On wimpy Christians, the inappropriate use of inverted commas and other contemporary annoyances

My neighbour has a bumper sticker that says, "You make Jesus cry". My instinctive reaction, as with most of the pronouncements one hears, or reads, from the religious is to ask the question, "And how do you know this, exactly?" More specifically, I'd like to know whether the gentleman with the bummer sticker hasn't considered the possibility that Jesus isn't up there crying, thinking to himself, "Why are so many of my followers such candy-ass cry babies?"

Because I think this is a distinct possibility. I'll take as evidence for the prosecution their whole attitude towards "persecution". I'll come to the whole inverted commas thing in due course - here it is appropriate because what your average Christian tries to pass off as this is anything but. Take this, for example, from some American god-botherer commenting on the British scene:

"[T]here is every reason for to speak, as they are in Rimini, of "Christianophobia". But I am nervous of using the term. Persecuted minorities see themselves as victims, and victims tend to claim a kind of moral superiority which seeks to deny legitimacy to their critics. Attack Israeli security policy, and you are "antisemitic". Ask why Muslims do not speak out against terrorism, and you are "Islamophobic".

Christians need to identify their persecutors and name the persecution and prejudice for what it is. But they also need to beware the temptations of victimhood. The "unity" that comes from a shared sense of victimhood is just as dangerously seductive as that of the hissing crowd."

When one considers that what prompted the writer of this piece to claim the status of 'persecuted minority' for Christians was a call (people are always 'calling' for things these days) for faith schools to stop discriminating against staff and pupils on the basis of religious affiliation, I think it would be fair to say that he succumbed to the temptations of victimhood some time ago.

Here's the present situation: in England, as in Scotland, the present system discriminates in favour of the religious - controlling more schools than their weight in the population could possibly justify. The merest suggestion that perhaps just maybe, if it's alright with you, we might suggest this is a little unfair and perhaps you might stop this, amounts to "persecution" these days. This brings me to the whole use of inverted commas thing. From the beeb piece:

"Accord, a new coalition of secular and religious figures, wants the government to stop state-funded schools engaging in what they say is "discrimination"."

The word being in inverted commas because "they say" it's "discrimination" but the author of the article wants to make it clear that this is by no means universally accepted. Who, after all, can really say what discrimination is? Hmmm, I'll have a go - and give you a personal example to illustrate the goddam point here.

Term's started up here and things are uncharacteristically slow on the supply front. I did get a phone call about one gig going in a Catholic school in Glasgow. Long-term, my subject, me qualified, can do this shit standing on my head - so...cool, except the disqualifying question: "Are you RC approved?", I was asked.

I said, "I don't think the Roman Catholic Church knows who I am but if they did, I'm sure they wouldn't approve of me."

Ok, I didn't really.

If you don't think what I've experienced here can be classified as "discrimination" then frankly you need remedial education - and this would be something that I ain't prepared to give you - unless you pay me for it; then I might consider it.

And apart from this deranged hallucinating about persecution where there is in fact privilege, there's the utterly pathetic attitude of the 'religious lobby' to contend with. It's all rather unChristian, apart from anything else. Here's what Jesus had to say about the whole persecution thing:

"Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you."

Say what you like about them apostles but they took this on board:

"And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. And they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name."

Contrast and compare with the whining (often highly-paid) cretins who don't seem "exceedingly glad" in the least. Instead they clutter up the press and the blogosphere bitching and complaining about stuff that no one with either any understanding of the English language and/or history could reasonably describe as "persecution".

If I were an all-powerful deity with a sense of fun, I'd be inflicting them with plagues of boils and other really itchy stuff that would teach them not to talk such crap. That this isn't happening just serves to re-enforce my unbelief.

Just saying like...