St Peter, “the rock on which Jesus built his church”, accused “the Jews” of killing Jesus: Acts 10:39 “And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree”.
Bryan Fischer, the hateful public face of the homophobic American Family Association, thinks anti-discrimination laws are making “Christians” a persecuted group.
Now, there is plenty of evidence that not all Christians agree with Fischer’s bigotry…at least those who don’t attend church regularly. And yet this doesn’t stop Fischer from speaking from speaking for “Christians” generically, that is, lumping them together. But I’m sure it was someone else who got chewed up recently, for the crime of lumping together?
Oh yes, that was Richard Dawkins. The only difference, of course, is that Dawkins was correct: he made a factual observation that no one has challenged. So why is it that he gets attacked for what he says, and Fischer doesn’t?
The answer is that Fischer and people like him are not new at this. Religious leaders have always lumped believers together. How else can they claim that they are speaking for large portions of the society. And hence the bishops get away with talking about “the Catholics” even though most Catholics don’t agree with them on key issues; or homophobes like Fischer speak of “the Christians”, and the like.
The political correctness enforcement squad that tried to silence Dawkins will have a lot more credibility if they go after these religious figures first.
