THE INHERENT DANGERS OF CHRISTIANITY - American Christianity's Long List of Social Persecutions

THE INHERENT DANGERS OF CHRISTIANITY – The Roots of Social Persecutions in America

Written By James J. Crook

There is a reason why thousands of Americans are now turning to Eastern thought and Eastern theologies and abandoning Western Civilization’s European Christianity. Some world renown philosophers, such as Sir Bertrand Russell, proclaim Christianity as a theology of sadism due to its oppression, repression, cruelty, punishment, violence, conflict, and inflicted human suffering upon the masses i.e. “sinners”, which dogmatic conduct appears to be the antithesis of compassion, spirituality and peace, and generally negative and anti-life.

This essay may be regarded as in bad taste if not shocking to America’s contemporary Christian Community as most of its members probably do not have a clue or even a suspicion as to Christianity’s inherent dangers. However, Christianity’s Dangerous Sheep, the “faithful”, who are oblivious to the inherent dangers of their theology and impervious to any warnings due to early religious brainwashing, need to be “awakened” to the American Christian Community’s social persecutions, presently and in the past, and the Christian theology’s ability to alter the behavior of well meaning people from goodness to destructive, from good to evil, and from love to hatred beyond their consciousness or their even being aware that they may exhibiting contempt and intolerance in a cruel and harmful manner to fellow human beings. One of their current social persecutions involves 30+ million deeply suffering Americans whose lives, to an unbelievable degree, are being literally crushed out entirely by the Christian Community’s unforgiving attitude and hatred towards them, like a cigarette being crushed out in an ash tray, in one of the greatest theological “cruelties” of all times, executed by the American Christian Community upon other Americans. Ironically, most of Christianity’s sleeping sheep, i.e. well intended, well meaning, well wishing, warm, loving individuals, and churchgoers, are completely unaware of the intense human suffering and misery they are causing, due to their robotish, “blind faith” adherence to Christian dogma. Their leaders have informed them it is the Will of God. Since it will take Christians to end this grandest of all Christian evils, their indulgence and patience is solicited by their fully reading this entire commentary before coming to any conclusions. Christians owe it to themselves. The large persecuted class of Americans being referred to are individuals with criminal records i.e. those stigmatized as criminals and felons, most of whom acquired those records as a direct result of sobering economic injustices among the stratified classes in America’s caste system. Let there be no doubt. America has an economic caste system heavily entrenched. An example is the aristocracy of the medical and health care professionals whose income ranges from $500,000 to $3,000,000 annually (resulting from the absence of national health care) compared to the peonage of African Americans in New Orleans, some of whom earn less than $10,000 annually, as recently revealed by Hurricane Katrina.

“A life with no hope is a life not worth living.” This is a quotation from the movie, Milk. It could also be a maxim and is a reality of 30+ million Americans with records currently living under a crushing persecution, with no hope of ever being employed from conviction to grave. This is significant as a job is the cornerstone of physical survival. Regarding the etiology of social persecutions in Christian America, there are inherent flaws in Christianity’s dogma which have translated into crushing cruelties and major injustices carried out upon the innocent masses which have taken place again and again throughout history. Considering the causative components of these horrendous social persecutions of Christianity upon targeted classes of people considered evil by the Christian hierarchy, there astoundingly have been fewer “free thinkers” and secularists and dramatically more doctrinal conformists i.e. comfort seekers in America than there were 100 years ago. It appears today that, after the initial Christian brainwashing of children from age two on, fewer and fewer people care to test the validity of Christian theology almost as if controlled by peer pressure and what people might think of variant (heretical) thinking, and how much business they might lose if they express themselves. As if conformity is currently the necessary cosmetic decoration and mandated behavior among the faithful for social acceptance. Social acceptance by the Christian Community is appearing to be the new god Christian conformists worship before for peer survival which appears to be paramount in their social lives and businesses. Academic variance from Christian theology in America today appears to be unacceptable, a taboo, and non-negotiable for these safety seeking conformists who are more than willing to keep their heads down.

However, social persecutions are not something that can or should be morally or ethically swept under the rug in the name of peer approval or business referrals. Social persecutions crush the lives of millions of human beings within these [Christian-targeted classes] into abject human misery sometimes for the period of their entire lives. The non-targeted complacent Christians don’t seem to be concerned about social persecutions as long as they are not added to the list of evil classes targeted for such cruelty, intolerance, and social discrimination. Social persecutions are probably the greatest and most crushing of all injustices as these persecutions prey upon innocent people whose only sin is being different or whose social conduct is not perfect enough. Social persecutions are usually religious-doctrine rooted and result from altered or molded human perceptions of the faithful from leaders in the Christian faith. Axiomatically, one’s perception is one’s reality. If Nazi Germany’s leaders told its people that Jews were non-human and vermin and enemies trying to destroy the German race, such altered perceptions of Jewish people becomes the reality of the German masses and they, hence, feel duty bound to deprive, discriminate against, torture, and kill these diseased vermin as God’s Will, and then carry out their new reality in deadly large measures. This altered perception of the German Christian masses, in the 1940s, did result in the murder of six million innocent Jewish people in Nazi Germany’s Final Solution within only three years.

