# Where does right-wing paranoia come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 17, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-right-wing-paranoia-come-from/647551 "2013-01-17T21:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 72
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-right-wing-paranoia-come-from/647551/72 "2013-01-18T16:01:47Z")
> [@Debaser](#): > > So if something doesn’t rise to the level of what’s happened to Jews it can’t be persecution? > > The First Amendment states there should be no state sponsored religion, ie no official US government religion. It’s been interpreted in the most severe of ways to mean that there can be no mention or recognition of religion by government at all. It’s understandable for Christians to feel persecuted by the way they are treated in this country. :rolleyes: No, **Debaser,** it is **not** understandable or reasonable for Christians to feel “persecuted” by the principle that “there can be no mention or recognition of religion by government at all.” And most American Christians don’t. Most understand perfectly well that an atheist winning a lawsuit and getting the nativity scene taken off the courthouse lawn or the Ten Commandments plaque out of the lobby, however distasteful that outcome might be to them, is **not** an instance of Christians being persecuted. Christians know what persecution is, it’s what the early Roman Emperors did and what the early martyrs suffered, and, no, anything that does not rise to that level is probably **not** persecution. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-does-right-wing-paranoia-come-from/647551)._