{"id":27102,"date":"2015-10-28T05:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-10-28T09:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/?p=27102"},"modified":"2015-10-29T08:44:42","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T12:44:42","slug":"is-this-what-religious-persecution-looks-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lovejoyfeminism\/2015\/10\/is-this-what-religious-persecution-looks-like.html","title":{"rendered":"Is This What Religious Persecution Looks Like?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Sometimes reading two very different articles in conjunction with each other can be fascinating. Take this article\u00a0about Christian homeschool leader Kevin Swanson\u2019s persecution complex<\/a>, on the one hand, and this article about Boko Haram bombing mosques in Nigeria<\/a>, on the other.<\/p>\n

First, Kevin Swanson<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

Swanson told host Tim Wildmon, the president of the American Family Association, that persecution in America is \u201chappening all over the place,\u201d lamenting that now \u201caccountants who refuse to submit forms for homosexual couples\u201d are facing persecution.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at a massive increase in persecution,\u201d he said, warning that religious radio stations will soon be taken off the air if they \u201crefuse to give equal time to homosexuals on the basis of sexual orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe\u2019re all at stake. If you don\u2019t want your pastor in jail, if you want your religious radio station still broadcasting, if you want your job and if you\u2019re a Christian, you had better take this matter seriously in the 2016 elections.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Next, Boko Haram<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Two bomb attacks in north-eastern Nigeria have left at least 42 people dead and more than 100 injured, officials say.<\/p>\n

At least 27 people died when a bomb targeted a newly opened mosque in the town of Yola.<\/p>\n

Earlier, 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Maiduguri.<\/p>\n

It is not clear who carried out the bombings but the Islamist militant group Boko Haram has carried out many attacks in the area.<\/p>\n

The group has targeted both Christians and Muslims who do not adhere to their ideology.<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

Thousands of people have been killed and millions forced to leave their homes by Boko Haram violence in recent years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Just as I don\u2019t like the \u201coppression olympics\u201d\u2014arguing over what oppressed group is most oppressed\u2014I have no desire to engage in some sort of \u201cpersecution olympics.\u201d And yet,\u00a0the problem here is less varying degrees of persecution than it is Swanson mistaking a complete lack of persecution for, well, persecution.<\/p>\n

Some of what Swanson describes in various media forms is indeed happening\u2014government officials are required to provide marriage licenses to same-sex couples, and in states that include sexual orientation in their nondiscrimination clauses, bakers are required to bake cakes for all weddings, and not just those for heterosexual couples\u2014and other parts of it are not happening\u2014religious radio shows are not required to give equal time to LGB individuals and pastors are not jailed for calling homosexuality sin. But what is<\/em> happening is not persecution.<\/p>\n

We as a society are capable of protecting LGB individuals\u2019 civil rights\u00a0and<\/em> protecting individuals\u2019 right to hold bigoted religious beliefs. The two aren\u2019t mutually exclusive. We know this\u00a0because we\u2019ve done this before<\/em>. Take race, for example. Historically, many Christian sects believed that interracial relationships were against the will of God, and some Christians continue to believe this today. Pastors are not required to marry interracial couples\u00a0and individuals are not required to\u00a0approve of interracial relationships\u2014but businesses are required to provide services to interracial couples.<\/p>\n

Your right to religious freedom does not extend to violating others\u2019 civil rights. This is the bargain we have struck. Your religious beliefs are protected, but your right to discriminate is not. After all, what is the alternative? Allowing evangelical Christians to discriminate against gay individuals violates the civil rights of gay individuals, just as allowing white supremacist Christians to discriminate against interracial couples would violate interracial couples\u2019 civil rights. We live in a society where rights must be balanced, but\u00a0that balance is not persecution.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another reason these paired stories struck me. Individuals like Swanson center Christian persecution to the point that it would be easy to forget that Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and atheists also face religious persecution across the globe<\/a>. We see this in U.S. evangelicals\u2019 focus on ISIS\u2019 persecution of Christians when in fact both Yazidis and other sects of Muslims face persecution, death, and slavery\u2014and in the case of Yazidis,\u00a0only higher levels of brutality. Our focus should be on religious freedom writ large\u2014and on civil rights as well, for all individuals.<\/p>\n

We have our work cut out for us, and we don\u2019t need Swanson\u2019s faux persecution claims muddying the waters. Can you say counterproductive?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have our work cut out for us, and we don’t need Swanson’s faux persecution claims muddying the waters. Can you say counterproductive?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":845,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[557],"class_list":["post-27102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evangelicalism-fundamentalism","tag-persecution"],"yoast_head":"\nIs This What Religious Persecution Looks Like?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We have our work cut out for us, and we don't need Swanson's faux persecution claims muddying the waters. 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