Social persecutions are a problem of altered perception i.e. [altered reality]. E.g. The Catholic Church taught its masses (a billion followers) that Masons were an organization of the devil and, hence, its members were evil. Since Christian theology sees the world in only two shades, good and evil, black and white, and no imperfect gray i.e. human, its faithful are taught to destroy anything evil i.e. anything their church leaders decide is evil, usually being those of less than strict adherence to Christian dogma. It then became righteous for good, welling, loving, and forever smiling Christians to persecute the Masons which included discrimination, disenfranchisement, harm, and murder. Hence, with theologically altered perceptions, good, well meaning, well intended, warm Christian people who have had their perceptions molded or altered by Christian society and religious leaders as to who and what is evil, can be converted into intolerant, hateful, cruel, monstrous killers, and inhumane individuals with this behavioral modification created by church-altered perceptions, emanating in Christian America from its theology and dogma. A woeful faith awaits the class of Americans who eventually become classified and defined by the Christian Community and their hierarchy as evil. With perceptions of evil theologically modified as it then relates to a new targeted unpopular class of people, it becomes as a maxim the duty of good to destroy evil and, hence, the [theological duty] of good Christians to destroy evil people as a mandate from God once they receive “the Word” from the Christian hierarchy as to whom and what human beings to target as evil i.e. the enemies of God. Woe be to the class of people added to this hateful Christian list of evil individuals. An appropriate term for these early “brainwashed” and potentially altered and behaviorally modified robotish Christians is The Dangerous Sheep.

The roots of all social persecutions are organized religion and social leaders in power who are deciding who and what is good and who and what is evil. Usually the non-Christian and the biblically “stigmatized”. America has had a rich history of social persecutions from Christian church leaders stigmatizing as evil, pagans, and non-Christian certain classes of people in the American population. These classes targeted for social persecution by America’s Christian Community after altering their perception of these classes as evil, have included native Americans, Jews, Africans, Muslims, Mexicans, Mormons, Masons, gays, and criminals to name a few. Such altered perceptions as to who is evil become realities in the minds of the Christian faithful. After all, the Jews did kill Jesus as the Catholics taught their young students in Catechism as late as the 1950s along with Masons being an organization of the devil, hence, evil soldiers in Satan’s army. Christians know well what to do with someone or something that is evil. It is the forever duty of the forces of goodness, isn’t it, theologically speaking, to destroy the forces of evil. More of a mission that a mandate.

Axiomatically, short of Christian brainwashing, ignorance, and superstition, no class of human beings can be considered evil as a class i.e. permanently bad which GOOD Christians have a Godly duty to attack, harm, destroy, and rid the world of such evil as the will of God, to be looked upon with favor in God’s eyes. Such theological perceptions are aberrant and obscured from reality but become the reality of Christians. In truth, most human beings, short of being insane or chemically destructive, biological anomalies, are instinctively good, humane, and compassionate and don’t need to learn such sentiments of grace or good from evil as the [survival instinct] is an instinct in support of life and not death. Another name for our survival instinct is compassion. This is the reason people don’t need to be taught to care about or cry for an injured puppy whose foot was crushed. Such compassion is innate within humans from birth. Hence, we are naturally good. Destructive emotions in healthy people are usually utilized only to defend survival such as in war, from an animal attack, or from a threat from a mugger or house burglar. Hence, people don’t need to be saved except maybe from other Christians, as people are not inherently bad as Christian theology teaches in need of “punishment” and purification to be saved, but are inherently good. Most animals are also. People who believe individuals are innately good, don’t need to be stoned to death as heretics for varying from Christian theology which only sees humankind as evil. Regarding human conduct and in this example, who is the destroyer here? In truth, Masons, Mormons, Jews, Africans, Mexicans, Native Americans, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, gays, criminals, and all the other ethnic classes of color, human imperfection, and different religious persuasions are good and not the perceived evil taught to the faithful by the Christian Community and its hierarchy for centuries, just because they are non-Christians and look and think differently.

