Why are Christians demonized in the media?
Not in my experience. Dad and I were reliant for a time on food from the Salvation Army and the local Catholic Parish. The stuff was really ok, as good as I got in the army.
Well, you're in Australia, where helping others is a big part of your culture. In America, you would be getting a small ration of low quality, donated stuff that no-one else wanted.
Kraichgauer
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In some cases, flesh was cut from living people. An Indian POW, Lance Naik Hatam Ali (later a citizen of Pakistan), testified that in New Guinea: "the Japanese started selecting prisoners and every day one prisoner was taken out and killed and eaten by the soldiers. I personally saw this happen and about 100 prisoners were eaten at this place by the Japanese. The remainder of us were taken to another spot 50 miles [80 km] away where 10 prisoners died of sickness. At this place, the Japanese again started selecting prisoners to eat. Those selected were taken to a hut where their flesh was cut from their bodies while they were alive and they were thrown into a ditch where they later died."
Another well-documented case occurred in Chichijima in February 1945, when Japanese soldiers killed and consumed five American airmen. This case was investigated in 1947 in a war crimes trial, and of 30 Japanese soldiers prosecuted, five (Maj. Matoba, Gen. Tachibana, Adm. Mori, Capt. Yoshii, and Dr. Teraki) were found guilty and hanged. In his book Flyboys: A True Story of Courage, James Bradley details several instances of cannibalism of World War II Allied prisoners by their Japanese captors. The author claims that this included not only ritual cannibalization of the livers of freshly killed prisoners, but also the cannibalization-for-sustenance of living prisoners over the course of several days, amputating limbs only as needed to keep the meat fresh
My God! The humanity! The... the...
PROSPECTS THIS HAS FOR MAKING A GREAT HORROR FILM!! !! !! !! !! !! !!
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
Kraich, that's not new. If anything, you should also find it amusing that the West has so much allusions to cannibalism, such as the french song of "il était un petit navire" that's often sung to children, where the sailors having no food left, decide to eat the cabin boy, who is saved in extremis by God or somesuch by a fish landing on the boat's deck.
Not to mention the allusion of eating Jesus's "flesh and blood". <.<
In our archaeology of death (or funeral archaeology) class, there was also a story about a japanese guy who had killed his french girlfriend and ate her, he's still running free in Japan btw. <.< He apparently had ate her tongue first, because he liked the french "tongue", if you know what I mean.
We also had a few american cases discussed about some disturbed fellow who would feign being gay, so he could bring gays over to his home, kill them and eat them. (I reckon he seemed to target black gays. o.O) And obviously, he would eat their genitals first.
Kraichgauer
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Not to mention the allusion of eating Jesus's "flesh and blood". <.<
In our archaeology of death (or funeral archaeology) class, there was also a story about a japanese guy who had killed his french girlfriend and ate her, he's still running free in Japan btw. <.< He apparently had ate her tongue first, because he liked the french "tongue", if you know what I mean.
We also had a few american cases discussed about some disturbed fellow who would feign being gay, so he could bring gays over to his home, kill them and eat them. (I reckon he seemed to target black gays. o.O) And obviously, he would eat their genitals first.
All true. But I thought the Japanese guy's girlfriend was Dutch.
But anyhow... There is plenty of evidence that our ancestors who had erected the megaliths in Europe had practiced ritual cannibalism, as had their Mesolithic forebears. I'm currently working on a short horror story about cannibalism taking place in my own Spokane area, so we'll see how that works out.
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
What I meant in my OP is that people get angry and upset at Christians for opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage, yet religions like Islam do not allow abortion (in the U.S., it's legal even in the "red" states), and homosexuality is punishable by death in some Muslim majority nations. In Judaism, there are neighborhoods (particularly in Jerusalem) where ultra-orthodox vigilante groups impose strict religious law. In India, same-sex marriage is not allowed nationwide, and Hinduism is opposed to the practice.
