Persecution Complex

If you go out to a sporting match you will see people with big signs up reading "We're Number 1!" The team could be 0-6 in the season but you will still see those silly foam fingers pointing to the sky proclaiming their dominance. Likewise, political leaders during wartime will proclaim how successful they have been and how victory is within their grasp regardless of the actual results on the ground.

In this regard the culture war is rather odd. It seems like one of the main competitions between the sides is to proclaim how little power they have and how the other side is winning. Of course, I understand the dynamics. If you want to really energize a social force, let them feel that they are being persecuted or in danger of being crushed and they will really get out the workers.
Both the left and the right claim to be the underdogs in this fight. Both say the other has gained the upper hand. Ironically, they are both right to a certain extent. Certainly, Evangelical Christianity has taken it's hits over the years in the political world and especially in pop culture. Sometimes over-reaching court decisions and most particularly overly cautious interpretations of those decisions have hampered Christians even in their private observances of their faith in certain public governmental settings. Students have been denied a place to hold an on-campus Christian club meeting, even though it is perfectly legal. Some Christians working in governmental offices have been reprimanded for Bible verses on their desks or Bibles on their bookshelves.

However, one can hardly claim that Christianity is truly in danger of being eliminated in the United States by Government edict. Churches are found in abundance. The local TV cable company has two religious channels, politicians play to the religious right and the religious left to obtain support. An avowed atheist would not even make it past the primaries in a national election.

In some ways, Western Christians speaking of "persecution" is almost an insult to those around the world who have truly suffered for their faith. Those who have been imprisioned, shunned by families, starved, refused any but the most menial work, or who have been killed for their faith, those who must meet in secret to hear about Christianity, must be amused by our stories of "persecution" which amounts to little more than inconvenience and bad press.

The left, though, also complains of persecution. Certainly, the turn to the political right over the past 20 years has made it difficult for people to proclaim themselves as liberals. Liberal in many areas is uses as a dirty word and politicians will distance themselves from the word. Some liberals have claimed persecution from the Religious right. A story surfaced recently of pressure by "Christian" cadets at a military academy have been "harrassing" Jewish cadets. Whether such tales are true or not, it illustrates the fear on the left.

But again, if we look at the true legacy of liberalism, even "conservatives" stand to defend many of the classic "liberal" programs. People may talk about fixing social security, but no one seriously suggests doing away with some sort of government mandated retirement program. While many may worry about the costs of medicare, no one is willing to go back to the days when an older person would have to choose between food and a doctors visit or would just die rather than have a life saving operation.

Liberals certainly fare better than conservatives in most parts of the popular culture. In spite of Fox News and a few right wing programs on other Cable news outlets, the bias remains slightly left of center by most TV commentators.

The problem with this is that it paints the opposition, not as well meaning people who are simply wrong, but rather as evil people trying to crush us good people. It is part of the politics of division that has become all too common and threatens to tear us apart as a people.