Maybe Christianity is in a membership drive and must effectively deal with those competing sects to bolster its powerbase. Except for aberrant thinking or lack of in-depth perception by Christian leaders who are creating all these altered perceptions of different evil classes of people in America, [true evil] is a state that does not exist in reality unless one is a sociopath which condition may then be biological and chemical. Many people who labor with inequities and injustices done to them in their past life and long for vengeance and balancing the scoreboard, need to understand something before they continue their self torture and life time journey of vengeance due to unresolved injustices plaguing their memories of the past. That the past in terms of past inequities does not count or exist because there was no evil or inequitable past when the past and human psychology is correctly perceived. If people are just imperfect and defensively insecure when they swing out at anything or anyone who gets too near out of being threatened, there is no past of inequity to worry about. Just a misperception regarding human nature and “threatened” people. Destructive people are just insecure and threatened individuals in need of reassurance and calming usually with an appropriate [no response]by their victims rather than their destructive insecurity escalated by an equally destructive response, as stated. Axiomatically, the former individual is not evil as [misperceived] by Christian theology due to their destructive nature but insecure and just in need of reassurance [to remain non-destructive.] Hence, regarding the healing of memories, there is no abusive past to agonize over if correctively perceived. Insecure human beings are much like a scared puppy who creeps slowly toward someone and finally acquires enough confidence to be petted. If a person approaches too quickly, the “threatened” puppy will bite defensively to protect itself. The puppy is not evil. Neither are people. So much for aberrant perceptions by the Christian Community. Intentional inequities, having nothing to due with insecurity and unstable human psychology or the chemically unbalanced, is another matter for which full accountability by a society should be applied for a restoration of equitiy.

The theological “stigmatizing” of different classes of people in America, who are not [European White], by America’s Christian Community, resulting in the cruel social persecutions of these many classes of people in American history, must stop. Class discrimination in societies is geographical, biological, cultural, and economic. E. g. the grey fox does not mate with the red fox and competes for turf for food and mating rights even though they are identical in every other way, except color. Historically, European White was and is the bastion of Christianity. Hence, anyone not European White in America was probably assumed to be non-Christian i.e. pagan hence evil (soldiers of Satan) and as such legitimate for the Christian Community to discriminate against, disenfranchise, and persecute which discriminations eventually resulted in cruel, social persecutions of whole classes of people who were not European White. E. g. witness the early American Christian settlers extremely cruel if not barbaric treatment of east coast non-Christian Native Americans. Large numbers were tortured and killed capriciously.

Tailored theological perceptions are at the heart of most social persecutions. America has made great strides in eliminating many social persecutions in just the last 100 years. However, the greatest, cruelest, and most crushing of all social persecutions, paralleling America’s Christian Community’s persecution of Africans, if not exceeding such persecution due to being centuries old, is its staggering persecution of anyone with a criminal record. Even though such individuals have fully repaid their debt to society, are even with society for their indiscretion, and should be rehabilitated and returned to mainstream society as respectable taxpaying citizens, they are perceived as no longer human but another creature call a felon and branded as permanently evil from conviction to grave. Hence, good Christians have a duty to condemn, hate, attack, destroy, and completely disenfranchise regarding, for example, jobs, public office, voting, social memberships, youth leadership, neighborhoods, etc., to name a few, once a background check has revealed these individuals’ records. This Christian perception of permanent evil of individuals who made a mistake with the law transforms Christianity’s loving faithful into a brutal and abjectly cruel and inhumane community wherein the quality of life for these miserable fellow human beings with criminal records becomes less than slaves who are at least fed, clothed, and sheltered. Without a dollar from a job, these suffering boxed in individuals cannot even afford to buy a pair of shoe laces or a 50 cent ice cream cone for their five year old daughter, astoundingly from conviction to grave. A current crushing cruelty to a fellow human being by a cold and inhumane American Christian Society unparalleled in history.

Presently, there are 30 million Americans with criminal records who have been lowered into this permanent hell especially from Draconian background checks. The suffering from this class of Americans who at one time made a mistake with the law is beyond belief and incomprehensible by all who have never violated the law or did so but were not caught. Ironically, the good, well intended, and loving Christians, due to their altered perception of such individuals with criminal records as permanently evil and no longer human, have no remorse in causing the suffering and cruelty but only hold contempt and hatred for these evil entities who the Christians feel proud about harming and destroying. It is good for Christians to destroy evil. It is the Will of God. The brave, good, and heroic Christian Crusaders who killed a pagan Muslim, due to a church-altered perception of Muslims as evil and soldiers in the army of Satan, felt they had scored a victory for God by murdering this non-Christian innocent human being, and would be rewarded in Heaven for the murder of such fellow human being. Such is the treachery of theologically bent and aberrant perception. This Christian bent perception resulted in the slaughter of thousand of innocent Muslims.

