Dear Liberals: Freedom Of Religion Includes Conservative Christianity

I just watched a YouTube video of a star of an acclaimed Netflix show scream and harass a preacher on the subway on the grounds that he was violating her freedoms. She got in his face, misquoted the Bible to him, and generally was very rude. He mostly smiled and ignored her. At one point she got some of the people on the subway to sing with her, so they could drown out his voice. The comments for that video mostly consisted of people congratulating her and slamming that “ignorant bigot”. His crime: he told a bunch of subway passengers to “read the Bible”. What?

Why do liberals seemingly continuously slam Christianity, even as they extol the virtues of Buddhism and battle for the protection of Muslims? If Muslims are attacked in the media a backlash of cries of “Islamophobia” usually shuts it down pretty quickly; whereas it seems to be the new cool thing to bash Christians. I identify as politically progressive myself and I’m agnostic, hence I agree with most of the beliefs of the people I’m criticizing and I don’t even know if I believe in any God; but this isn’t about me, this is about the growing mistrust and condemnation of a, by-and-far, innocent people group. I am aware of the privilege Christians experience as members of a majority. But in my experience, I’ve never seen the left-wing media attack Buddhism, Paganism, Judaism, Islam, Agnosticism or Atheism the way they go after the Christian religion.

I became cognizant of this double standard among liberal proponents of freedom of religion when I started noticing a pattern in the media. Articles about why Heaven would be Hell, the psychological harm of Christianity, and reasons to question not only the 10 Commandments but also the entire Bible are just the tip of the iceberg. A quick Google search finds the top 10 Signs all Christians are crazy fundamentalists. There are pieces about how Christians have failed Christ. Arguments about intentional Christian indoctrination abound.

Obviously, I support people’s right to publish articles such as those listed above. It’s a free country and their opinions are valid. But there is also room to criticize when someone’s entire premise is “Christianity sucks”; especially, when the author or one of these opinion pieces is uninformed and biased on the subject. I’ve seen the Bible misquoted more times than I can count. People have used the extremely illogical argument that everything contained in Scripture is condoned by God. This is detrimental because the next generation is growing up with the assumption that Christians are inherently bigoted, which is far from the truth. Prejudiced people can be found in every system of belief, including atheism. (Need I bring up Richard Dawkins’ “Islam” faux-pas?)

While many libs seem to pride themselves on being educated and open-minded, they rarely give the possibility a chance that there are Christians who may not be incoherent, babbling, bigoted rednecks. Yes, I realize there are crazy, and even dangerous Bible thumpers out there. I know people have used the Bible to defend and excuse all manner of cruelty against our fellow man. However, it seems to have been forgotten that there are and have been many insane and malevolent radical liberals out there. Anyone heard of Stalin’s special brand of socialism? Bad and good people exist on both sides of the aisle.

For instance, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a forward-thinking Christian. Mother Theresa, the face of benevolence, was a nun of the Church. Nelson Mandela, famed anti-apartheid revolutionary, worshiped Christ. Although Christianity is often blamed for slavery, many if not most ardent abolitionists were Christians, including Harriet Beecher Stowe who was a fervent believer. Even Darwin, whom atheists idolize, declared that he believed in a Creator after all of his resentment and his research. These are just a few of the millions of intelligent, influential, and progressive Christians of history.

Nonetheless, if left-wing atheistic Democrats want to remain relevant as a political group, bullying is not the most optimal route. When Christians become defensive, it’s not completely unfounded. The point of the collective political debate is to root out the best ideas. Unfortunately it all too frequently devolves into a battle about religion or some other hot button topic. Many young followers of Christ think conservatism is the only option, although Jesus was unquestionably a liberal in his day. He was a maverick, even when not compared against the backdrop of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Yet, these Millennials and Gen Z kids who call themselves “Jesus Freaks” see liberals slam their beliefs and are intimidated into becoming Republicans. Some of these young people could become brilliant moderates one day, who steer out our country away from this political pendulum that we swing back and forth on every four years.

Ultimately, religious liberty applies to the conservative Christianity as well. I am careful not to infringe upon the liberal media’s freedom of speech, but there is a serious discrepancy between the treatment of various religions. Liberals insist upon the promotion of equality, yet their treatment of Christianity raises the question of whether they think “some animals (read: belief structures, specifically atheism) are more equal than others”. It’s against all that liberals stand for to beat on an increasingly minority group.

In essence, I am not saying we need to stop criticizing Christianity, I’m saying we need to stop targeting it.