencies and organizations, all diligently focusing the world's events through a Fundamentalist Christian lens. The Left Behind books are bestsellers, and Fundamentalism does not at all lack for publishing houses, recording labels, and cable television networks. Nationally-known leaders such as Pat Robertson, Benny Hinn, the aforementioned James Dobson, and the late Jerry Falwell promote their brand of Christianity with vigor upon the national stage. A wide variety of Fundamentalist Christian think-tanks, lobbying organizations, major law firms, and advocacy groups exist to provide Fundamentalism a prominent public voice (examples include the American Center for Law and Justice, the Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, and the Home School Legal Defense Association).

The idea that there is some widespread persecution against Christians in America is therefore quite simply ludicrous. If Christians were truly being oppressed in America, none of these persons, places, or things would exist! Fundamentalist Christians have created a parallel America, with entities mirroring every aspect of the "secular" society they so loathe and fear: the news media, entertainment, politics, lobbying, higher education...the list goes on.

And you know what? I think it's good that Fundamentalists have all of these things. They, like all Americans, deserve to have their voices heard. I am both a believer in and an advocate of pluralism (in the political sense), in that power in America resides neither fully with a small group of wealthy people and organizations (elitism) or with the electorate (majoritarianism), but also with a huge and endlessly varied number of groups representing different interests, always conflicting and competing with one another for influence and power. The competition can get nasty, but it helps ensure that no one group becomes dominant (at least for long). The Christian Right, for instance, achieved political ascendancy in the 1990s and early 2000s, reaching a pinnacle in 2001 when the White House and both houses of Congress were under Republican control: the ultimate triumph of a Republican resurgence that began in 1994 and succeeded largely with the support of Fundamentalist Christianity and other conservative religious elements. By 2008, however, Republicans had lost control of Congress (and with most political analysts now expecting further Democratic Congressional gains) and may well lose the White House this year. This year, the Republican electorate rejected Religious Right presidential candidates (namely, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney) in favor of John McCain, a moderate by most standards of political measure, an Episcopalian who attends a Baptist church, and definitely not a member of the Religious Right.

Thus the political pendulum swings. It will probably swing back the same way in the future. Our system of government is by no means perfect and has always had its flaws, but it could be much, much worse, and in my opinion there is a certain breathless beauty in our pluralistic system, with all its sniping and backstabbing and jockeying for influence and fierce, acrimonious division. Yes, I myself often complain about polarization, incivility in public discourse, and the sheer jackassery of many politicians (Wichita City Council, this means you!), but I would much rather have an acrimonious, fractious political free-for-all where every group is at every other group's throat than some kind of stolid, monolithic sameness where all policy is dictated by and power flows from either a small group of elites or a pure majority. Elites are just that, elites, who represent no one but themselves, while electoral majorities are all too often short-sighted, mindlessly vindictive, and just plain stupid.

The problem with Fundamentalist Christian organizations is not that they exist, or even that they seek power and influence (because every other group does this, too; it's what pluralism is), but that they seek power and influence over everyone else, in every aspect of society. I know many Fundamentalists who would be more than happy to legislate the United States into something like Joseph Smith's vision of a theodemocracy, where prayer and reading the Bible in schools, narrow moral standards for movies and television and books, and restrictions on private, personal behavior are all mandated by law. When they can't get this, by the ballot, the courts, or any other means, they begin complaining of a bias against Christianity, which soon enough turns into complaining about being persecuted by some insidious secular establishment. Few movements have been as prominent and successful in the political and policy arenas as the Christian Right has during the last fifteen years, but nevertheless it harbors a collective and pervasive persecution complex, which manifests itself most visibly by the countless iterations of "because of [x event/organization/policy/whatever], Christianity is being oppressed."

It is, essentially, a question of immature blame-shifting and self-centeredness: when Fundamentalists are successful at the polls or in the courts (for example, in enacting a ban on gay marriage or restricting Sunday liquor sales) they consider it a victory not for them but for God Himself; when Fundamentalists are unsuccessful at the polls or in the courts (for example, various judicial rulings regarding the Pledge of Allegiance or when moderates are elected to the Kansas State Board of Education and reverse its previous Creationist tendencies) they cry foul and claim to be suffering persecution. The democratic process and pluralism are good enough for them so long as they're winning. As soon as they face a setback, the system has failed utterly and Christianity is once again under the cruel thumb of its avowed enemies. Now, of course Fundamentalist Christianity is not the only movement or group that behaves like this, but it is the most prominent among them, and one of the most hypocritical and self-righteous of the lot.

Frankly, the notion that Christians in America are suffering persecution is insulting, considering that there are Christians in many parts of the world (e.g. Red China or much of the Muslim world) who face imprisonment, violence, and even death simply because they are Christian. That is persecution, folks. Being defeated at the polls is not. This is not the third century Roman Empire, and we don't have an Emperor who is having Christians tortured, imprisoned, burned, beheaded, and torn apart; in fact, for the past seven years and a half years we have had almost the exact opposite. But, Fundamentalists persist in the notion of their great and noble martyrdom, believing they are suffering in Christ's name.