The crushing social persecution, by America’s Christian Society, of imperfect human beings with criminal records, is so painful, torturous, and abjectly inhumane that it amounts to an indictment against the Christian American society itself as a whole which, by conduct, transforms such Christian society, and not the one-time fully paid up and reformed law breaker, into an inhumane, cruel, and ignoble sect, unimpressive in the minds of most people as void of compassion and basic human decency, and below the level of decency found in even other animals. It is ugly human behavior indeed. This social cruelty and crushing injustice by America’s Christian Community, from an ancient biblical perception against individuals with a criminal records must change. The Christian Community, as stated, harbors hatred against such individuals and regards such Americans as no longer human but permanently evil which designated evil people must then be hated, injured, tortured, and permanently destroyed as the duty of a good Christian soldier in God’s army, to rid the world of s such evil. Good work. It is Onward Christian Soldiers, isn’t it? Such Christian ugliness must change in America by Christianity’s leaders changing Christians’ perception of individuals with criminal records who made a mistake with the law as not permanently evil but just imperfect human beings who made a mistake, fully paid for it, learned from it, and such broken fellow Americans should be humanely lifted back onto their feet, rehabilitated, and returned to mainstream society. For Christians to have a desire to permanently torture any fellow human being, not just those with records, is sadistic and abjectly evil in itself and represents a “free fall” from the spiritual, ironically, into evil and poses the question to many as to who is the evil entity, the individual with the criminal record or the Christian Community itself. This is the same Christian Community who burned to death at the stake, the worst torture in the human spectrum (try putting your finger on a hot stove),100,000 women in Germany alone stigmatized as “witches”. History records the ultimate joy of the clergy and faithful during the burnings and amid the horrific screams as performing a glorious and victorious feat, ridding the world of evil, in honor of God. Again, theologically created aberrant perceptions can change and behaviorally alter the Christian mislead, the good and well intended, loving, and warm men and women into incredible murderous monsters and cruel demons. The Dangerous Sheep. Reflections of the Christians’ Spanish Inquisition. Anyone in the market for a testicle crusher? What about a jaw expander?

This cruel punishment, called social persecutions, meted out by America’s Christian Society and not a court of law, towards individuals with criminal records, a sort of double jeopardy on a fellow American who has already completed his or her sentence, informally imposed by social tradition, represents the greatest of all social persecutions in the American Christian Society’s litany of social persecutions and the greatest of all historical injustices which renders a socially imposed sentence upon these individuals, outside of a court decree, worse than suicide. If one believes in a God, this cannot be God’s work but, to the contrary, social conduct of America’s Christian Community that is more of the nature of the diabolic and the satanic. This last one of two remaining American social persecution, like the others which our society has ended, must also end by church leaders and our laws creating a perceptual change, much like segregation and forced busing in the 1960s which changed Christian America’s perception of the African American, formerly held in loathsome contempt especially by the heavily Christian Ku Klux Klan which religious signature was even a burning cross. Without forced busing, segregation would have never come about. Christian Society, its hierarchy, and the United States Congress must change their perception of people with criminal records from permanently evil and relegated to a righteously hopeless state to imperfect human beings who paid for their mistake and, in the name of common decency, need to be lifted back up, rehabilitated, and returned to employment and jobs, instead of being permanently retained as broken and hopeless Americans. That would be 30 million more taxpayers to help fill the U. S. Treasury to shoulder the burden of government and infrastructure. If nothing else, it makes economic sense. Most such individuals are contrite, learned their lesson, and are ready for a second chance at life.

Theologically, the advocates of “healing” are regarded as the good people and the advocates of harm and destruction, as in social persecutions and the sadistic joy experienced by Christian faithful participating in these persecutions, are regarded as the evil people. Logically, the clergy who behested the hanging deaths of the 17 innocent women in the Salem Witch Trials were the evil ones by definition and not those innocent women. Such is the tragedy of aberrant religious perceptions which have run rampant in America’s religious community. Such evil social persecutions have caused many to wonder if organized and orthodox religions have done more harm than good for the world. The debate is on-going. Jonestown is a good example of religious perceptions run amuck. 1,000 followers of Jim Jones gave all and were rewarded by a Kool-Aid poison death in a mass murder of Pastor Jones’ congregation under his orders. Religious perceptions can and are aberrant and at times can be more evil than good. The perception i.e. reality creating church leaders have a great responsibility to civilization itself in carving fair, just, and humane perceptions for its faithful, The Dangerous Sheep, of all classes of people, European White or not, Christian or not, least these Christian leaders recklessly transform these loving, well meaning, good, well intended faithful into cruel and brutal killers and social monsters. These faithful believe that who they are cruel to are evil and it is their Christian duty to destroy that class of evil people for the glory of God. These robotish faithful believe that they are holy and spiritual, in responding to their religious leaders in carrying out God’s work of destroying evil as designated by the religious hierarchy and that what they are doing is good and spiritual. Dangerous Sheep, indeed.

