Thread by @AndrewLSeidel

Yes, "Christian privilege" is a thing. It's not about the Left or the Right, nor is it that new. Conservatives like @Liz_Wheeler and @marklutchman don't seem to understand, so here's a short thread to help them out.

It’s Christian privilege when you can refuse to do your job and be applauded by politicians and media for willfully defying a judge’s order because it doesn’t agree with one particular passage in your holy book.

It’s Christian privilege that your holidays are enshrined in federal law; when politicians are expected to be Christian or to explain why they are not Christian or not “Christian enough.”

It’s Christian privilege when SCOTUS decides that In God We Trust has “lost through rote repetition any significant religious content,” while also deciding in the Hobby Lobby case that false religious beliefs—contraceptives are abortifacients—trumps not only science but the law.

It's Christian privilege when you think your business has the same religion that you do and that that business can discriminate against people because your god doesn't like them. And when the Supreme Court is seriously entertaining that argument.

It’s Christian privilege when SCOTUS declares that Christian chaplains giving Christian prayers at your legislature do not violate state-church separation because it’s a historic practice, even though James Madison—the Father of the Constitution and Bill of Rights—wrote:

It’s Christian privilege when oaths are written to cater to your god and that religious language must be opted out of rather than opted in to. (Note: the sole oath in the Constitution, the presidential oath, doesn't say "so help me God" and the first 19 presidents didn't say it.)

It’s Christian privilege when you expect every single hotel room to have your bible. And, when those bibles are removed from government-run hotels, it’s Christian privilege to claim that's “eliminating religious freedom,” as @ehasselbeck did.

But it’s also Christian privilege when members of this entitled majority cry “persecution” as they lose that privilege. When Christians lose the right to impose their religion on students in public schools by distributing bibles for instance, they play the victim.

When a bakery or florist, which happens to be owned by Christians, is forced to follow nondiscrimination laws, the owners act like martyrs suffering for their faith.

Crying persecution at these is the quintessential example of Christian privilege: The erosion of unwarranted privilege is not persecution, but the steady march toward equality. Parity is not oppression.

So yes, Christian privilege is a thing. At least it is here in America. And it's not new. I wrote most of this in an article two years ago.
patheos.com/blogs/freethou…

I also wrote about it four years ago: "Let’s be clear, removing Christian privilege so that our government complies with the Constitution is not persecution. Eliminating religious privilege is not the same as eliminating religious freedom."
patheos.com/blogs/freethou…

Christians: you may be used to a certain deference, but when the government no longer kowtows to your god, this does not impinge your liberty. You may be inured to undeserved benefits—but they are still unjust.

You may be accustomed to a disproportionate influence with the government— but it is still improper.

Yes, Christian privilege is a thing. I and others in the growing secular movement—@ffrf, @americnhumanist, @seculardotorg—are going to end Christian privilege in America.
~END~