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Christian persecution complex
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The Christian persecution complex is the belief, attitude, or worldview that Christian values and Christians are being oppressed by social groups and governments in the Western world.[1] This belief is promoted by certain American Protestant churches,[2] and some Christian- or Bible-based groups in Europe.[3] It has been called the "Evangelical",[4] "American Christian"[5] or "Christian right"[6] persecution complex.
Early Christianity
[edit]According to New Testament scholar Candida Moss, the Christian "persecution complex" appeared during the era of early Christianity due to internal Christian identity politics.[7] Moss suggested that the idea of persecution is cardinal to the worldview of Christianity, noting that it creates the impression that Christians, even when numerically superior, are a minority facing a war.[8] This perception is grounded in the belief that the world is divided into two factions, one led by God and the other by Satan. In this view, there is no compromise between the two, and attempts at dialogue and engagement with "the other" are already seen as a form of collaboration with it.[9] Medieval historian Paul Cavill has argued that the New Testament portrays persecution as inherent to Christianity.[10]
20th century
[edit]According to Elizabeth Castelli,[11] some set the starting point of the Christian persecution complex in the middle of the 20th century, following a series of court rulings that declared public places to be out of bounds for religious activity, e.g. state-sanctioned morning prayer in schools.[12] The persecution complex became readily apparent in the United States in the 1990s with the adoption of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 as the official foreign policy. The complex "mobilizes the language of religious persecution to shut down political debate and critique by characterizing any position not in alignment with this politicized version of Christianity as an example of anti-religious bigotry and persecution. Moreover, it routinely deploys the archetypal figure of the martyr as a source of unquestioned religious and political authority".[13]
21st century
[edit]The September 11 attacks boosted its development.[13] The concept of an oppressed Christianity has been popular among contemporary conservative politicians in the United States, who use this idea to address issues concerning LGBT people or the Affordable Care Act's contraceptive mandate, which supposedly attack Christianity.[14] The application of the contraceptive mandate to closely held corporations with religious objections was struck down by the Supreme Court in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc.
Hornback noted that the Christian persecution complex is widespread among nationalists in Europe, who believe that they are defending the continent from a new Islamic invasion.[3] In 2013 and 2019, journalists pointed out that "American Christians have a persecution complex", while noting that actual persecution of Christians existed in the Middle East.[15][16]
As of 2017, Christian persecution complex has had an impact on popular culture, with films which "imagine embattled Christians prevailing against entrenched secularist opposition".[17] In 2018, David Ehrlich, a film critic, described how the persecution complex is fueled by films and media such as the God's Not Dead saga.[18]
As of 2019, some nationalistic dispensationalists have promoted a narrative of Western persecution of Christians, in order to claim a position of marginalization and disadvantage.[19]
See also
[edit]- Christian privilege
- Decline of Christianity in the Western world
- History of Christian thought on persecution and tolerance
- Persecution of Christians
- Persecutory delusions
- Rosenberger v. University of Virginia
- Town of Greece v. Galloway
- Tucker Carlson Tonight and The Tucker Carlson Show
- Victim mentality
- Victim playing
- White genocide conspiracy theory
References
[edit]- ^ Hoover 2015, p. 23: According to Hoover Linda "...Castelli (2007) believed the reluctance to self-disclose could be the "Christian persecution complex" (p. 156), an ideology that Christian values are unfavorably targeted by social and governmental opposition..."
- ^ Kim, Grace Ji-Sun; Shaw, Susan M. (May 12, 2017). "Christians In The U.S. Are Not Persecuted". HuffPost. Archived from the original on April 29, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ a b Hornback 2018, p. 286: Afterword: White Nationalism, Trolling Humor as Propaganda, and the "Renaissance" of Christian Racism in the Age of Trump. "In so doing, he, his speech writers, and advisors were pandering to the rising Christian white nationalist persecution complex in Poland and throughout Europe, giving voice to a message that Western Christianity—and Europeans—will defeat fundamentalist Islamism. He even concluded with an overt call to a modern-day Crusade: "So together, let us all fight like the Poles, for family, for freedom, for country, and for God.""
- ^ Noble, Alan (August 4, 2014). "Why Do Evangelicals Have a Persecution Complex?". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ Cyzewski, Ed (April 18, 2017). "Are American Christians really being persecuted – or are they just being manipulated?". www.christiantoday.com. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ Neumann, Steve (July 5, 2015). "The raging hypocrisy at the center of the Christian right's persecution complex". Salon. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2020.
- ^ Janes & Houen 2014, p. 24: Indeed, a recent study by Candida Moss, The Myth of Persecution has suggested that Christian "persecution complex" was the result of internal Christian identity politics.
- ^ Årsheim 2016, p. 7: Candida Moss has argued that the notion of persecution is all but essential to Christianity as a worldview, tracing the discursive construction of martyrdom from Antiquity and up to the present, pointing to its constitutive role for the self-understanding of Christians as embattled minorities – even while numerically superior
- ^ Moss 2013, p. 254: The myth of persecution is theologically grounded in the division of the world into two parties, one backed by God and the other by Satan... And everyone knows you cannot reason with devil. Even when devil is not explicitly invoked, the rhetoric of persecution suggests that the persecutors are irrational and immoral and the persecuted are innocent and brave. In a world filled with persecution, efforts to negotiate or even reason with one's persecutors are interpreted as collaboration and moral compromise. We should not attempt to understand the other party, because to do so would be to cede ground to injustice and hatred
- ^ Cavill 2013, p. 81: The early Christian persecution complex is often underemphasised, but is important. The New Testament teaches that persecution is the inevitable by-product of effective Christianity.
