# From The Front Lines Of The "War on Christians" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 29, 2006, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474 "2006-03-29T22:57:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/21 "2006-03-30T02:54:37Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > None of this is, in any way, shape or form, an organized WAR on anyone. But a few of these incidents can chafe, as I said, and leave someone who doesn’t know what real persecution is feeling ill done by. Add in a propaganda mill to the idea, and it will take off. Suddenly it’s not just society trying to steer through a minefield as more religions become a part of mainstream culture, it’s a War - so it’s okay to get upset about it. > > I just want to emphasize it’s not being made up out of nothing. It’s a very manipulative attempt to transform simple frictions into a political movement. Which makes the War on Christianity types even more scummy in my mind. I agree to a point. That’s why I mentioned the struggle to maintain the balance. If people aren’t ready to stand up for people’s right to worship and freedom of speech {also in the first amendment} then they’re no better than those they rail against who they claim violate the separation of church and state. I heard of a student being told not to carry his Bible around at school because that violates church and state. By a teacher no less. What a load. I’ve heard the voting thing you mentioned to. What a ridiculous suggestion. To be fair consider how long Non Christians have been discriminated against in this country with very few standing up for them. What you and other Christians might be experiencing is only a hint of what others have experienced in this very country by a Christian population who assumed it was their right to have things their way, often oblivious of what harm they might be doing to others, or how they might be infringing on others rights. I firmly believe in defending the right to worship as well as the establishment clause in the first amendment. What people need to realize is that by claiming your right to free speech and to worship as you choose, you assume a certain moral obligation to defend that right for others. Ain’t America great? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/22 "2006-03-30T02:58:28Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I wonder how your brother would react if he was told that not even Catholic colleges and universities time their spring breaks to be around Easter. Universities, be they public or private, have to operate according to a set annual schedule and the date of Easter moves around the calendar too much for it to be incorporated into the spring break every year. What’s funny is that I’m a Notre Dame grad and I said, “Hmm, I’m not sure we had Easter break,” and he went apeshit saying that of course of course of course we had Easter off. And when I pointed out that yes, we always had Easter off because it’s _on a Sunday_, he kinda refused to keep talking to me. 😃 Honestly, though, I couldn’t remember if we had Easter break or not. I don’t think we did, but I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/23 "2006-03-30T03:07:53Z")
**Takes food dish away from pet lion and hides it behind back** WHAT?!?! It’s,. um,. kibble. Tastes of chicken. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/24 "2006-03-30T03:10:12Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I’ve heard the voting thing you mentioned to. What a ridiculous suggestion. To be fair consider how long Non Christians have been discriminated against in this country with very few standing up for them. What you and other Christians might be experiencing is only a hint of what others have experienced in this very country by a Christian population who assumed it was their right to have things their way, often oblivious of what harm they might be doing to others, or how they might be infringing on others rights. > > I firmly believe in defending the right to worship as well as the establishment clause in the first amendment. What people need to realize is that by claiming your right to free speech and to worship as you choose, you assume a certain moral obligation to defend that right for others. Ain’t America great? I agree with everything you’ve said. Especially your last two sentences. As an American Catholic I find them particularly important. No matter how much any single incident I mentioned might have chafed, all it was, IMNSHO, was a sign of changing social norms. For the most part, a very good thing. Even when I might prefer to have the old norms maintained, being forced to question those norms is a very good thing. Alas, I doubt that most people recognize that such a conflict of thesis and antithesis is necessary and beneficial. BTW, **Seve** , a spew alert would have been beneficial. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/25 "2006-03-30T03:12:46Z")
**Seven** , even. ---
**Author:** ![Updike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@Updike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Updike)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/26 "2006-03-30T03:47:52Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > They don’t, but if a university operates on a January to May spring semester and Easter week falls in April (as it does this year), it makes no sense to have a 7- to 10-day break and come back for three weeks of actual class time before finals. OK, that makes sense. Even if Easter is in April, K-12 usually runs about two months after the break rather than 3 weeks for University. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/27 "2006-03-30T03:57:29Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > Cornell University isn’t only a private college. It has seven schools, IIRC, and of that three of them are part of the SUNY system. So, it’s got a bit of the worst of both worlds. One can never be sure just what laws it can and cannot evade. I wondered if something like that might be the case. What a mess. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/28 "2006-03-30T04:07:17Z")
OTOH, it’s the cheapest Ivy League education you can get. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/29 "2006-03-30T04:13:28Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > OTOH, it’s the cheapest Ivy League education you can get. 😉 And yet, somehow all those students jump off the bridge. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/30 "2006-03-30T04:27:23Z")
