When Have You, Personally, Ever Been Persecuted or Oppressed by a Christian?

a reply to: winstontoo

Context is a rather important thing as well.

Satanists, as far as I know, do not believe in God, nor Lucifer.

"in god we trust"

Likely is meant to be a tribute to the christian God.

However, inalienable rights are usually attributed to something greater than ourselves - So something really on the fence might offend less, but just be not needed anyways like " In something greater than ourselves we trust " - Which is definitely the vision of the forefathers, I'd argue, but to inscribe such a message on our currency wouldn't be reasonable or worth it.

Been said before...but will reiterate it as well;

I've certainly been persecuted by, well, quite simply a-holes.

...and as we know, a-holes tend to come in all shapes, sizes, situations, colours, cultures, creeds, contexts etc.

a reply to: NthOther

How about the fact we will never see the day that an athiest will ever be elected President in our life time? Or a non Christian for that mater?

a reply to: NthOther

Yes I've had Christians come to "save me" when they find out I am a Pagan and Heathen ( I do not advertise it either. ). I've had co-workers (who are Christian) suddenly stop talking to me when they find this out too. Rumors get spread etc. So yes they have tried to persecute me, to be fair, I go right back at them, as I'm not a fluffy pacifist. So they only make that mistake once.

a reply to: Noinden

Hurt your feelings, did they?

a reply to: NthOther

Not in the slightest. They did invade my space however, and I responded in kind. In one case, I had them trespassed from my property, but in most cases, I out argued them on faith The ones at work? Given I work in the sciences, sort of shot themselves in the foot more than oppressing me.

From my first memories until I left my faith. The thing is I was a Christian too. Being a Jehovah's Witness in the 60's and 70's wasn't any fun. Humiliation and physical torment were daily occurrences.

originally posted by: Noinden

Not in the slightest. They did invade my space however, and I responded in kind.

Ah. They made you uncomfortable.

Horrible people.

originally posted by: NthOther

originally posted by: Noinden

Not in the slightest. They did invade my space however, and I responded in kind.

Ah. They made you uncomfortable.

Horrible people.

No, they beat the living # out of me. Humiliated me. Picture a 12 yo boy being held down by someone that hit puberty before I did while a girl kicked me in the head. How Christian.

a reply to: intrepid

That wasn't directed at you.

But.

Bullies will be bullies. Especially when they're kids. Christians are not immune to the bully virus taking hold among their children.

a reply to: NthOther

No not that either. They tried to impose their values on me, with out understanding me. Interesting you are trying to interpret what happened neighbor. The words I used are a description of what happened. Lets make it simple, I don't care what another belief system is, I respect them all. But it has to be reciprocal, if it is not, then it is war.

a reply to: intrepid

I think that was for me

originally posted by: NthOther
a reply to: Noinden

Hurt your feelings, did they?

Just seeking some clarification here...

Are you specifically attempting to troll?

As that response kinda sounds a whole lot like you are...
Sounds pretty snarky and trollish.

a reply to: alien

100% trolling and smug as heck about it

1. Defining the question in a manner suited to basically say everyone is wrong but me

2. Make light of people who were hurt

3. Ignoring the millions who have been persecuted by Christians because a tiny sample on ATS who don't fit the definition set by OP

yup...sounds like a rational and unbiased discussion to me

a reply to: alien

It seems that is trolling. Rather crappy trolling mind, but trolling

originally posted by: NthOther
a reply to: namelesss

But when has it happened to YOU?

Did you read the OP?

Yes I read it, and if you won't take my word that it has happened, I will not be baited into giving you all the sordid details for your orgy of (denial) masturbatory pleasure!
In other words,
"No! You cannot hump my leg! Shoo!"
Go lock yourself in the bathroom like everyone else!

a reply to: deadlyhope

Perhaps using the original motto that the forefathers chose not the one that was chosen in the 1950s.

I believe you should visit countries with Christian Missionaries having ONE and ONLY ONE purpose - To convert native population into Christianity.

Let me tell you a couple of instances and then you could try and connect the dots.


In my native village in Southern India, nobody has heard about Christianity. Christian missionaries came to India during late part of 1800's (alongwithand British East India company) and still were unable to penetrate all the villages in India (due to vast landscape).
Hindu temples in India are always built next to a stream, flowing rivers or still lakes. In my village (or rather my family village), we had a temple right opposite to the sole water pump which provides water.
There are no mosques or church since the entire population is Hindu.
Few years back, a loner wandered into the village and the village folks were courteous enough to provide him with land to build a house. Half way through he said he wanted to convert it into a Church since there is no place to pray (fair enough).
Later, once the construction was complete he started having frequent visitors (missionaries) who understood the potential of the village and started slowly preaching about Christianity.

