r/atheism • u/[deleted] • Dec 22 '24
The persecution mentality amongst religious people is weird.
I live in America. Where the majority of it’s government officials are Christian. Every president we’ve ever had so far has been Christian including our current and next president. Every law that people complain about was passed or created by Christians. Yet somehow Christians are the heavily persecuted minority for their faith when they’ve basically been running the country for more than two centuries? You can’t be the majority in power for two centuries and then claim others are persecuting you.
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u/someoldguyon_reddit Dec 22 '24
Trump's not christian. Hell he's probably not even human.
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u/Healthy_Title8920 Dec 22 '24
He’s the epitome of Christianity
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u/International_Try660 Dec 22 '24
If you're a politician, you are (or pretend to be), what the voters want you to be. That's just until you are elected, then you can just go wild.
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u/WillisVanDamage Dec 22 '24
Trump is 100% the embodiment of American Christendom. He is the Christian.
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u/iComeInPeices Anti-Theist Dec 22 '24
He has said he is… and yes even that one clip where it sounds like he’s saying he’s not, went back over it, he is.
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u/TrueKiwi78 Dec 22 '24
I would be blown away if he's ever read the bible. He thinks way too highly of himself to believe in any other gods. He knows the christian demographic is strong and that they like to vote. Politicians love demographics that they can focus on and manipulate.
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u/iComeInPeices Anti-Theist Dec 23 '24
Most Christians don’t know the Bible, if he claims he is one then that is what he is.
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u/wafflesoulsss Dec 23 '24
I saw an interview where he was asked what he would ask God forgiveness for and he said he wouldn't ask for forgiveness because he's never done anything wrong lol.
My maga family member thinks he's 'the messiah' lol but that's because trump is his only hope for subjugating and harming women children and the lgbtq folks he's obsessed with controlling.
It's sick stuff.
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u/hdckurdsasgjihvhhfdb Dec 22 '24
They have to have a bogeyman to point to scare people. Otherwise everyone will figure them out and stop giving them money and power
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Dec 22 '24
That is a feature, not a bug.
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u/KTMAdv890 Dec 22 '24
I totally disagree with this. Most species perish the exact same way. They run out of resources then they start eating each other.
The delusional reality instilled by religion is how you get humans to start eating each other. They even call it communion.
Man fights when he runs out of ideas. The fastest way to run out of ideas is to hit a contradiction in realities.
USA is the land of 1 million realities when there is only supposed to be 1.
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Dec 22 '24
Not sure you're reacting to the right comment, dude.
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u/KTMAdv890 Dec 22 '24
A delusional reality is no feature. It's a bug and a virus. It's how you end a civilization.
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Dec 22 '24
"persecution mentality" = "feature of Christianity"
As in, built in. That's why the meme survives. "The world hates you, but we will protect you."
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u/KTMAdv890 Dec 22 '24
I apologize but I am not understanding this post. Any chance you could rephrase? I have had only 1 cup of coffee in me.
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Dec 22 '24
What I was getting at is that the whole "they're out to get us" thing is built in and it's a survival mechanism. When I was being indoctrinated by my parents and the religious figures they exposed me to, I was told that the world was an evil place and Satan was working overtime to get me, so I had to stick with the group to protect my immortal soul. It's why so many people have a hard time leaving - because they are literally terrified. The persecution fetish they have is designed to reinforce their control over their members. Again - "there are enemies out there who hate you, but we will protect you".
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u/AlwaysSaysRepost Dec 22 '24
Non-Christians are persecuting Christians by not fully supporting them when they try to pass laws allowing Christians to persecute non-Christians. So, do you feel sorry for them now?
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u/IB4WTF Agnostic Atheist Dec 22 '24
It's hard to have righteous indignation when there's nothing righteous about your position. Unless, of course, you paint yourself as the victim in all situations so that you can also use moral outrage at your "suffering."