But according to the comment makers, only the "right-wing Christian establishment" is capable of being intolerant. And to them, "right-wing" refers to all Christians.
Kraichgauer
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But according to the comment makers, only the "right-wing Christian establishment" is capable of being intolerant. And to them, "right-wing" refers to all Christians.
I think in most cases where the religious right is attacked, it's referring to America, where most citizens are Christians. Were we in India, or Israel, I'm sure Hinduism of Judaism would be criticized.
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
I think the issue happens to be that America was a progressive nation. Children grew up in liberal mainline protestant homes and were well educated at suburban public schools. We expected society to progress (less bigotry, gay marriage, greater education, etc.). However, the nation has politically and religiously shifted far to the right. Right wing baptist, catholic, and protestant churches far outnumber mainline protestant churches. Religion and ultra-conservative churches actively engage in politics. It is a threat to our liberty and a scary trend to consider over time...
Kraichgauer
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Amen.
I consider my church body, the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, to be a right-of-center mainline Protestant, but I have seen an increasingly lurch to the right on the national level. Luckily enough, here in the Pacific Northwest, Missouri Synod Lutherans are still considered more moderate leaning.
-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer
Some people see anti-Christian attitudes in certain sections of the American media and conclude the American media is dominated by "liberals". Other people look at certain sections of the American media, see extreme concern with radical Islam and enthusiastic support for intervention in the Middle East and conclude that the American media is dominated by "conservatives".
The explanation is quite simple: the American media is in fact dominated by jews. This simple fact is well understood by millions of non-Americans who take a passing interest in the political conditions in the world's largest superpower. It is quite bizarre to see how little this fact (and its effects on the opinions of everyday Americans) is acknowledged on this forum.
jewish media bias is not really about religion though; it's about race. And since a fair few Christians like to proclaim their belief in the brotherhood of man and/or about jews being "God's Chosen People", it is not always easy for me to sympathize with them.
But anyway, some quotes-
"Fatal Embrace" - by jewish academic Benjamin Ginsburg (1993)
Operation Shylock: A Confession by jewish writer Philp Roth
Being Jewish, I should report, Christmas was never celebrated by my family.
,,, But the dirty little secret in America is that anti-Semitism is no longer a problem in society – it’s been replaced by a rampant anti-Christianity.
It is the ACLU, which is overwhelmingly Jewish in terms of membership and funding, that is leading the attack against Christianity in America. It is they who have conned far too many people into believing that the phrase “separation of church and state” actually exists somewhere in the Constitution.
You may have noticed, though, that the ACLU is highly selective when it comes to religious intolerance. The same group of self-righteous shysters who, at the drop of a “Merry Christmas” will slap you with an injunction, will fight for the right of an American Indian to ingest peyote and a devout Islamic woman to be veiled on her driver’s license.
"The Jewish grinch who stole Christmas" - by jewish writer Bert Prelutsky, 2005, http://www.wnd.com/2005/12/33776/
- Hollywood vs America: The Popular Culture and War on Traditional Values, 1992 by jewish writer Michael Medved
A few weeks before jewish TV journalist Andrea Mitchell described Iowa as "too white", jewish academic Stephen Bloom wrote this in The Atlantic:
... After years and years of in-your-face religion, I decided to give what has become an annual lecture, in which I urge my students not to bid strangers "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Easter," "Have you gotten all your Christmas shopping done?" or "Are you going to the Easter egg hunt?" Such well-wishes are not appropriate for everyone, I tell my charges gently. A cheery "Happy holidays!" will suffice. Small potatoes, I know, but did everyone have to proclaim their Christianity so loud and clear?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc ... _page=true
A few weeks back, Rabbi Joshua Hammerman wrote a hit-piece about the openly Christian football player Tim Tebow. The piece was later taken down, but it is referred to and quoted on the Town Hall website: http://townhall.com/columnists/tonykatz ... page/full/
Here are some quotes from the original piece. The fact that the piece was later taken down does suggest that it was not intended as "satire".