The Christian Community in America and the United States Congress, now awakened regarding this last of two but most brutal of all social persecutions against those Americans among us with criminal records, must take moral and legislative steps to end this centuries old cruelest of all American social persecutions, by changing this anachronistic perception of such individuals from permanently evil to imperfectly human and broken individuals in need of compassion and rehabilitation. Well meaning Christians should solicit their U. S. Congresspersons to add an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include individuals with criminal records as a “protected class” against discrimination, especially regarding employment discrimination. As stated, a job is the very cornerstone of physical survival. It is time for America to put away its Scarlet Letter in the 21^st Century, especially as it regards individuals with criminal records. Axiomatically, any force that renders a life hopeless is evil. Any force that saves a life is spiritual. To destroy a life cannot be considered the handiwork of any god if the definition of god is still germane. It is time for America’s Christian Community to reappraise its perceptions regarding people with records, view them correctly as broken human beings only, and take a giant spiritual step forward and end the unbelievable suffering of this class of Americans, from conviction to grave, and this centuries old crushing social persecution and injustice against those among us unlucky enough to have acquired a criminal record. Some just 16 years old. Its time for America to return to a humane and compassionate society with a renewed sense of common decency which represents a work-in-progress evolving nation heading towards a higher and more noble state of grace, as Christianity’s cruel and brutal past, with its many social persecutions, continues to hopefully retreat from view.

As illustrated in the movie, The Manchurian Candidate, behavioral modification can take place when people are brainwashed such as in Christianity’s teaching to young people. The cement dries even harder and becomes more impervious when the brainwashing begins at age two and then no other reality may or can ever permeate aberrant perceptions, even among the intellectuals among us, scoring a defeat for the world’s “free thinkers”. Tailored perceptions from Christian church leaders even when their motives are questionable, such as membership drives to inflate the ranks of the faithful, become reality and at times the only reality for the faithful which dangerous perceptions can sadistically transform good, well intended, and well meaning people. E. g. the Nazi German hierarchy, during the 1930s and 1940s in Adolph Hitler’s rise to power, recreated the German people’s perception of the Jewish people as non-human, diseased, vermin, and enemies of the German people out after their destruction. Evil creatures that needed to be stamped out for the German people to survive else the German race would be culturally poisoned. Such perceptual alteration appears to be a copy of that of the Spanish Inquisition. With this newly carved perception, the German and Polish Catholic Christian people’s new reality became that their very cultural and physical survival was being threatened by the paganistic non-Christian, evil Jews and it was their Christian duty to kill the non-human, evil Jews. With this newly carved perception, just 65 years ago, there resulted a behavioral modification which allowed the good, loving, and forever smiling, and moral German and Poles civilian population, not just German soldiers, to kill Jews on site without guilt or remorse, converting the well intended, well wishing Christian faithful into vile murderers, The Dangerous Sheep, resulting in the execution and cremation of six million innocent human beings. The equivalent of 12 sold-out football stadiums. The Dangerous Sheep can be quite dangerous and will remain potentially dangerous as long as they continue to remain sheep and refuse to question their theology. If such a grand Christian pogrom happened just 65 years ago and not in the 1500s, could another such religious pogrom happen again in the future with another six million innocent human beings being executed by misled Christians?

Social persecutions, as stated, start with behavioral modifications which comes from altered and modified perceptions i.e. “brainwashing”. Illustrated in the movie, The Manchurian Candidate, perceptual alteration resulted in behavioral modification wherein a formerly moral CIA agent opposed to murder was able to murder without guilt or compunction much the same as Christian Crusaders believed if they killed a pagan Muslim, i.e. an evil soldier in Satan’s army, God would look upon them with favor and they would go straight to Heaven. Muslims today have the same aberrant perception or brainwashing about infidels i.e. non-Muslims. If a Muslim is killed in battle with an infidel, he believes he is going straight to Heaven where 21 virgins await him. One might think that Heaven is a place of human reproduction. To end social persecutions, social perceptions that see classes of the human population as evil must change. E. g. people with criminal records are not de-humanized and transformed into permanently evil entities called “felons” and criminals. They are imperfect human beings still with mothers, brothers, brothers, fathers, daughters, and friends just like the rest of us. They made a mistake. To err is human. Many of them are innocent victims of enemies or overzealous prosecutors. After they have repaid their debt to society, they are debt free and should not be further socially and religiously persecuted from conviction to grave. This is most unjust, cruel, and sadistic and refutes the loving tenets of Christianity. To intentionally continue their suffering is not only unjust, it is diabolic by that same righteous Christian Community. Many organized religions are quite evil especially considering the heavy historical oppressions, repressions, and punishments meted out to their followers and infidel in some sects. Brainwashed destruction by some Christian Communities upon misperceived innocent classes in society is almost robotishly carried out by the faithful similar to the robot in the movie, The Terminator. That robot was also told who was evil and who had to be destroyed. Religious brainwashing does robotishly alter human behavior. The biblically based perception of individuals with criminal records as no longer human and being permanently evil and entitled to no charity and mercy has caused untold suffering throughout the ages, reducing the lives of tens of millions of imperfect human beings to a hopeless state less attractive than suicide. This Christian perception is not spiritual but, to the contrary, is quite ugly in terms of man’s behavior towards his fellow man, if not psychopathic. American Christians must end their ugly towards these fellow Americans.