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u/Fickle-Copy-2186 Dec 22 '24
Christians and Maga's like playing the victims. It comforts them so they don't have to realize they are losers.
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u/kimprobable Secular Humanist Dec 22 '24 edited Dec 22 '24
I was steeped in stories of persecution up until my early 20s. Once I got out of Christian schools and went to college (where I was told that everybody would be trying to send me to hell), I discovered most of the stories were false and came to the conclusion that they were trying to scare us into staying with the church. They were the only people that cared, the only people that could be trusted. I also had a lot of pressure to go to "Bible College," which would've been a complete waste of time and money, but it would've kept me locked into that community.
I feel like the line of thinking was that if weren't constantly kept afraid of everyone, we would see there wasn't really anything special about the church.
But I feel like it was also justification for taking power and exerting the belief on everyone else wherever possible.
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Dec 22 '24
I’m just happy I got out of Iran when I did because I would’ve gone through the same crap but with a Muslim school instead. Not going to one pissed off my grandfather so much.
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u/Suspicious-Yellow857 Dec 23 '24
Christians believe that people not being christian around them is them being persecuted. If they see a gay couple hold hands infront of them : " im being persecuted" Someone says they are athiest "oh im being persecuted"
Unless society lives by their dogma..they feel persucuted.
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u/technos Dec 23 '24
Every president we’ve ever had so far has been Christian including our current and next president.
According to the addled Boomers I had the displeasure of being behind in the grocery store recently Joe Biden isn't a Christian, he's a Catholic, and that's why 'Merry Christmas' and Jesus are still illegal.
(Their rant was over the fact the gift card display had some festive card sleeves that said 'Happy Ho-ho-holidays' over an illustration of a laughing Santa Claus. If they'd looked four inches to the left they would've seen the 'Merry Christmas' ones.)
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u/dostiers Strong Atheist Dec 22 '24
Playing the 'persecution' card is a 2,000 yo Christian tradition vying with lying for Jesus as the oldest. It wasn't as bad back then as Christians now claim, and it definitely isn't now.
By far the worst persecution has come from other Christians, not from the followers of other religions or atheists.
- "When you're used to getting away with everything, accountability feels like persecution." - Anon
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u/SpingusCZ Ex-Theist Dec 22 '24
They claim that basic education is "religious oppression". If your worldview can't hold up to proven facts, that doesn't mean you're being oppressed, it just means that it's bullshit.
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u/Silver-Chemistry2023 Secular Humanist Dec 23 '24
Christianity is communal narcissism. When the world around them does not look like the false self, it is an existential threat to character trait acquisition. They are convinced that they are being persecuted, because they have an external locus of control. They need us, but we do not need them, and that terrifies a narcissist.
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u/sdega315 Strong Atheist Dec 22 '24
Accusations are admissions of their own sins. They claim to be persecuted to cover the fact that they are bigots who persecute others.
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u/factorplayer Secular Humanist Dec 22 '24
You should have seen them lose their shit when we had to social distance during the pandemic. They swore the whole thing was a conspiracy just to keep people away from church. It's been years now and I still hear them ranting about it.
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u/Lower_Holiday_3178 Dec 22 '24
Knowing that many of them ignored these rules and no longer exist because of that makes me happy
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u/stogie-bear Agnostic Atheist Dec 22 '24
The politicians and fake news egg them on. Like in the post earlier today about the realtor/minister who was “convicted of hate speech” for “sharing bible verses”. Actual story: he ran for office and someone opposed to his politics called attention to his social media hate rant from several years before (that included mentions of things from the Bible). Asked for comment someone from the realtor association said that if he did that now he might be in violation of an association rule that didn’t exist at the time. Aside from that nothing happened.