\< **major** hijack\>Frankly, I think something like 80% of those jumpers are people succumbing to a combination of geography and impulse. Cornell has three residential campuses. The oldest one is West Campus, and it’s just below the hill where most of the class buildings are. Nothing between it and the dorms. The other major residential campus is across a gorge from the main campus. So, if a student has just bombed his or her last final, or lost hope with their thesis, and are heading back to the dorms (and where much of the rental property around the school is, too.) they have to cross over one of the bridges. Each with an approximately 100 ft drop. I imagine it can be a pretty seductive temptation. You can’t make a college campus suicide proof - it’s just not possible, but I can’t think of any other school where the means for suicide is so much out in the open. Obviously I can’t offer figures, but while I was flunking out, I did notice the convenience factor. \ ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/31 "2006-03-30T05:46:48Z")
The persecution of some American Christians is one of my pet peeves. First of all, short of the return of Jesus, actual persecution of Christians would be the best thing that could happen to Christianity. A lot of people would learn some major humility, and it would be the antidote to the corruption brought on by power. Humility, that’s my other reason. These people with martyr complexes are desperately lacking in it. It’s really their pride they care about. This expectation of being entitled to respect and whining about not getting it is unchristlike, He said we can expect persecution, but we’ve had it fucking easy. We’re supposed to serve nonchristians, not have our egos satisfied by them. If Jesus wanted a Christian government He’d have overthrown Rome. Period. ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/32 "2006-03-30T05:58:35Z")
> [@OtakuLoki](#): > > \< **major** hijack\>Frankly, I think something like 80% of those jumpers are people succumbing to a combination of geography and impulse. > > Cornell has three residential campuses. The oldest one is West Campus, and it’s just below the hill where most of the class buildings are. Nothing between it and the dorms. The other major residential campus is across a gorge from the main campus. So, if a student has just bombed his or her last final, or lost hope with their thesis, and are heading back to the dorms (and where much of the rental property around the school is, too.) they have to cross over one of the bridges. Each with an approximately 100 ft drop. > > I imagine it can be a pretty seductive temptation. You can’t make a college campus suicide proof - it’s just not possible, but I can’t think of any other school where the means for suicide is so much out in the open. Obviously I can’t offer figures, but while I was flunking out, I did notice the convenience factor. > > \ That’s a pretty disturbing thing to learn. Definitely way too tempting, you can just up and jump without having time to be rational about it. I’d better not go to college there (not that I probably would have anyway). ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/33 "2006-03-30T06:31:20Z")
> [@Talon Karrde](#): > > We’re supposed to serve nonchristians, not have our egos satisfied by them. Truer words may have never been spoken. Good job. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/34 "2006-03-30T12:29:32Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > What’s funny is that I’m a Notre Dame grad and I said, “Hmm, I’m not sure we had Easter break,” and he went apeshit saying that of course of course of course we had Easter off. And when I pointed out that yes, we always had Easter off because it’s _on a Sunday_, he kinda refused to keep talking to me. I went to the Catholic University of America. We got a spring break that didn’t coincide necessarily with Easter, but we also got a seperate Easter break - Thursday, Friday and Monday of Easter weekend off. It was pretty sweet. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/35 "2006-03-30T12:44:15Z")
Okay, I’ve been thinking about this all day. What’s the “we Christians are being persecuted” crowd take on the fact that the Orthodox Easter is on a different Sunday than theirs? ---
**Author:** ![RTA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b4bc9f/32.png) [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/36 "2006-03-30T13:31:47Z")
If I was Abdur Rahman, I’d be writing a book right now about how having faith in your heart means that you will always triumph over the adversity of persecution. A man could make a fucking MINT off those rubes … A mint, I say! Cha-ching! Hail, Mammon! ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/37 "2006-03-30T16:20:08Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > …I heard of a student being told not to carry his Bible around at school because that violates church and state. By a teacher no less. What a load… I am a zealous believer (heh) in the separation of church and state, but I have to agree with you. That teacher was an idiot. Were there tax dollars spent? Was a public official endorsing a religion? No? Then it’s NOT a church-state issue, doofus! Honestly, I think it’s people like that teacher who lead some Christians to believe they are being persecuted. I, an atheist, think it’s a great thing that the Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoyed the freedom to stand on street corners and harangue the drunken students when I was in college (don’t know if they still do it, thus the past tense). The first amendment is one of our best pieces of law, and I firmly believe everyone has the right to speak their mind in public. All I ask is that I not be governed according to a religion and that the churches stay out of my abundantly-taxed pocket. The folks who go further than that really hurt the cause for those of us who have what I think is a fairly reasonable expectation. ---
**Author:** ![Wolfian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/7ea924/32.png) [@Wolfian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolfian)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/38 "2006-03-30T17:02:27Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > And yet, somehow all those students jump off the bridge. 😕 \ - **Wolfian** , Syracuse alum ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/39 "2006-03-30T17:17:40Z")
So the deal breaker has become an Easter school vacation? Can somebody explain to me how sending college students off to Daytona rather than have them sitting in class will make us a more Christian nation? ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474/40 "2006-03-30T17:22:51Z")
But Xtian students don’t do that. They go to church sponsored retreats in the mountains. Segregated by gender. And never, ever, ever think of doing the nasty, or drinking. :rolleyes: And if you believe that, I have a deal for ocean-front property in Colorado that you might want to invest in… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-front-lines-of-the-war-on-christians/350474.md?page=3)