In a message dated Feb. 20, 1998, VvJUSTINvV writes:

Do these things really constitute persecution? I have a big nose, and it's shaped funny. I often have heard people making fund of it 'behind my back'. Is that persecution? My boss drives a Ford Pinto, and all of us at the office make fun of him. Is this persecution? Another person in our office is Hindu and believes in 650,000 different gods. Behind her back everyone snickers. If asked, I'm not afraid to tell her my opinion to her face. Is this persecution?

I declare my lack of god-belief before all, and most people say 'shame!' Is this persecution?

The Christian either explicitly or tacitly states that I will face judgment and be cast into the Lake of Fire forever and ever simply for my disbelief. Do I call this persecution?

Since when is one person's verbally expressed judgment a form of persecution in a free society? Isn't that the point of a free society, that the individuals who abide therein can have their own opinions and assessments of every idea and notion they encounter? Do I need to have the religionist's approval and permission to think him either stupid or dishonest for accepting god-belief claims?

Since when would my verbal derision of RELIGION be considered persecution?

Opinions are NOT persecution.

If you want examples of persecution, I don't think you'll find any of them in modern-day America, unless you're a businessman. America is where one can believe as he or she wishes, and his or her right to his beliefs/non-beliefs are protected by law and constitution.

Try being an atheist in Iran, and then you can tell me about persecution.

Please, do not whine about being mistreated or make grandiose accusation against 'society' for persecuting you as a Christian. No matter who you are, and no matter what you say, theist or atheist, anyone who asserts a certainty in any way, shape or form, is the one who is ridiculed, derided or chastised. But persecuted?

Give me a break!

Tindrbox

_________________________________