I just googled religious persecution statistics according to faith. I went through 4 pages of search results that claim Christians are the most persecuted faith, if not the only faith that is persecuted. Finally on the 5th page was a result that mentioned Muslims being persecuted. When their claims are investigated, it turns out that about 90% of the deaths they claim in their statistic were from wars in the Congo and Rwanda. Both wars were not religious in nature and the violence in them was mostley Christian on Christian. The pope and the Vatican are now making the same claims with the same faulty statistics. This would mean that around 300 people or more in some cases, are killed everyday because of their Christian faith.
I never noticed it before, but this has been going on for a very long time. It seems part of Christian dogma is claiming persecution. Even the stories of persecution by the Romans it turns out are mostly made up, embellished, and magnified to sell the courage and rock solid faith of the martyrs to Chritian followers.
It now occurs to me that Mormons also capitalize on their persecution before they moved to Utah. And, Muslims calling for a jihad is probably another manifestation of the same sort of claim.
Is there a common thread of a persecution complex running through most religions? I always saw religion as being about “them and us”, but this “them and us” is one that really separates people with fear. This is also a common trait in cults. It makes the an enemy an “evil” that can not be reasoned with and must be distroyed.
It must be part of the basics of “How to create and grow a religion for dummies”.
I just googled religious persecution statistics according to faith. I went through 4 pages of search results that claim Christians are the most persecuted faith, if not the only faith that is persecuted. Finally on the 5th page was a result that mentioned Muslims being persecuted. When their claims are investigated, it turns out that about 90% of the deaths they claim in their statistic were from wars in the Congo and Rwanda. Both wars were not religious in nature and the violence in them was mostley Christian on Christian. The pope and the Vatican are now making the same claims with the same faulty statistics. This would mean that around 300 people or more in some cases, are killed everyday because of their Christian faith. I never noticed it before, but this has been going on for a very long time. It seems part of Christian dogma is claiming persecution. Even the stories of persecution by the Romans it turns out are mostly made up, embellished, and magnified to sell the courage and rock solid faith of the martyrs to Chritian followers. It now occurs to me that Mormons also capitalize on their persecution before they moved to Utah. And, Muslims calling for a jihad is probably another manifestation of the same sort of claim. Is there a common thread of a persecution complex running through most religions? I always saw religion as being about "them and us", but this "them and us" is one that really separates people with fear. This is also a common trait in cults. It makes the an enemy an "evil" that can not be reasoned with and must be distroyed. It must be part of the basics of "How to create and grow a religion for dummies".It seems that persecution complexes are part and parcel of religion. And adherents milk them for all they're worth. They love nothing better than playing the victim. I guess they think they get a lot of traction from it. Lois
OTOH, recent news shows that there exist persons who will kill others because of their religious (or at least their religious/cultural) affiliation. Ironically, in this case, the bigot killed some Christians instead of his apparent target, i.e., anyone who was Jewish.
It seems that persecution complexes are part and parcel of religion. And adherents milk them for all they’re worth. They love nothing better than playing the victim. I guess they think they get a lot of traction from it.It's the cult of martyrdom, especially for the Abrahamic religions and the propaganda continues even today with a modern twist. Remember O'Reilly's " annual War on Xmas" rant designed to rile the faithful to God's standard. Also, when you refer to the stats on Xtians killed remember the numbers. The Xtian faith ranks high in adherents World wide and yes Xtians kill other members of their faith for many reasons, e.g. Northern Ireland and historically, e.g. the American Civil War (god fought on both sides allowing 650,000 of his faithful followers to die) and World War I, nine million Xtians killed each other (Gott Mit Uns) so this should figure into it as well. Cap't Jack
Myth of Martyrdom]
This looks like a good book on the topic of the historical reports of martyrs. I haven’t read it, but the interview is informative.
The churches would not touch those statistics with a 100 foot pole. If statistics don't make them look like martyrs and victims but makes them look like the criminals they are, they pretend they don't exist. So much for the 5th and 8th commandments. There are six things that the LORD strongly dislikes, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. —Proverbs 6:16–19 LoisIt seems that persecution complexes are part and parcel of religion. And adherents milk them for all they’re worth. They love nothing better than playing the victim. I guess they think they get a lot of traction from it.It's the cult of martyrdom, especially for the Abrahamic religions and the propaganda continues even today with a modern twist. Remember O'Reilly's " annual War on Xmas" rant designed to rile the faithful to God's standard. Also, when you refer to the stats on Xtians killed remember the numbers. The Xtian faith ranks high in adherents World wide and yes Xtians kill other members of their faith for many reasons, e.g. Northern Ireland and historically, e.g. the American Civil War (god fought on both sides allowing 650,000 of his faithful followers to die) and World War I, nine million Xtians killed each other (Gott Mit Uns) so this should figure into it as well. Cap't Jack
This kind of exaggeration has been around since the first century C.E. The Roman Empire persecuted periodically, but deaths were relatively rare. Even the “Great Persecution” by Diocletian resulted in a small number of deaths–again, relatively speaking (the Romans were not squeamish about killing those who were not Roman citizens for any number of reasons). Except in the case of Diocletian, who was infuriated by Christians interrupting a sacrifice being made by the emperor by making signs and hissing to expel demons, there is no real evidence of persecution being prompted by hate or anger. More typical is the kind of response one sees in the correspondance between Pliny and Trajan, in which the emperor advised that Christians should not be sought out for punishment.
Of course in Diocletian’s time the Christians were fairly well-established in society and in the imperial government. But it was not wise to show up an emperor, particularly when he was engaged in a public ritual.
Sr. Member Total Posts: 802 Joined 2009-10-21 Myth of Martyrdom This looks like a good book on the topic of the historical reports of martyrs. I haven’t read it, but the interview is informative.I read it earlier and it's very revealing; it includes info on the early church and debunks the claim that Xtians were mass persecuted. A good read, especially if you like the history of the classical era. Cap't Jack
In terms of this discussion, in general, we do know that there was something called the Holocaust (although people in some Middle Eastern countries may not acknowledge that). That was an apparent attempt to wipe out the Jews. Although we tend to forget, if the Old Testament is correct, as I recall, the Jews actually did wipe out certain or various groups of people, in Biblical times (because God told them to). As I recall, God even got pissed off, on one occasion, when their utter annihilation of a city’s people, did not include killing all of the animals, as well.
The people that the Jews wiped out, might have qualified as martyrs, if there had been any of the original people left to appreciate their martyrdom.
It seems that persecution complexes are part and parcel of religion. And adherents milk them for all they're worth. They love nothing better than playing the victim. I guess they think they get a lot of traction from it. LoisIt allows the justification of almost any action in defence of the faith and its followers. Personally I used to get pretty worked up when I thought about the terrible things that had been done to my "saviour" even if in the back of my mind I knew there was a really good chance it was all myth. Religion is largely about power with a thin veneer of spirituality on the top and playing the victim engages that part of the survival mechanism that is rooted very deep in our brains.