Poor Poor Put-Upon You

Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission has published last year's "Top Ten Anti-Christian Acts" and wonders aloud, "If these are not bona-fide examples of persecution, [then] I wonder how much more it would take?"

He might start by reading Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1563) for a clue ... or even the Book of Acts in the New Testament.  St Stephen should only have had it so easy as to be forced to watch HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm this year!

And with only two of the ten acts involving bodily harm to Christians, he might have to admit that Christians are considerably less persecuted than, say, gays, lesbians, transsexuals, and bisexuals, whose bashings and murders have seen an increase in the past ten years, higher than crimes committed against all religions, according to FBI statistics.

Of course, Cass is unlikely to admit this because at the very top of his list of anti-Christian attacks, is the Federal Hate Crimes Bill, which, in his twisted mind, somehow prevents him and other hate-mongers from telling the "truth about homosexuality."  He seems less concerned that he is tacitly embracing "hate" and "crime" as values he defends and espouses.

Most ridiculous of all, the inclusion of a gay marching band in Obama's inauguration parade earns Cass and others a martyr's crown as well.  (How much greater is the daily bombardment of televangelism on TV and a Gideon's Bible in every motel [the poor man's den of iniquity] in the nation?  If he's going to scrape the bottoms of barrels for examples, it would appear that just about everyone is persecuted ... and largely by professed Christians.)

I would think that, right now, Cass and his organization are among the biggest thorns in the side of twenty-first-century Christendom, because people like him have taken the legacy of those brave souls persecuted in the first century to justify their persecution of just about everyone else ever since:

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.  (Matthew 7.3-5, New International Version)