Rick Scarborough Response: The Real Meaning of Religious Persecution
- Rick Scarborough
- Feb 4, 2009
"The persecution of Christianity in America has begun," complains Rick Scarborough of Vision America. He points to criticism of Christian supporters of California's Proposition 8, banning gay marriage, and cites an email to him "so vile that I cannot reprint the letter." He asks for contributions "to assist us as we confront the growing threat of domestic terror being perpetrated by homosexual activists."
The protests against Prop 8 backers, particularly the Mormon Church and individual Mormons, took an ugly turn. There may even be "growing hostility against religion in America and particularly against Christians," as Scarborough asserts, at least in the cultural realm. But this hostility does not amount to persecution.” Doug Bandow
Even more troubling – something the mainstream media refused to cover – are the many threats of violence against Christians and other supporters of Prop 8 popping up on numerous homosexual websites and elsewhere. Some homosexuals have even called for churches to be burned to the ground. In California, some of those churches have already been vandalized.
In a blog entry titled "You'll want to punch them" on Queerty.com, poster "Billy Bob Thornton" wrote, "… I have never considered being a violent radical extremist for our Equal Rights, But now I think maybe I should consider becoming one." "Stenar" asked, "Can someone in CA please go burn down the Mormon temples there, PLEASE. I mean seriously. DO IT." And, "Jonathan," warned, "I'm going to give them something to be f---ing scared of. … I'm a radical who is now on a mission to make them all pay for what they've done."
Meanwhile, over at JoeMyGod.blogspot.com, "World O Jeff," said, "Burn their f---ing churches to the ground and then tax the charred timbers," while "Tread," wrote, "I hope the No on 8 people have a long list and long knives." "Joe," stated, "I swear, I'd murder people with my bare hands this morning."
And on the Americablog.com website, "scottinsf" posted, "Trust me. I've got a big list of names of mormons and catholics (sic) that were big supporters of Prop 8. … As far as mormons and catholics ... I warn them to watch their backs."
Can anyone imagine the press coverage such blogs would have recieved had it been Christians spouting such hate? And as I mentioned in the Rick Scarborough Report from which Mr. Bandow quoted, a sweet little grandmother holding a cross in San Francisco during the campaign to encourage passage of Proposition 8 in California, which all should remember, was necessitated by the Supreme Court of California over ruling the will of the majority ofpeople in California and redefining marriage in the state to mean something that it had never meant before, had her cross jerked from her hand by a homosexual activist and then was pushed aside so he and his friends could trample it underfoot.
On November 11, 2008 the City Pulse of Lansing Michigan reported that anarchists infiltrated a church of over 5,000 worshipers and terrorised the congregants because their Christian beliefs countered theirs. According to the report which you can read at http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-2302-gay-anarchist-action-hits-church.html
A gay anarchist group infiltrated the Mt. Hope Church in Eaton County Sunday morning, disrupting a service by pulling a fire alarm, dropping leaflets and yelling at parishioners, a pastor said. The group, Bash Back, was simultaneously picketing outside the church, beating on buckets and using a megaphone to shout “Jesus was a homo” and other slogans as confused churchgoers continued to enter the building.
The Rev. John Elieff, “Helps Minister” at Mt. Hope Church, said Bash Back members disrupted the service by bursting into the sanctuary, throwing fliers, hanging a banner from the balcony and pulling fire alarms.
“It was an unwelcome and violent demonstration,” he said.
Then there was the very public example of the Philadelphia Eleven. Increasingly in large metropolitan cities homosexuals are celebrating their addiction to sex as if it were perfectly normal and approved by all. We should not dismiss lightly that the greatest natural disaster in American history, Katrina, hit New Orleans during the celebration of Southern Decadence, subtitled the Gay Mardi Gras. Try preaching the gospel on the street during that celebration and see if Christianity is persecuted in America!
During Philadelphia Outfest, sponsored by Philly-Pride Events, a group of eleven dedicated Christians stood on the sidewalk and preached the Gospel, a longstanding tradition in America of Christians practicing their right of free speech and freedom to assemble. They were not there protesting anything but rather advocating the freedom which all men and women can experience in Christ Jesus.
What ensued is well documented. Members of the “Pink Angels” swarmed the “Philly Eleven” as they became known, and proceeded to intimidate the Christians, drown out their message with whistles and cover their posters. Soon the police showed up and arrested the Philly Eleven, even though it was proven that they never broke a single law and complied with every request made of them by
Eight charges were filed against the protesters, including three felonies and five misdemeanors. The charges were: criminal conspiracy, possession of instruments of crime, reckless endangerment of another person, ethnic intimidation, riot, failure to disperse, disorderly conduct, and obstructing highways.
The “ethnic intimidation” charge, explained Robert Knight, at the time writing for Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute, was made possible by Pennsylvania’s Ethnic Intimidation and Institutional Vandalism Act – that state's “hate crimes" law – to which the newest "victim" category of "sexual orientation" was recently added.
Despite the fact that their behavior was above reproach and they were attacked by a mob of whistle-blowing, obscenity-screaming God haters, the Christians, and only the Christians, were charged. Thankfully, the charges were eventually dropped, but clearly, the persecution of Christianity has begun in America.
Barack Obama has made it clear that a top priority for his new admnistration is the passage of ENDA and Hate Crimes Legislation including sexual orientation as a special protected class. In fact, while he was holding his hand on the Bible swearing to uphold the Constitution of the United States which garantees freedom of religious expression, our new “Christian” President’s staff was changing the official White House website to reflect his commitment to pass new laws which if enacted, will limit my free speech as a Pastor and will “ENDA” the rights of Christian business owners from prohibiting “transgendered” people from using the restroom of their choice or choices depending on which sex comes to work in the transgendered’s body that day.
I agree that we are not now experiencing the kind of persecution that many in many parts of the world are experiencing, but ask million of Americans who work for companies who have forced them to attend sensitivity training seminars, if they feel comfortable reading their Bibles during lunch hours or sharing their deeply held Biblical convictions regarding politically incorrect issues, if they think their experiencing persecution. Ask a Christian public school teacher if they feel persecuted during staff meeting when sex education or gay pride events are discussed. Ask the Christian students who are being told every day that what their pastor taught them and their parents believe about creation is a lie, how they feel about persecution in
Shame on anyone who would dare to say that the persecution of Christians has not begun in
