Insulted for the Name of Christ

    If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 1 Peter 4:14-16
  
   I had been working on a blog about the churches lack of stewardship when it comes to finances and its membership. That is not quite where I was finishing each time I went back and edited the piece. I kept coming across Christians and Atheists alike posting, blogging, and talking about similar topics.
     I continue to come across the idea of "persecution" that the church believes it is suffering under. Growing up I remember learning about the persecution of believers. Martyrdom is one thing. I am not going to argue against martyrs being a reality, at least not today. American persecution of believers is a completely different animal.
     It all started when I read an article a month or so ago detailing the persecution of the church in America. At first it did not bother me. It stayed in my thoughts for weeks though. The main points were that the church was being persecuted through gay marriage and losing tax exempt status. The longer I thought on this the more defined the irritation became. It was a deep root in my disbelief. Reality inside the four ivory walls of the church is far different than reality everywhere else. It bothers me that children are raised in a subset of beliefs that teaches them that everyone on the outside is "bad" and persecuting those they love- sounds a bit like propaganda. 
     When I was a Christian (or at least still holding the title) I only experienced something I believe was persecution once. I went to a job interview and the administrator began grilling me on homeschooling and Bible college. I calmly stated that these questions had no place in an interview- and guess what- I got a call a week later for the position. I firmly believe it is because the law is still on the side of religious freedom.
     I slowly began to identify as non-religious in the past year. I work in a field that most fundamentalist Christians believe to be the bastion of persecution- public education. When I began identifying as atheist- in a quiet, non-combative way- I began to notice snickers and comments. My morality and ethics were commented on despite a lack of indiscretion. Out of a staff of about thirty only one or two others are not regular church goers, and most of those who attend church are of low church fundamentalist denominations. I do not think I am persecuted in this setting, I am merely showing the solidarity of Christianity in many public arenas. Just from my own experience, we are looking at a ratio of 30:2 in one of the most "godless" places in America.
     Peter is saying in the above scriptures not to bring the persecution onto yourselves. It is not godly persecution in that case. When you bring it onto yourself, it is  called consequences not suffering for Christ. Some years back while spending my first year in Christian academia at a small Kentucky bible college, the president of the seminary made a very public comment about gay persons possibly being mutations. He had no scientific backing and even less philosophical backing. The comment did not need to be said at all. It especially did not need to be said publicly. He stood behind what he said even after protests broke out on campus. The safety of roughly 1,000 students was at stake, and still, he stood behind his words. Like wildfire, everyone started claiming persecution in the name of Christ. No, some moron called a group of people mutants. No one was protesting the anti-gay rhetoric that was common in the school. They were protesting one statement that was asinine. 
     It is not persecution when you spitefully harm others and they respond out of pain. I saw this time and again while I was growing up. If you have Jesus in the right way you hold the trump card. Anyone who gets in your way can be vilified as a persecutor of Christ.  This brings me back to the original issue that put this on my mind- tax exempt status for churches. This is indicative of the sense of entitlement felt by many in the church. If you want to take up money (that primarily goes back into the church) and worship in your own way, that is fine. Why do you deserve a tax break? What part of "render unto Caesar" said "except for your cushy tax exempt status." Could it be that churches are experiencing shrinkage and the extra fees might mean fewer banquets and conventions? How is this persecution? I am sure the martyrs of the early church would roll in their graves to hear taxes being likened to the systematic torture of early believers. 
    Persecution is not a mere disagreement with someone either. Others being able to marry the person of their choosing is not persecution. Women being able to receive contraceptives is not persecution either. 

    I hope that one day the persecuted Christians have a right to worship freely, that they see the day when a Christian is elected president, that they can cruelly protest funerals if they choose, that they can have their own museum of science, that they can get tax breaks, that their religious preference is engraved on the national currency, and that they can define family and marriage and family for everyone for decades- maybe then they will know what it means to be free from persecution.