Persecution Complexes
I was thinking about how a well developed sense of persecution is so important to several very common viewpoints:
1. Intelligent Design - Supporters often claim that ID is kept out of school science classes because the courts and "secular" educators are anti-Christian, not because ID has no legitimate scientific basis.
2. Alternative medicine - Proponents, as well as providers trying to make money, claim that their treatments or even cures for major illnesses are ignored because pharmaceutical companies and the medical community in general do not want to cure you, but rather want to keep you buying expensive treatment and drugs. So the medical community discredits and ignores much of alternative medicine because of their greed, not because the alternative treatment doesn't work.
3. Media bias - Some people claim that almost all major media, except Fox News, has a liberal bias and many say an anti-Christian bias as well. Of course some who make this claim see liberal and anti-Christian as synonyms. They may rail against the liberal bias of some media while not acknowledging the conservative bias of other media. People on both sides of the fence tend to see their side as "middle of the road". In this case, if they consider Fox News to be "middle of the road", then it's easy to see how they'd think the major networks are all liberal.
I think many believers in these viewpoints ascribe to all three. Okay, alternative medicine picks up extremists from both sides because they get some new age/hippy types too, but often we're talking about the same group of people. These are people from a conservative Christian and often fundamentalist background who are taught from an early age that "the World" is against Christians. Their worldview is such that they expect to encounter many anti-Christian activities from a world influenced by the Prince of the Air (aka Satan). When people expect to see something, they usually see it.
Because people are raised to expect opposition and persecution, it's very difficult for them to fairly evaluate the above issues. They may assume without evidence that opponents' facts are skewed by a strong anti-Christian bias, so cannot possibly be reliable. Information from fellow conservative Christians, or at least those who claim to be, is considered infinitely more reliable. It's an attitude I've encountered many times, especially in college and for a few years afterward when I had contact with fundamentalist Christian groups.
Okay, so I'm not sure what my point in this post is. I think it's just that these three viewpoints and others are interconnected, and have a lot to do with how people are raised in the more conservative churches and the worldview that results. Maybe I'm stating the obvious.
1. Intelligent Design - Supporters often claim that ID is kept out of school science classes because the courts and "secular" educators are anti-Christian, not because ID has no legitimate scientific basis.
2. Alternative medicine - Proponents, as well as providers trying to make money, claim that their treatments or even cures for major illnesses are ignored because pharmaceutical companies and the medical community in general do not want to cure you, but rather want to keep you buying expensive treatment and drugs. So the medical community discredits and ignores much of alternative medicine because of their greed, not because the alternative treatment doesn't work.
3. Media bias - Some people claim that almost all major media, except Fox News, has a liberal bias and many say an anti-Christian bias as well. Of course some who make this claim see liberal and anti-Christian as synonyms. They may rail against the liberal bias of some media while not acknowledging the conservative bias of other media. People on both sides of the fence tend to see their side as "middle of the road". In this case, if they consider Fox News to be "middle of the road", then it's easy to see how they'd think the major networks are all liberal.
I think many believers in these viewpoints ascribe to all three. Okay, alternative medicine picks up extremists from both sides because they get some new age/hippy types too, but often we're talking about the same group of people. These are people from a conservative Christian and often fundamentalist background who are taught from an early age that "the World" is against Christians. Their worldview is such that they expect to encounter many anti-Christian activities from a world influenced by the Prince of the Air (aka Satan). When people expect to see something, they usually see it.
Because people are raised to expect opposition and persecution, it's very difficult for them to fairly evaluate the above issues. They may assume without evidence that opponents' facts are skewed by a strong anti-Christian bias, so cannot possibly be reliable. Information from fellow conservative Christians, or at least those who claim to be, is considered infinitely more reliable. It's an attitude I've encountered many times, especially in college and for a few years afterward when I had contact with fundamentalist Christian groups.
Okay, so I'm not sure what my point in this post is. I think it's just that these three viewpoints and others are interconnected, and have a lot to do with how people are raised in the more conservative churches and the worldview that results. Maybe I'm stating the obvious.
posted by Patrick at
11:44 AM
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