Believe it or not, when I visited last, folks who were not willing to pray in the church were not allowed to borrow water from the pump. My distant relatives moved on after selling their land and throw away prices. Last heard, over 75% of the village is now Christians.


Another incident happened to a friend of mine in a big metropolis like Bangalore (IT hub of India). His children are enrolled in a convent school and get picked up by the school bus driver.
One day his son came back from school and started asking his parents to buy Jesus Christ idol and start praying to him instead of Indian gods. They were taken aback and on further enquiring they found the below.

On his way to school, the bus driver (a Christian) stopped the bus mid-way and said the bus had gone faulty. He asked all children to pray to Hindu gods and tried to start the bus and it failed. Later he asked them all to pray to Allah, and the bus failed to start.
He then asked the children (aged between 4-8 years) to pray for almighty JESUS and vroom the bus started working again.
He abused other gods and said they were FAKE and asked them to believe in JESUS instead.
The story was corroborated by other parents.


Just my 0.0002 cents.

a reply to: TexasSeabee

I think "E pluribus unum" would be fine.

Was that the original motto or no?

When I was very little, I lived in an all mexican neighborhood in Los Angeles. I was the only white kid there, and we were largely disliked because of that. I still gravitated towards the other children around, willing to be abused in various ways as long as I wasn't alone. So they would organize games like "Crack the Whip" in which I was always the tail end, and they had fun making me fly off and get hurt. Or various role playing games, like "Family" in which I was to play the dog, and they'd tie a rope around my neck and pull me around, or punish me for being a "Bad dog".

Their families were all christians, and as the children were used to hearing their parents talk about us, they would use religion to put me down, telling me that Satan lived in my house and God hated me. I was only five, so I had no defense or argument to give.

A few years later, I had an aunt who was a fervent born again Christian. She would take me alone and lecture me, telling me that I was going to hell, to pay for the sins of my mother (my parents were then divorced and she had a boyfriend she slept with out of wedlock). She explained to me that it didn't matter what I did, or how I lived my life - me and any children I ever have will pay for the sins of my mother, because that is how it works.

She would take me to Sunday school sometimes, explaining to the teacher before leaving me there, that I was already doomed, there was no way to save me, but by bringing me anyway, she is at least doing her christian duty. She didn't explain to the woman why I was cursed, so the woman would look at me with a grimace, probably wondering what kind of terrible thing I had done. I would try extra hard to be as good and obedient as I could, but it made absolutely no difference.

Then she got involved in some group that would meet together and hold some sort of ceremony with swords, swearing their allegiance as soldiers for God, and they made me repeat some sort of litany pledging myself to Christ. They all started crying and scared the heck out of me, telling me I had to behave certain ways now to save my soul - I don't remember the details, I was traumatized.


I think that religious beliefs can be used to hurt and oppress people if that is what people want to do. My aunt was eventually diagnosed as schizophrenic and hospitalized for a while, and now is medicated for life, so she is more normal. The behavior of the christian families in my old neighborhood (for the children picked up the hostility toward white people from their parents) held hostile attitudes due to other social problems, for which they used religion as a weapon.

These experiences, though you may not consider it a forced oppression, because I was very young, had a deep effect upon me and impacted the rest of my life, including now. Psychological testing now still comes up with me being a "repressed extrovert" - I seem, to those around me, to be an introvert. I actually have a natural drive and desire to be with others and active with others, but that early oppression has made it impossible for me to do so. I suffer from that more than you can imagine.

With all psychological disorders, it sounds, to those who do not suffer it, like it is not a "real" barrier - one simply must choose to do otherwise. This is not the case. I have spent years in therapy, various spiritual searches, prayer, meditation, etc.

My whole personality was built upon a few basic premises that I cannot seem to overcome, even when I think I have -
It does not matter what I do, how I behave, what choices I make, or how I think or feel... those play no part in what others will think of me, feel about me, or what will happen to me.
People will always hate me and want to hurt me, no matter what I do. There is no hope, and if ever a person seems to like me or treat me kindly, it is an illusion I am creating for myself. It is not possible for anyone to love me or like me, because God does not love me or like me.

So my life has no hope in it when it comes to my place in the world and with others. I can only watch from inside and love the world I observe in a disconnected way. Getting involved actively means only pain, though I choose to jump in sometimes anyway, because even that is sometimes better than the isolation. Until it gets to be too much and I retreat again.

Religion is like any tool - it can be used to create or destroy. LIke a hammer can be used to build a shelter, or to crack a skull.
Having a hammer in hand does not make a person a carpenter; neither does a gun make a person a defender of the weak.