Real Christians really are getting persecuted in America these days . . .

(this posting rambles a bit - apologies in advance)

Let's start by getting our terms clearly defined:

• a real Christian is someone who takes all of the teachings of Jesus including, in particular, his central message of love, seriously; depending on their personality and personal style, a real Christian may practice and/or possibly even teach their faith in a way which makes them really quite exemplar Christians
• a devout Christian is a real Christian who has a deep understanding of their faith
• a pretend Christian is someone who may call themselves Christian but, at best, pays little more than lip service to the teachings of Jesus including, in particular, his central message of love
• an extremist Christian is a pretend Christian who teaches and/or practices outright evil and hatred (in case it isn't obvious, there is a HUGE gulf between the typical pretend Christian and the typical extremist Christian)

The following article illustrates how real Christians are getting persecuted in America today. Please take the time to read the article before continuing with this blog posting.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/formerlyfundie/yes-there-is-christian-persecution-in-america-and-heres-what-it-looks-like/

Back so soon? Are you sure that you read the entire article? If not, please click on the link again and read the whole thing. It's pretty short and what follows may not make much sense if you haven't read the article.

The above referenced article is a classic example of what really bugs me about many so-called Christians in America and elsewhere these days. Practically everything that these pretend Christians complain about and practically everything they seem to stand for is absolutely incompatible with the actual teachings of Jesus including, in particular his message of love.

This is not to say or suggest that everyone who calls themselves Christian is a member of this lunatic fringe. I happen to have met and know quite well a fair number of real Christians (at least some of whom are clearly devout Christians) who really do try to take the teachings of Jesus to heart. There are also more than a few real Christians who have become quite prominent (Desmond Tutu and Pope Francis come to mind) if anyone happens to be looking for real world examples. Without exception, they all demonstrate through their words and deeds that the teachings of Jesus includes the notion that a Christian must love their fellow humans including, in particular, their fellow sinners.

And yet . . . when these same real Christians actually try to practice the teachings of Jesus, they often find themselves under attack (dare I say "being persecuted"). These attacks come from a variety of corners including rabid atheists and, of course, fundamentalists of a different religious persuasion. While attacks from these corners often cause the persecuted real Christians anguish and pain, it is the attacks upon them by the pretend Christians which must surely surprise if not actually hurt them the most.

I am not going to claim that all pretend Christians make the sort of attacks on real Christians that are described in the above referenced article. That said, I am going to make the following observations and claims:

1. that extremist Christians are organized and that they exist in sufficiently large numbers in the U.S.* to be a real problem
2. that one could easily argue that extremist Christians are a 'cancer of sorts' on at least the US body of the Christian faith
3. that these extremist Christians are seldom actually challenged by real Christians (no doubt partially because challenging the faith of others is not something that many real Christians seem compelled or even particularly interested in doing)
4. that many if not most of the prominent self-proclaimed Christian voices in the U.S. today are extremist Christians

'nuf said.

* While extremist Christians certainly do exist elsewhere, the magnitude of the extremist Christian phenomenon in the U.S. really does make the situation there "different" somehow.