Perhaps it is precisely because there isn't any real persecution of Christians in America that the Fundamentalists have concocted the notion that there is. It's almost paradoxical. But, think about it. In America, we have it good and easy, in spite of our complaints about gas prices and jobs and our image abroad (or even my complaints about financial aid...the bastards); even poor people in America are rich compared to poor people in almost any other country. Moreover, most of the Fundamentalist Christians I know who have the persecution complex are not in any way materially disadvantaged. They don't want for shelter, employment, clothing, food, or medical care. Their churches are not run-down or falling apart.

Christianity, however, is not supposed to be comfortable like this. It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to be a challenge. When it's not, when mainstream Christianity in America as a whole has largely become complacent and grown more liberal, to the Fundamentalists something is obviously very wrong. I think that this is a major driving force behind the combativeness and proclivity toward thinking themselves persecuted that almost defines Fundamentalist Christianity; I don't think it even exists on a fully conscious level. If there's not a tangible, concrete enemy to be faced, one will be invented, or real political and moral opposition to one's beliefs will be couched in absolutely black-and-white religious terms, and the conflict between the two made into a life-or-death struggle to preserve the Faith, rather than what it actually is: good old pluralism working as it ought. If there's nothing to conquer, then what is the point? If there's no one around who wants to feed us to the lions and burn down our churches, are we real Christians at all?

It's more than a persecution complex, it's a martyrdom complex. No one wants to be politically defeated, of course, but nor does everyone regard political defeats as the modern equivalent of the Cross. Many Fundamentalists do. I've heard kids who were suspended from school for wearing gay-bashing t-shirts described as "martyrs for Christ's sake" (which to me is patently offensive). Evangelism in the face of verbal opposition or "ungodly" lifestyles is, supposedly, a dirty and nasty job, but Christians have to do it, suffering joyfully in Christ's name: my Aunt Kathleen, who I love greatly and who I would not really describe as a crazy Fundamentalist but does harbor some of the more common Fundamentalist beliefs, accidentally left a CD of Christian music in her rental car during her and my sister's recent trip to California. She assured me that this was no great loss, because "those people in California really need to hear some Christian music." They are all, apparently, fabulously heathen degenerates in an unholy land where True Christianity can hardly be found at all.

(I often wonder what my sister, who is the very opposite of a Christian Fundamentalist, thought of all of this....)

I hear similar things all the time. Wichita, for all its 600+ churches and strong, vocal, and influential Fundamentalist population, is under the direct influence of Satan because we (gasp!) have a gay community that (shock!) holds an annual parade, and all good Christians here must suffer the indignity and oppressive burden of this until such time as all the gays are forced to move somewhere like Lawrence (because everyone knows that when The Lord comes again and starts flinging fire and brimstone around, Lawrence is the first place in Kansas that is going to end up as a smoking crater; Douglas County as a whole is halfway to the Abyss already).

Everything, no matter how seemingly minor or petty becomes a matter of God vs. The World. Every political opponent is necessarily a servant of evil, however unwittingly. Collectively, every person or organization that opposes the aims of Fundamentalist Christianity for whatever reason is part of some huge conspiracy to oppress and destroy it. The most prominent Christian Fundamentalist in the world, President George W. Bush, said it best himself (though in a somewhat different context): "you are either with us or against us." There is no middle ground, no happy medium, no neutrality to be found. Politics is the art of compromise, as most groups that participate in our pluralistic society eventually realize, but with Fundamentalism there is no compromise. It's for or against, black or white, yes or no; no other strategy exists except all-or-nothing. It is one reason, I believe, why politics in America has indeed become so polarized and uncivil during the recent past: the rise of the Religious Right, which by nature cannot compromise, engendered the same attitude in many of its opponents. American politics has always been fractious and divisive (don't let anyone tell you that the 1980s were some glorious "big-tent" lovefest, or that the Founding Fathers had a unified and blessed vision for the Republic), but Fundamentalism and the opposition towards it have brought the game to a new level of acrimony and absolutism which frankly has no place in a pluralistic system.

Is there hope? I believe so. All things change with time, even religions. The idea that Christianity in America is being persecuted, although completely lacking in evidence, remains a powerful motivator for Fundamentalism, and likely will continue as such as long as Fundamentalism's dream of ultimate theodemocracy over all America remains unrealized. If, however, one day Fundamentalist Christianity takes a long look at itself, its beliefs, its institutions, and the parallel America it has created, then maybe, just maybe, we'll have some progress.

I'm not predicting this will happen, but what the hell, I'm feeling optimistic this morning.

It's probably the twelve cups of coffee.