Persecution

Cries about persecution are at a fever pitch. You can hear constant assertions that Christians are being persecuted in the United States and that Christmas is being suppressed.


FoxNews chastized Walmart in several shows and articles (despite their deep love and frequent defense of the corporation) for preferring the greeting "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas." Strange that FoxNews asserts that corporations should be free to refuse to hire or may fire certain people (think anti-discrimination laws) but they should not be free to select the holiday greeting they prefer.

Bill O'Reilly recently exclaimed that "what [principals and school boards are] trying to say is that we don't like the 82 percent of Americans who believe that Jesus was God or the son of God." One problem for O'Reilly to deal with is that school boards are democratically elected. he preaches the infallability of elections and yet hates the product. Besides, how are these school boards getting elected over the will of "82 percent of Americans?"

Regardless, Bill bluntly states "Now there is an anti-Christian bias in this country and it is more on display in Christmas season than any other time." Sure Bill, just look around, you can hardly tell it is the Christmas season at all.

Another Fox News Anchor, John Gibson, has recently published a book called "War on Christmas" in which he asserts that "even the colors red and green are under attack" and that "You can't say 'Merry Christmas' at a school or office anymore." I have seen no evidence to support either of these statements but he makes the assertions nonetheless.

"Not since Stalin's time have Christians been so savagely persecuted" asserts Pat Buchanan on WorldNetDaily.com. Another article they published this week bears the headline "CRIMINALIZING CHRISTIANITY: How America's founding religion is becoming illegal"

Dishing it Out:

In the midst of all of these cries of injustice from the right, we see them pressing another agenda.

"Christian group pulls Wells Fargo accounts: Focus on the Family objects to donation to gay rights group" A headline reads today from the San Francisco Chronicle. The articles describes that "Focus on the Family's move follows a recent spate of conservative boycotts and other actions against large companies that support gay and lesbian causes."

Conservative groups have also sought boycotts of Proctor & Gamble because they advertise during the TV show "Will and Grace" and against the Walt Disney Company for hosting "Gay Days" at their theme parks.

Today, Ford Motor Co. announced that is will no longer advertise in magazines targeting gay readers. Ford denies that the move is the result of pressure from Christian groups, but the American Family Association began a boycott in May, which it cancelled last week asserting that "we feel that our concerns are being addressed."

Today the Supreme Court will hear a case brought by Harvard Law School that asserts that Law Schools may refuse to allow the military to recruit on campus unless they commit to a non-discrimination hiring policy, like all other firms who recruit on campuses are required to do. As of now, the government seeks to withdraw funding provided to such schools if they refuse to allow the recruiters on campus. The schools assert that they should not be an instrument to the government's discrimination in order to get the funding.

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With all of this in mind, I wonder who it truly is who is being persecuted and who is doing the persecuting.

Should WalMart say Merry Christmas to Gay people this year? Doesn't the right usually decry this victim mentality anyway?