As stated, Great Britain’s most renown “free thinker” of the 1900s, philosopher Sir Bertrand Russell, assessed Christianity as a theology of sadism. In terms of a pop quiz, lets answer the following inquiries to determine if Sir Russell was correct. Is or was Christianity pro-life or anti-life regarding the following subjects: Nature (nudity is evil, masturbation is a mortal sin earning one eternal Hell, photographs of the human body represents dirty pictures, one sins if one enjoys sex, one sins in thought, word, and deed including thoughts of sex); Knowledge (repeated burning of the books throughout the ages, Christian blacklists, “all new thought belongs to God”, and the 6^th Century’s Papal edict that the world was flat, Earth is the center of the Universe); Freedom (one who varies from Christian dogma is a heretic to be “stoned” to death, possessors of a King James version of the Bible are to be immediately burnt at the stake, prohibition against eating meat on Fridays, missing Mass on Easter Sunday is a mortal sin earning one damnation, all non-Christians are condemned to hell, a “difference of opinion” i.e. [freedom of speech] regarding Christian teaching is disallowed as heretical); Mental health (self image – humans are “sinners” and innately bad and evil and must be punished, guilt – Christian “sinners” killed Jesus by their sins and must repent, shame – the human body is sinful, sex is bad, joys of the flesh are prohibited, money - i.e. having possessions - is the root of all evil); Joy (personal deprivation - a joyless state - and the ascetic life is the path to God’s graces, “sinners” must be punished even beyond mortal life in a place of “extended punishment” called Purgatory i.e. pain is the road to Heaven); Tolerance (all non-Christians are pagans and soldiers in Satan’s army and, as such, are condemned to hell, and must be persecuted and destroyed as a Christian’s duty i.e. the Crusaders dutiful murdering of Muslim pagans received graces from God, the burning of “gypsies” at the stake, and finally Native Americans, Jews, Muslims, Africans until repeal of the Dred Scott Decision, Mormons, Masons, gays, and criminals all perceived as evil entities and, as such, to be enslaved, tortured, and destroyed as [enemies of God] by dutiful Christians); Compassion (“sinners” must be punished, the Spanish Inquisition’s testicle crushers - jaw and anus wideners- the rack - the Iron Maiden - thumb screws - burning 100s of humans at one time at the stake during Christianity’s auto da fes, euphorically and joyously experienced by the clergy as purification of evil for the glory of God, as historical documented); Love (a sin by biblical reference to show mercy and charity to one with a criminal record, stone the heretics, kill the pagans, a theological concept of a place of eternal suffering called hell); Thinking (the faithful should worship in “blind faith” and not question Christian dogma or read books that have been blacklisted); Science (“fossils were planted on Earth by the devil to deceive the minds of man”, the Earth is 5,200 years old, all humans descended from Adam and Eve therefore are born with Original Sin, Noah’s Arc – even though it would take 500+ circumnavigations of the globe, by an arc without sails, to complete the collection and redistribution of the paired animals, no new thought allowed as new thought belongs to God alone, and the Catholic Church’s chilling proclamation, “Time is on our side.”); and finally Life (the many holy wars of history to kill and destroy all non-Christians and those varying from dogma, and too much joy and pleasure should be resisted, shunned, and not indulged in this evil world, but reserved for a better life in Heaven) The Christian reader, if he or she can surmount the brainwashing that leaves most impervious and impermeable to challenging thought, will now have to arrive at his or her objective decision regarding the above pop quiz as to whether Sir Bertrand Russell was correct in his proclamation of Christianity as a [theology of sadism] i.e. a theology of pain, or was just horribly misguided. Following this food for thought, lets return to the current social persecutions in issue. That of individuals with criminal records, and gays.

The social persecution of individuals with criminal records, 30 million of them, as stated, is the segregation issue all over again. Rather than African Americans, this time, the U. S. citizen being disenfranchised and completely segregated from society are individuals with criminal records. America’s criminal justice system is also shooting itself in the foot as, by depriving such individuals the ability to earn a living by not protecting this class, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, from employment discrimination, it drives 30+ million Americans into a life of crime to generate survival income, ironically actually creating crime, in order to feed their families, to the endangerment of society. Enough. If America is truly a spiritual nation, short of hypocrisy, and not just materialistic at any cost, this social stigmatization, cruelty, and sadism towards suffering fellow Americans with criminal records must end. As stated, an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act including people with criminal records as a “protected class” from employment discrimination would be a giant step forward in giving this class a second chance and rehabilitating them, as a job would provide the income needed to give them a life. Such an amendment should, in all things, be passed in the name of human decency unless America is willing to settle for being reduced to a cold, and heartless nation void of its humanity for turning its back on a fallen and broken class of American citizens. Conversely, such a retreat from civility could eventually result in America’s moral and actual destruction.

