The Persecution of Christianity

   One of the striking things about some varieties of Christian discourse in the United States is recurrent claims of persecution.  This was evident recently when the state of New York legalized gay marriage.  In a country where something like 90% of the population asserts a belief in God and the overwhelming majority of those believers embrace some form of Christianity, this is a striking claim.  On the basis of these facts, claims that Christians are a persecuted sect seem utterly nonsensical.  Nonetheless the belief in the besieged status of Christianity appears well entrenched.

What lies behind these claims?  The real key to understanding claims of persecution is understanding the tremendous prestige that the status of being persecuted has in Christianity.  After all, the very founder of the religion was subjected to a very real persecution, including torture and a gruesome death.  The early history of the church is filled with martyrs whose deaths were bizarre and painful enough to satisfy the the most deviant serial killer.  Thus to be persecuted for your beliefs is an essential validation of those beliefs.

When this world view is united with a literalist interpretation of the Bible, any departure from biblically ordained practice becomes persecution.  In as much as God demands certain behaviors departures from them is an affront to Christian belief.  Such affronts are persecution.  If you doubt this, see Kathryn Lopez take on the legalization of gay marriage in the National Review where she compares the state of New York to North Korea in its oppression.