Hemant Mehta of Friendly Atheist expresses amazement that one of the far-right grifters preachers has admitted that Christian persecution doesn’t actually exist in the United States:
Christian hate-preacher Steven Anderson has been mostly banned from YouTube, but in a sermon today, he admitted that Christian "persecution" (as conservatives use the term) doesn't exist.
"Out of 100, we’re at, like, Persecution Level 3."
More tomorrow, but here's a mash-up: pic.twitter.com/cOtYeNIbMG
— Hemant Mehta (@hemantmehta) June 21, 2021
And here, where he provides a partial transcript of Mr. Anderson, sadly protected from copying. However, my summary above is sufficient.
I have to wonder if Anderson’s parishioners have been looking around and noting the lack of Christian persecution, and he found it necessary to, shall we say, adjust the message? It must be tough to adjust your cap for being dragged off to jail for howling forth the Word, but if the jackboots never come for you, well, it’s gotta be a little deflating.
And, of course, noting that the lack of persecution didn’t change when Biden took office, well, at some point only the most steadfast adherents will stick around. Anderson, having been banned from YouTube, has enough on his plate to mark him as an extremist preacher; he can let this particular message go with little to no damage to his reputation. In fact, Australian organization Voice of the Martyrs has a useful map: of Christian persecution in the world:
Look for this entire class of Christian messaging to fade away as reality wreaks its usual havoc. The real question will become: what’s the replacement message, designed to keep the faithful in line?
