Former Archbishop of Canterbury to "persecuted" Christians: grow up

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Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams had some words for the people running around complaining about how persecuted they are because teh gays are allowed to marry and abortion is still legal;

Christians in Britain and the US who claim that they are persecuted should “grow up” and not exaggerate what amounts to feeling “mildly uncomfortable”, according to Rowan Williams, who last year stepped down as archbishop of Canterbury after an often turbulent decade.

“When you’ve had any contact with real persecuted minorities you learn to use the word very chastely,” he said. “Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable. ‘For goodness sake, grow up,’ I want to say.”

True persecution was “systematic brutality and often murderous hostility that means that every morning you wonder if you and your children are going to live through the day”. He cited the experience of a woman he met in India “who had seen her husband butchered by a mob”.

All that stuff going on last year with the Catholic Bishops whining about how persecuted they were was the straw that broke my back. I felt they were turning it all into a crass political game, and cheapened the sacrifice of everyone who made the ultimate sacrifice for their faith. I wonder if any of these Bishops will take the time to grow up? Somehow I doubt it.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. American Evangelical Christians regularly say

That (1) they represent a majority of Americans and (b) they are being relentlessly persecuted. First, the phrase "relentlessly persecuted majority" is an excellent example of an oxymoron. Second, I agree with Archbishop Williams: They are "mildly uncomfortable," not persecuted. Sending Jews to Auschwitz is persecution; passing gay marriage laws is not. Basically, their claims of "persecution" amount to "They are being mean to us by not giving us our way" -- a cry one might expect from a four-year-old, not an adult.