Christian Victomology Fellowship
What do I think? Well, I'm glad you asked. I think that the incredulity of certain Christians surrounding a recent district court ruling on the unconstitutionality of the Pledge of Alliance is beautifully ironic. The king-hell talking point of right-wing Christians has been (of late) that Christianity is "under attack" – by the judiciary, by the secular left, by the Grinch. The questions I have for these poor, beleaguered Christians are as follows:
Q: Why where Christians persecuted during the Roman Empire?
Q: Were the Romans justified in persecuting Christians?
The answer to the first question is well documented and fairly widely understood. Christians, in their contempt for idolatry, would refuse to engage in activities during which religious tributes to the Gods were customary – which included most all aspects of Roman civic life, from service in the army to attendance at the games. When someone sneezed, a normal citizen of the empire would say, "Jupiter bless you"; but if the sneezer happened to be a Christian, such a polite entreaty would be met with a stern rebuke. As there were many Gods worshipped throughout the pagan world, one more was simply not regarded as a problem. Religious tolerance (excepting, for political reasons, some Egyptian Gods) was the hallmark of the Empire. The Christians, however, became increasingly associated with intolerance. If a statue of Zeus inspired the court, a Christian would've been the one found in contempt. If they played basketball in ancient Rome, it would've been the lonely Christian player who refused to sing the National Anthem. Just so with the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, of course, the situation is reversed – as it has been for hundreds of years. Were the Romans in the right when they persecuted a fledging and minority Christian community for undermining the civic and martial strength of their society? Can you eat your cake and have it too?
5 Comments:
Of course they were correct, and if they could have seen the future they would have driven the fledging religion into extinction. As well as being exclusivist to the point of lunacy, Christianity was a major factor in the eventual fall of the Empire; think of the mobs of useless monks and priests and deacons and bishops who paid no tax and refused to serve in the military.
I am a Christian myself, but sometimes I think we would have been a lot better off if the tolerant state paganism of Rome had survived.
I pick up from a place that ships books and supplies to home schoolers who are, primarily, Christians. One of the books they had on their shelves is "The Science of the Creation Week." Now you can say there is no God and that's bad but the science of the creation week is actually heretical. There is NO science related to creation week. Creation is supernatural. It is outside the laws of nature. It is miraculous. Something only the big guy can do. It is an act of faith to believe that something beyond science and nature occurred and that a supreme being was responsible.
What are these people thinking? This is like the Intelligent Design bullshit because it's religion posing as if it's really science but it's so much more disturbing because they're actually managing to warp both religion AND science. ID is like "oooh, well evolution is JUST a theory [editor's note: TAUTOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!!] so it's more of a matter of religion trying to screw up science but this science of creation week is really too much. It would be like "The Science of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox" but that would never fly because even the Christians know that's make-believe.
Religious zealots are all just too over the top. They're the worst thing ever and should all be rounded up and shot for their hyperbole and extremism.
Thank you, thank you very much. I'm here all week. Please tip the wait staff generously.
Susan: If the Romans were right to persecute the Christians, it follows that the Christians are right to persecute their contemporary doppelgangers – the secular lefties.
ps206: I got your science right here pal... right here.
Oooh, Kelly. Draw a diagram. I want to know where "here" is. Once I get "here," what do I do? Again, a tutorial would be appreciated. Will going "right here" get me "rear ended?"
"Can you eat you cake and eat it too?" I don't know. What kind of cake?
Also, George Bush doesn't care about black people. Poor black people are RIGHT OUT!!!
Christians are delicious. Deep fried...I'm in heaven! w00t!
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