From: "Anlatt the Builder" 

It is a sad fact of life that, if any group of people has been in a
position of supremacy for a long time, and society makes a move (no matter
how small) towards equality instead, many people in the first group will
feel that something they are entitled to is being taken away, and that
therefore they are being "discriminated against,"
"oppressed," or "robbed."

But no group is entitled to supremacy. Everyone has to learn to share.

So some whites spent many years looking at the black civil rights movement
an screaming, "They're TAKING OVER!" (although, of course, it was
whites who "took over" centuries ago). And some men look at the
progress towards women's equality and complain about "feminazis who
want to control us" (although what they really mean is that men should
stay in control).

Today the clearest example is related to gays striving for equality. You
can't swing a cat without hitting some homophobe (fortunately, not all
straight people, but some) whining about how "gays are shoving their
lifestlyes down our throats. And we OWN marriage and they're trying to TAKE
IT AWAY. They want to destroy the family! They're after our children!"

Gays just want equality. They are not trying to take away marriage from
anyone - straights will always be able to get married. They don't want to
"destroy the family," they just want equal respect for their own
families. They aren't after your children - they ARE your children.

(By the way, there's nothing new here. Blacks were "after our white
daughters." Jews were "going to destroy the Christian
family." Followed by "supporting" quotes from the Bible.
And, of course, non- Christian groups are quite capable of being just as
unfair, when they're in power. And many Christians are willing to fight for
equality for all. Good for them.)

And now we have some Christians complaining about being "discriminated
against." What they mean is: "They're not letting us use
state-run schools, courts, and land to promote our particular religion.
They're actually letting Wiccans join the army and put their symbol on
military tombstones, just as if they were AS GOOD AS US. They won't let us
teach our particular religious creation stories in high school science
classes. The government sometimes acts like all religions should be treated
equally, and people shouldn't be harrassed and disciriminated against just
because they don't share our religious beliefs!"

That's their real complaint, but they misleadingly back it up with
"argument by anecdote:" find some nasty, anonymous anti-Christian
comment and a blog somewhere, and act like it represents "all
liberals." Pick a real case in which Christians were mistreated - it
happens, the U.S. isn't perfect - and, instead of dealing with the real
issues in the case, pretend it was just an attack on all Christians, by all
non-Christians. Or, after a Christian religious group makes a nasty, ugly
statement like:

***
Hollywood is controlled by secular Jews who hate Christianity in general
and Catholicism in particular. It's not a secret, okay? And I'm not afraid
to say it. ... Hollywood likes anal sex. They like to see the public square
without nativity scenes. I like families. I like children. They like
abortions.

(William A. Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and
Civil Rights.)
***

and people say - quite rightly - "You're disgusting and your group
promotes lies and prejudice," they will claim that that proves those
people are "anti-Catholic." As  though defending yourself against
vile prejudice makes you a bigot.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of people in Congress are Christians, and the
presdient is Christian, and almost all the Supreme Court is Christian, and
no group in power is saying that Christians should not be able to get
married, or serve in the military, or practice all of the other rights that
they take entirely for granted but which some of them will deny to other
people, if they can get away with it.

And they call this "being discriminated against."

And I have some sympathy. Losing ANYTHING you've had for a long time, like
supremacy - even if you were never entitled to it; even if it goes against
fairness and justice; even if it creates a two-tier society, with
first-class citizens and second-class citizens - stings a little.

But then you get used to equality, and find it was best after all.

If Christians cannot learn to share with others, who can?

--- BBBS/LiI v4.01 Flag