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u/Acrobatic-Fun-3281 Agnostic Atheist Dec 22 '24
To them, abolishing slavery, and frowning on genocide and indentured servitude = persecution. On one level I get it; these are core tenets of their religion. But they should have figured that at some point, human being were going to evolve and progress to the point where these barbaric practices would fall out of favor. Their religious zealotry blinds them to the possibility of resistance and nothing is more humiliating to a bully than realizing their intended victims are not intimidated
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u/offplanetjanet Dec 22 '24
I think many people “say” they are Christian so they don’t have to deal with being prayed over.
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u/Crazy-4-Conures Dec 22 '24
It's how they keep their adherents obedient flock members. It's a jungle out there and everyone's against you. Even xtians of other sects. You don't think Mormon boys are actually going door-to-door to convert anyone? They're being taught how awful the "outside world" is and how important it is to stay inside.
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u/SpaceAxaPrima Dec 23 '24
Apparently privilege and persecution are the same thing. Nevermind they could go to a different country if they want persecution.
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u/Freakears De-Facto Atheist Dec 23 '24 edited Dec 25 '24
You can’t be the majority in power for two centuries and then claim others are persecuting you.
Never mind the last two centuries. Christians haven't been able to legitimately complain about persecution since the Edict of Milan and the conversion of Constantine to the faith (a.k.a. when Christianity became the establishment).
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u/inabighat Dec 23 '24
They want to feel persecuted. They get off on it. The Bible tells them they'll be hated for their beliefs, so they'll interpret anything as persecution so they can feel more pious.
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u/Benevolent27 Secular Humanist Dec 23 '24
It's because their churches say it, because the bible says it, so politicians say it, and right wing media says it. It makes them feel like they are like a hero protagonist "fighting against all odds for truth and goodness". It gives them a sense of purpose and inflates their ego without actually having to work for it. Win/win
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Dec 23 '24
There is a particular branch of Christianity where the members go on and on about how the government will round them up and put them all in concentration camps any day now,.
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u/OGodIDontKnow Dec 23 '24
Religion is just one big cult. Persecution complex is just a trauma bonding method to keep you united and solidify your programming.
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u/Thepuppeteer777777 Dec 23 '24
They believe there is a secret satanic/freemason/illuminati kabal that is secretly ruling the world, i was indoctrinated with the satanic kabal narrative when I was young., we where seen as persecuted because the secret satanist are out to get us and everything is satanic all media has some conection to satanism. We basically had a satanic panic in the early 2000s
They want to feel persecuted because it follows the narrative that christ told the apostles that they will be persecuted for their faith, nvm the fact that christianity is the second largest religion in the world, that fact is conveniently ignored or the secret kabal is still out to get them or some asinine shit like that.
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u/Sweetdreams6t9 Dec 23 '24
They've been the majority religion in western civilization since it's inception. It's the dominate religion in the world, and iirc its not even close.
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u/Acceptable_String190 Dec 24 '24
They aren't being prosecuted; Americans are just like this. I live in the US too, and you wouldn't believe the stuff I've heard about Christians being assholes.
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Dec 24 '24
Disobeying them is perseuction, as they see it, because they believe they are owed obedience from the rest of society.
And unfortunately, most Americans agree.
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Dec 22 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ShredGuru Dec 23 '24 edited Dec 23 '24
Not on an individual level. It just makes you blind and complicit to evil douchebaggery as an individual. Only like 50% of Christians tops are evil douchebags.
But you know "evil" in that relative atheist sense where they are oblivious to the harm they are doing, the road to hell being paved with good intentions and all that.
Forgive them blackest eternal void, they know not what they do.
And then like 15% are pure malice hiding behind God as a front. You know, bigots, homophobes, misogynists, oppressors, war mongers, thieves, grifters, money grubbers and killers in the name of the lord.
The problem is a lot of the malicious ones are in leadership positions. The tail is very good at wagging the dog with religion.
But believing and basing your life on an elaborate fantasy and letting others think for you is never "harmless".
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u/SirBrews Strong Atheist Dec 22 '24
It's really hard to feel justified as a bigot if you aren't the underdog