Regarding the psychological and cultural roots of social persecutions, one might ask what causes social persecutions. America has had more than its share. Is it Christianity’s enamorization with the cosmetic word “perfect” i.e “Christ was the only perfect person” and Christians should model themselves after Jesus? Axiomatically, perfect is also the state of absolute intolerance i.e. non-acceptance of anything flawed or less than perfect. Christianity’s perpetual aberration, where Christians missed the mark, is human beings should not be judged by a Jesus-Christ standard of perfect because human beings are imperfect. “To err is human”. Christianity’s further perceptual flaw is not realizing that imperfect is a more powerful and functional state than perfect because it is an adaptable state. As the adage goes, “Adapt or die”. If the givens or conditions change, as in the physical environment, living things survive by adapting to the changes. Perfect does not have this ability as it is a fixed and frozen state and applies only to a certain non-changing set of circumstances. Change those circumstances and one can witness the truly feeble state of perfect. A perfect state is perfect only for fixed givens. The state does not have survival abilities. Change the givens and it is a useless formula. As an axiom, perfect only has utility to unchangeable given conditions. Conditions are forever changing, environmentally, theologically, politically, and socially. Hence, Christian’s enamored perception of perfect as the ultimate state is a fundamentally flawed perception, truly more cosmetic than functional. Only the imperfect state is flexible and adaptable to meet changing times. Hence, one can see the feebleness of unchanging theological dogma dragged from antiquity into the 21^st Century and how it becomes problematical when jamming with modern change which these old theologies no longer relate to. Conflict begins and theocracies start hurting modern people and students who no longer relate to the non-applicable old maxims which are no longer applicable to modern times but remain “inflexible” as the unchanging word of God.

In theology, perfect is the absolute state of intolerance of any human condition less than perfect. Maybe this is the root of some religious dogma that is quite strict and very punitive i.e. cruel and sadistic Consider the Puritans and The Scarlet Letter. Such intolerance has resulted in crushing religious oppression of the masses. If the Christians of antiquity did not adhere perfectly to the party line or his or her conduct was not perfect enough, i.e. they had a difference of opinion from the theology, they were branded a heretic and stoned to death or horribly burned at the stake. So much for freedom of speech, thought, individual liberty, and loving thy neighbor. Such is the character of a [repressive regime]. This perfect component or perception of Christianity, along with other components mentioned such as humankind being inherently evil needing punishment, set up an inherent cruelty and danger within Christianity and among its community of faithful, towards any follower not perfect enough in conduct or beliefs. This situation also exists in Islam. What Muslim would dare not bow and pray during daily public prayers? Some Muslim theocracies include decapitation for the non-compliant. Such religious intolerance led to the Christian Church burning hundreds of thousands of women at the stake, the cruelest death of all, in Germany and throughout Europe as “witches”, the Catholic Church’s Spanish Inquisition which gave new meaning to the word torture, the Christian Crusader’s slaughter of thousands of innocent Muslims in seven crusades, the Salem Witch Trials, and the murder of Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, just to mention a few of Christianity’s atrocities regarding social persecution of classes of people throughout history who were “different”, not European White, or whose conduct was not perfect enough or conformed enough to religious dogma i.e. who strayed from the party line.

Christianity, Judaism, and Islam had the same Aryan roots as theologies of compassion but all three theologies departed from their early beginnings and became theologies rooted in [punishment], through aberrant perceptions of humankind as inherently evil, which propelled these theologies down an aberrant rabbit trail into human cruelty. Hinduism and Buddhism, also with early Aryan roots, did not depart from being early theologies of compassion, and evolved into non-violent and effeminate cultures which, for the most part, are void of conflict and inhumane theological behavior. No Spanish Inquisitions there. It is the reason why many Americans are now reassessing Christianity, with its inherent conflicts and inhumane treatment of man, and looking for more spiritual dogma and peaceful systems for religious beliefs, to live a more fulfilled and meaningful life.

Social persecutions are the cruelest form of religious and social punishment, usually of innocent people, as the social persecutions last a lifetime if not centuries until the persecution is ended by some form of moral uprising or reform movement from the masses. Some of these incredible injustices last hundreds of years unabated. Witness the slavery of the African American. As stated, the most crushing persecution is that of individuals with criminal records as this persecution, lasting from conviction to grave, is thousands of years old. Once a background check is made in America, the formerly convicted American is finished in the employment market and is permanently crippled from supporting himself or his or her family. They are reduced to a permanent ward of the state even though they have fully repaid their debt to society. These people, numbering over 30+ millions, should have been rehabilitated and returned to mainstream America but instead, Christian American Society has cruelly elected to keep hating them, holding them in contempt as perceived evil entities, disenfranchising them, and keeping them living in misery from conviction to grave. You have to understand. They are evil. This example of social persecution, one of many in America, and Christian intolerance represents a cruelty to fellow human beings unmatched and unparalleled in American history. Still, the non-thinking, brainwashed, wholly conforming Christian faithful blindly defend this inherent cruelty and aberrant perception as biblically based and rooted. Such cruel intolerance, ironically, is non-Christian as Jesus taught “Turn the other cheek” i.e. tolerate another’s imperfections and differences, and “This day thou shall be with me in Paradise” i.e. forgive your fellow man.