If Tebow wins the Super Bowl, against all odds, it will buoy his faithful, and emboldened faithful can do insane things, like burning mosques, bashing gays and indiscriminately banishing immigrants. While America has become more inclusive since Jerry Falwell’s first political forays, a Tebow triumph could set those efforts back considerably.
I expect all this will be met with the usual reactions:
"Teh Joooooooooos!"
"They're just good businessmen, and you're just jealous!"
"I bet you believe in the protocols of zion, huh? What about the lizards, huh?"
"Who can blame them after all they have suffered?! It's all the anti-semites' fault!"
"Well that's just offensive" (pout, pout)
Christians are demonized in the same way that heterosexuals are discriminated against, white people are prominent targets of racism, and men are victims of sexism.
I mean, I can certainly see the problem. It is nearly impossible for Christians to be elected into public office in the USA. Presidential candidates would lose all public support if they openly came out as Christians. In some states, it is actually illegal for Christians to be elected governor. And when Presidents and other federal officials are sworn in, they place their hand on a copy of Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" (one page of which is displayed above the entrance of the Supreme Court) and conclude their oath with "...so help me rational skepticism".
George Bush sr., a staunch atheist and freethinker, once said "I don't know that Christians should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under freethought." According to polls, Christians are the least trusted and the most disliked minority in the USA, and are deemed un-American by more than 40% of the US population. Christian scholars receive tons of hate mail and outright death threats from climate scientists, gay rights activists and atheist authors. The list goes on. This public persecution of Christians has to end!
I mean, I can certainly see the problem. It is nearly impossible for Christians to be elected into public office in the USA. Presidential candidates would lose all public support if they openly came out as Christians. In some states, it is actually illegal for Christians to be elected governor. And when Presidents and other federal officials are sworn in, they place their hand on a copy of Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" (one page of which is displayed above the entrance of the Supreme Court) and conclude their oath with "...so help me rational skepticism".
George Bush sr., a staunch atheist and freethinker, once said "I don't know that Christians should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots. This is one nation under freethought." According to polls, Christians are the least trusted and the most disliked minority in the USA, and are deemed un-American by more than 40% of the US population. Christian scholars receive tons of hate mail and outright death threats from climate scientists, gay rights activists and atheist authors. The list goes on. This public persecution of Christians has to end!
whut?
_________________
Opportunities multiply as they are seized. -Sun Tzu
Nature creates few men brave, industry and training makes many -Machiavelli
You can safely assume that you've created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do
Below is the data on the makeup of the 112th US Congress. 57% identify as Protestant, and 29% identify as Catholic. Clearly they aren't just conservatives, either because Congress isn't 86% conservative. Obviously this "media conspiracy" is not very good at deterring voters from electing Christians into the Senate and House. Sardonicism aside, when the vast majority of the people who create the federal laws in the US are Christian, I can't see how Christians in general could possibly be oppressed. I'm not going to read through the data on all of the state legislatures, but I assume it is probably similar. Obviously individuals who identify as Christian could be oppressed for various other reasons but likely not on the basis of their religious beliefs. I'm not saying this because I hate Christians but because I honestly cannot understand where this idea comes from. Also, interestingly enough, there are currently no atheists in Congress and only two Muslims. Make of that what you will.
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/174246.pdf
Also, if you're curious, here's some census data from 1990, 2001, and 2008 on the religious makeup of the US adult population. About 76% identified as Christian in 2008 (if I did my math correctly because there aren't any percentages, just raw numbers).
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/ ... 2s0075.pdf
Edit: I think my point got a bit lost there. It's almost 2 am, and I'm not at my sharpest. What I meant was that regardless of any negative media representation (assuming it is true that Christians are disproportionally represented negatively), Christians as a religious group hold a great deal more political power than any other religious group.
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