- ^ Castelli 2008: "There is no precise origin point for the contemporary discursive project of the Christian persecution complex"
- ^ Castelli 2007, p. 157: For those who have upped the ante by recently deciding to characterize the circumstances of Christians in the United States as the "war on Christians, the historical turning point tends to reside in the mid-twentieth century, when a series of federal and Supreme court decisions declared certain public institutions off-limits for sectarian religious activity (e.g., prayer and Bible reading in public schools). For the Christian activists who view these court decisions as opening skirmishes in the war on Christians, the decisions and the "activist judges" who promulgated them effectively—and dangerously—banned God from the public square.
- ^ a b Årsheim 2016, p. 7 (Castelli 2007: 154).
- ^ Ben-Asher 2017, p. 22: "...The notion that Christianity is under attack is prevalent in contemporary arguments for religious exemptions. Conservative legislatures, politicians and the media frequently characterize issues such as same-sex marriage and the ACA's Contraceptives Mandate as attacks on Christians or Christianity...."
- ^ [1] Jonathan Merritt, "In the Middle East, not America, Christians are actually persecuted", Religion News Service, April 3, 2013
- ^ Wintour, Patrick (May 2, 2019). "Persecution of Christians 'coming close to genocide' in Middle East – report". The Guardian. Retrieved July 9, 2021.
- ^ Carey, G. (2017). Daniel as an Americanized Apocalypse. Interpretation, 71(2), 190–203. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020964316688052 It discusses the CP Complex extensively. "Scholars and journalists alike have identified an "evangelical persecution complex" in our culture. This term unfairly stigmatizes all evangelicals but identifies a widely shared sensitivity. Some Christians major in the persecution complex, even to the point of associating florists who will not serve same-sex couples with actual Christian martyrs in the Middle East.24 Recent films like God's Not Dead and God's Not Dead 2 imagine embattled Christians prevailing against entrenched secularist opposition". That explains the film critique that was mentioned above.
- ^ Ehrlich, David (March 29, 2018). "'God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness' Review: A Hellishly Bad Drama About America's Christian Persecution Complex". IndieWire. Archived from the original on April 1, 2018. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
Whereas other recent offerings like "Heaven Is for Real" and last week's "I Can Only Imagine" are largely harmless in how they preach to the choir and prostrate themselves before Evangelical audiences, Pure Flix's "God's Not Dead" saga has been defined by a persecution complex large enough to crucify Christ the Redeemer.
- ^ Brown 2019, p. 134: Alease Brown writes "...the modern function of martyrdom often serves to create a "Christian persecution complex." The narrative of martyrdom allows Christians in the West (particularly nationalistic dispensationalists), who are cultural hegemons and who maintain economic and political dominance globally, to claim the position of marginalization, disadvantage, and literal persecution in "the world," because of their faith. In addition dominant groups within Western Christianity have relied upon martyrdom narratives to assert their dominance over those not in the dominant group, by compelling the non-dominant to accept their domination; to adhere the example of suffering, best exemplified by the martyrs"
Bibliography
[edit]- Årsheim, Helge (2016). "Internal affairs? Assessing NGO engagement for religious freedom at the United Nations and beyond". In Stensvold, Anne (ed.). Religion, state and the United Nations: Value politics. London: Routledge. pp. 79–94. ISBN 978-1-138-93865-6. SSRN 2892536.
- Ben-Asher, Noah (September 21, 2017). "Faith-Based Emergency Powers". Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. 41: 269–300. SSRN 3040902.
- Brown, Alease (2019). "Martyrdom, Violence, and Dignity". Estudos Teológicos. 59 (1): 133–150. doi:10.22351/et.v59i1.3618. hdl:10566/8497. ISSN 0101-3130.
- Castelli, Elizabeth A. (2005). "Praying for the Persecuted Church: US Christian Activism in the Global Arena". Journal of Human Rights. 4 (3): 321–351. doi:10.1080/14754830500257554. ISSN 1475-4835. S2CID 144841684.
- Castelli, Elizabeth A. (2007). "Persecution Complexes: Identity Politics and the "War on Christians"". Differences: A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies. 18 (3): 152–180. doi:10.1215/10407391-2007-014. ISSN 1040-7391.
- Castelli, Elizabeth A. (April 17, 2008). "Persecution Complexes". The Revealer. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018.
- Cavill, Paul (2013). "Anglo-Saxons Saints' Lives and Deaths". In Kojecký, Roger; Tate, Andrew (eds.). Visions and revisions: The word and the text (Unabridged ed.). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-4332-4.
- Gomes, Alan W. (1995). "Part IV: Sociology". Unmasking the Cults. Zondervan. ISBN 978-0310864554.
- Janes, Dominic; Houen, Alex, eds. (2014). Martyrdom and terrorism: Pre-modern to contemporary perspectives. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-19-995985-3.
- Moss, Candida (2013). The myth of persecution how early Christians invented a Story of Martyrdom. New York: HarperOne. ISBN 978-0-06-210454-0.
- Hoover, Linda (2015). Effects of Negative Media on Evangelical Christians' Attitudes Toward Evangelism (PhD).
- Hornback, Robert (2018). Racism and Early Blackface Comic Traditions: From the Old World to the New. Gewerbestrasse: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-3-319-78048-1.
- Right Wing Watch Staff (2014). "The Persecution Complex: The Religious Right's Deceptive Rallying Cry". Right Wing Watch.
