Much has been written about Religious Liberty and Religious Persecution in the past few weeks. Those of the Religious persuasion, see themselves as being personal aggrieved.
Supposedly they have been victimized, by having to open their Business Doors to All.
Of course, by playing the Religious 'Victim card' -- they are ignoring history, ignoring key moral leaders of our times, and they are ignoring 'how good they actually have it' -- in the free practice of their Religion, in a country that values 'tolerance' as a great social good.
Imagine the reactions of these uniquely 21th-century American Victims, IF they hadn't the benefits, derived from the blessing of the "time and place" of their birth ...
Indiana's religious freedom law runs counter to Christ's message
by Shannyn Moore, adn.com -- April 4, 2015
[...]
When I was growing up near Nikolaevsk, an Old Believer Russian village on the Kenai Peninsula, there was an elder named Vasily Basargin. I remember that he was terribly scarred, like someone who had been chewed up. Millions of his Russian countrymen had been put to death during the first decades of communist rule there.
[...]
The Old Believers ended up in America because President John Kennedy announced that Russian dissidents anywhere in the world would be welcome here.
The tyranny of communism drove the Believers from one continent to another. Religious persecution wasn’t an abstract idea in Nikolaevsk. It was real, and it included a body count. Mr. Basargin wasn't interested in a state that banned religion, and neither am I. But I also don’t believe in religious beliefs enforced by law.
Think about that and then think about the cynical actions of the Republican leaders of Indiana last week. The "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" was pushed by right-wing bigots in response to the growing recognition that LGBT citizens deserve the same rights as the rest of us. The act was a tool intended to enable discrimination against LGBT citizens under the guise of religious freedom. I wanted to ask Mr. Basargin what he thought about the horror of being forced to sell pizza for a gay wedding reception, but he’s no longer with us. (The pope, by contrast, chose to share a meal with LGBT people.)
[...]
Good man, that Pope Francis -- he really tries to 'practice what he preaches'.
And Francis is well aware of 'time and place' -- and how to put real human rights abuses in a larger context, as he just did this 'Super-Bowl' weekend (for modern Believers):
Pope decries religious persecution, Kenyan killings
france24.com -- 2015-04-05
[...]
The pope also spoke about Kenya, where al Shabaab gunmen massacred nearly 150 people, singling out Christians for point-blank executions.
“May constant prayer rise up from all people of goodwill for those who lost their lives -- I think in particular of the young people who were killed last Thursday at Garissa University College in Kenya -- for all who have been kidnapped, and for those forced to abandon their homes and their dear ones.”
[...]
He prayed for peace in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, where Boko Haram Islamist militants have also targeted Christian churches.
“We ask for peace and freedom for the many men and women subject to old and new forms of enslavement on the part of criminal individuals and groups,” he said.
Those are some strong words from the Pope on the topic of
Religious Persecution. Notice how he left out the part about helping
the poor, oppressed Business-owners in the USA, who just might have to "serve pizza" at a gay customer's wedding.
Guess, he's got much bigger things on his mind ... you know like REAL Persecution, and REAL Victims, of that Persecution.
If the Religiously-inclined people in this country, continue to insist that they are being "Persecuted" by having to "serve others," different than themselves -- someone should remind them what REAL Religious Persecution is.
As Pope Francis just did. The whiny navel-gazers living in the 'Land of the Free', really do not know about that which they speak ...
Terrorists ordered Kenyan students to recite the Koran and shot or beheaded them if they couldn't
by Ben Rossington, mirror.co.uk -- 3 April 2015
Students executed in the Kenyan university massacre were quizzed on the Koran and murdered if they failed the test.
[...]
The official death toll of 147 was expected to rise in the coming days, with another 79 injured, some critically. Nearly 600 students managed to escape.
[...]
Muslims were allowed to go free but Christians were shot or beheaded [by al-Shabab terrorists].
Anyone who said they were Muslim were ordered to recite the Shahada, the Islamic testimony of faith, or quote sections from the Koran to prove it.
Those who could not were shot on the spot.
THAT is Persecution. That is the denial of basic Human Rights. That is why so many folks choose to have nothing/as little as possible/grudging use of Religion, in today's hyperbolic age.
Frankly, those Business owners who complain about having to "serve others" different from themselves, as an egregious form of "Religious Persecution," really don't know what those words mean.
And they really don't know what key moral leaders of historic times, said on the topic either:
Acts 20:35 ESV [...] remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
Luke 22:25-27 ESV And he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
In other words, those modern-day "benefactors" who love to complain about
Others,
really don't know ... about that which they preach: This key multi-layered religious concept of "Service."
And that REAL Religious Persecution has very little to do with it: the idea, the exaltation, and even the requirement of: Serving Others.