Have you as a Christian ever been discriminated against?

Not out and about. But on Floort and fluther I notice a certain animosity toward people of faith. Sad, but understandable,I guess, given the fact that some Christians come off as arrogant.

My best guess is that the “war on Christians” is referring not to traditional discrimination as other groups experience it, but to the stereotype that many followers of organized religion are labeled with.

A lot of people assume that anyone who is a follower of organized religion (including Christianity) is dim-witted and gullible and somehow less intelligent than atheists or agnostics.

Some other examples of stereotypes about Christians are that they are all right-wing extremists, bible-thumping fundamentalists and homophobes.

Could this be the “war” you’re referring to?

FYI, I am a ‘buffet’ Roman Catholic. I pick what I like. I accept any and all versions of faith/spirituality held by others, even if that is none at all. To each his own.

I understand how an individual could feel animosity on the internet, because atheists and agnostics can be an outspoken bunch. But I think that Mizuki was asking if any Christians have been discriminated against in arenas where we typically discuss discrimination and biased behavior:

-Employment (hiring, promotions)
-Housing
-Public accomodations, services
-Bias violence or threats
-Protection under the law

The kinds of things that oppressed groups typically experience. I’m sorry if I’m being presumptive, and this was not what Mizuki was asking.

Short answer: no. I have not been oppressed because of my faith.

No, I have not experienced that type of discrimination because of my faith.

I clarified what discrimination means in my answer because I am venturing to guess that the non-traditional type is a lot more common for Christians.

@tonedef—exactly—it would seem after watching Bill O’Reilly that Christians are hunkered down in a bunker. Yet I don’t see it in my life experience. If anything, it seems that Christians discriminate against subordinates in the work place, so I’m wondering what gives?

@Mizuki, I feel that perhaps O’Reilly is crying wolf with his pieces about the plight of the white fundamentalist christian american. The surest way to rile up a group of people is to convince them that someone’s out to get them.

Bill O’Reilly is a paragon of accuracy and objectivity.

@lapilofu: NOT!!

Not personally, but I am astonished at how many people mistake “Freedom of religion” to mean “Freedom from religion”.

And I am astonished at how many people mistake Atheism as being just a different religion. Perhaps the people who mistake Freedom-Of-Religion for Freedom-From-Religion are practicing that other religion, Atheism? Or perhaps Atheists feel like they should have Freedom From Religion because they don’t practice any at all? It seems like it must be one or the other.

Freedom from religion, yes indeed. Is this not the reason the Pilgrims came to America in the first place?

Freedom from YOUR religion, freedom to not be religious, freedom to not have your religion permeate my life, freedom to be left alone with regard to religion——yes, one or a combination of those would be nice.

You do not have freedom use your religion as a basis to descriminate againt others.

The mistake is to beleive that the religion of the majority aught be hoisted on the rest of us.

No, the pilgrims came here for freedom of, not from religion, unless you’re talking about some group of atheist puritans I’m not familiar with. This country was built by Christians on Christian principles, among them the idea of enough tolerance that I don’t get offended by menorahs in the mall during hannukah. If you’re looking for absence of any visual reminders that other people don’t think the same as you, maybe north Korea or china would work.

And trust me, every time I watch a movie, turn on the tv, or read a newspaper my life is permeated by the absence of God.

This is where I get to trot out my ‘The United States was not built on Christian principles’ link.

Interesting read, laureth, thanks! It appears to be written from a biased point of view, though…so let me offer another biased one, with quotes and history as well, which comes to an answer that is akin to yours, but not so black and white

Maybe my words could have been chosen more carefully, but I stand by my statement that this country was built on Christian principles, but not necessarily built on Christianity. Those principles include honesty, integrity, and tolerance.

On a petty note, one quote from your article caught my eye…“The words “Jesus Christ, Christianity, Bible, and God” are never mentioned in the Constitution—not once.”

True, but it was “Done in convention by the unanimous consent of the states present the seventeenth day of September in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven and of the independence of the United States of America the twelfth.”
Minor, yes, but if you’re going to insinuate that anyone who participates in a rebellion can’t be a Christian because of a verse in 1st Samuel, we’re back to the whole shellfish thing as well. Do you believe homosexuals can be Christians? I do, so the 1st Samuel thing doesn’t work either.

The “year of our Lord” is how they wrote “A.D.” back then. If I were to say “year of our Lord,” it would not make me Christian, or say that I have those principals – it was the year naming convention of the time.

If you are saying that the nation was built on Christian principles because honesty, integrity, and tolerance are Christian principles, you can also easily say that we were built on Jewish or Buddhist or even Wiccan principles as well, and I don’t hear people doing that. Murder is illegal, but it’s not illegal because murder is anti-Christian, it’s illegal because murder is considered bad by pretty much all of humanity, and something that will destroy communities if not controlled somehow. I believe that any similar Christian principles that we have encoded in law are there for similar reasons.

I’m not saying rebels can’t be Christian, either, as I think Jesus was a pretty good rebel himself. :) Do I believe homosexuals can be Christian? I’ve seen some who are.

However, I do think that the views of the Founders are particularly interesting, especially the treaty with Tripoli. Some of the Founders were Christian, but some were closer to what would be called Secular Humanism today.

Laureth—how dare you disagree with an American Soldier and trot out your biased links. I mean, anything that disputes the reality of a soldier is dam biased. You should know better!

That Constitution and Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence was written by “libruls” and aught not be trusted, you know, those folks that read books, and use their craniums—“liburls” I say. And the 1796 treaty with Tripoli, didn’t that “librul” NY Times make that up?

Don’t you know that Jesus created America to provide support for Israel and convert the world to Evangalical Christianity? And promote Christian principals, like preemptive war, bringing freedom to those that don’t want it (freedom to choose Target or Walmart, Coke or Pepsi, or freedom to die in a war or starve at home, freedom to wear a mini-skirt or tight jeans), and killing around 1 million people in the last 6 years (but who’s counting? they are brown people at that), and transfering wealth from poor to rich—now those are some Christian principles I can get behind.

Now let us join hands in prayer before I go bomb some civilians, in Jesus name, Amen.

well yes bu Barack Oboma’s gonna change us in the right directin