Pope calls Christians 'most persecuted religious' group.Follow

Been a while since I post here, went back to lurking after a night of binge drinking (Like two G&Ts) caused quite an embarrassing post. Anyway, I've come across something I wanted to share, as I got a fairly good chuckle out of it. Apparently, the Holy Father has had it up to his armpits at how bad Christians all across the globe are being beaten, spat upon and in general... poo-poo'd. Apparently, the head of the Holy See called foul on his 'most persecuted religious group.'

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/12/16/pope-calls-christians-persecuted/

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40700893/ns/world_news-europe/

Shoe on the other foot or a case of being the Black kid in the White school?

Edit: Made things a little clearer.


Edited, Dec 17th 2010 1:02am by Ninomori

I thought it was due to all the "self-flagellation" they are supposed to do to get in heaven.

Oh yeah, like it's just so liberating to be an atheist in the modern day. Here in the U.S., every atheist is basically working two extra full time jobs what with having to stay on top of out-persecuting ten or so Christians EACH. It's like fucking Sparta over here. They may have the numbers, but we have the heart.

Also, they can never take our freedom.

I call the pope an moran.

I have just as much authority, I just have less people that believe it.

He called Christians the "most persecuted religious group", not the most persecuted group in general.

I suppose that, all things considered, it's possible that there's more places in the globe where it's illegal to be a Christian than places where it's illegal to be Muslim or Hindu or whatever. You have an easier time being Muslim in the US or Europe or South America than to be a Christian in Iran or Saudi Arabia. I'm not saying his remarks are entirely true since I'm far too lazy to try and look and make a solid argument about it but it's a far different statement than just saying "most persecuted".


Edited, Dec 16th 2010 11:41pm by Jophiel

I dunno. Even if you don't count atheists, I imagine the Jews have Christians handily beat.

You're going to have to present a pretty strong argument to convince me that Christians are more persecuted worldwide than atheists. In some places? Sure. Being an atheist is a crime in plenty of nations, too. In the countries with the greatest and truly terrible religious persecution, atheists are generally not received any better than Christians.

And I would still argue that the Jews are more persecuted than the Christians worldwide.

Jews are Christian. Being Christian simply means believing in God. It's true that Christians do have this title, but Catholics I don't think do. I would agree with Jews being the most prominently persecuted section of Christianity.

Atheists I think were in such a small minority until recently that I don't think they could count. It's like saying some misc cult would qualify since they're harassed by their community and in large society. And when they did grow in numbers I don't think they have anything on what Christianity has seen.

1) Jews are not Christians.
2) What?
3) Being Christian means believing that Jesus CHRIST is God (God's son, whatever).
4) What?



This isn't my first stint in the asylum; I just haven't been around the last couple of years. Not much has changed, either. I just couldn't tell if you were serious because it wasn't a totally ridiculous statement even for hyperbole.

And you've got goofballs like the one above leaving me to wonder just how stupid some of these new faces are. Erm, no offense, I guess.

Not persecuted enough.

Clicking the Fox News link will make me more stupid.

The Pope probably has a point though. He does specifically mention Iraq.

This quote is a bit unsettling, or perhaps paradoxical. I would have suggested that one reason Christianity is more persecuted than other religious groups was because of it's level of tolerance. I guess the pope finds that intolerable though.

Hahaha, WHAT? Sh*t no. I think you want to say that Christians and Jews are monotheistic.

Edit: Just some random thoughts.

The different Christian sects always amused me. I was raised Roman Catholic, and have attended Baptist, Southern Baptist, UCC, and non-denominational services. Each sect refers to themselves differently. I asked my friend (a Lutheran) what his religion was, and he says "Christian," not Lutheran or Protestant. I asked a former girlfriend, who went to a UCC church, and she said the same thing. Ask a Roman Catholic? They're Catholics; "Christian" doesn't seem to be their first response. While they are all Christians, it seems the Protestant sects focus more on the Christ aspect, while the Catholics seem to focus more on the history of the Church.

I'm not sure if Baptists and Southern Baptists are technically different in their names, but the services are VERY different. The Baptist service I attended had a lot of upbeat music, positive messages, and a younger crowd. The Southern Baptists had a bunch of overweight old white folks, more "traditional" music (a cross of Catholic music and country singers), had messages of "Us versus Them," and had people standing up yelling "AMEN!" when the pastor went into a rant about abortion. It was pretty crazy.

I enjoyed the UCC, nondenominational, and Baptist services the most (in that order). The UCC is the only organization I tended to see mostly eye-to-eye with, as they support gay marriage, sex education, and believe both Israel and Palestine are at fault in their conflict. They also had pretty good music and a lot of young people.

Edited, Dec 17th 2010 10:47am by LockeColeMA

Well, it was a speech/paper about religious freedom, not freedom in general. But he's pretty clear about it not being Christian-specific.

Bolding mine. Source: Vatican.