Christianity’s many social persecutions and inherent cruelty from its originally assessing humankind as evil and its enamorization with the Christ standard of perfect has led to a litany of incredible oppressions and repressions of the masses whose conduct was less than perfect or did not adhere enough to the party line, resulting in horrendous, documented cruelty to the masses throughout the ages. Jesus is quoted in the Bible as saying (paraphrasing) “If you show charity and mercy to a criminal, you yourself are a sinner”. This has to be a misquote as if Jesus truly set this as a social standard for all times, humankind stands at a higher spiritual plateau and state of grace than Jesus, hence, Jesus could not have been God. This biblical quotation need not be followed by the Christian faithful as it is refuted by Jesus himself when he as stated forgave the thief on the cross, also biblical, saying “This day thou shall be with me in Paradise”. The former biblical quotation above has led to 20 centuries of incredible Christian inhumanity towards their fellow man, human misery, and torturous Christian cruelty in ostracizing one with a criminal record. Such persecution represents a failure to understand the imperfect human condition, perceiving destructive human conduct and anti-social behavior as sin against their god instead of human insecurity, fear, emotional instability, chemical imbalance, and possibly brain damage. A case of ignorance and superstition replacing the science of human psychology.

This essay represents a historical summary of social persecutions mainly in America. In fairness to the 21 Century Christian readers regarding the theological evils of antiquity versus modern thought and the current practices of the Christian Community, is it still a case of the Dangerous Sheep and on-going social persecutions in America, or would the Modern Christian say “That was the ignorant past and that Christian social persecutions no longer exist in the 21^st Century” Let’s honestly test this hypothetical supposition with the following offerings: (1) If an American citizen makes one mistake with the law, he or she in Christian America is no longer regarded as human but perceptually and permanently transformed into another entity called a “felon” FOR LIFE, perceived as an “evil” person FOR LIFE i.e. socially ostracized FOR LIFE, from conviction to grave even though they have fully repaid their debt to society, i.e. socially persecuted FOR LIFE from age 17 on. [Such errant and imperfect individuals will never be employed after a background check, hence, their corner stone of physical survival, a job, has been pulled cruelly out from under them. America’s Christian Community, instead of modeling Jesus-type forgiveness i.e. “the thief on the cross” and fully rehabilitating these fellow human beings and returning them to mainstream society, the modern Christian Community ostracizes such errant individuals economically, professionally, and socially and reduces these victims of such cruel theology and long time entrenched dogma to irreversibly “hopeless” human beings.

Can any felon or American with a criminal record ever get a job in Christian America? Considering the possibility of Christian hatred towards this class and its continuing social persecution of such individuals with records, would the Christian reading this essay ever hire this imperfect human being and one-time law breaker with a criminal record? If the reader chokes up and tightens considering this query, that Christian has his or her answer. The evil perception is still holding; (3) Regarding taught i.e. brainwashed hatreds and conditioned intolerances of the Christian Community, analyze the recent 2008 nationally televised response of a Baptist Church Christian Community’s placard demonstration and response to the Amish Community’s tragedy of seven brutally murdered small elementary school girls which placards read “God hates you” and “God is glad your children are dead”; (3) Isn’t the Catholic Church still superstitiously if not irrationally against birth control which un-therapeutically impacts negatively upon large families with eight to eleven off springs; cruelly assuring that their children will be born into abject poverty, misery, and deprivation?; (4) Aren’t non-Christians still regarded as “tolerable” evils e.g. could a Muslim parent or Mormon ever win a child custody battle in court against a Christian parent? In retrospect, is theological Christian hatred and intolerance really gone in the 21^st Century? Could such theology sprout yet another social persecution tomorrow against another American class of people yet to be perceived and designated as evil by the Christian hierarchy?

The above examples point to continuing Christian theological hatreds, discriminations, and social persecutions upon certain classes of people in America. Although this author believes that gays and lesbians are a hormonal balancing problem only with a hormonal therapy solution and that such condition should be hormonally treated rather than encouraged as a normal state, for the sake of re-anchoring and re-stabilizing the fabric of society in which civilizations are built upon roles, customs, and traditions rather than anarchical behavioral confusion and disorder, and the law should not condone this hormonally imbalanced condition, sexual preference is still a matter of “personal choice” and not a matter of biblical mandate. This current Christian social persecution and extreme theological hatred, brainwashed into the Dangerous Sheep, has led to incredible verbal and physical abuse and on-going murders of fellow human beings in this class of gay American citizens from the warm, loving and forever smiling Christian Community. The Dangerous Sheep appear to be alive and well in 2010.

To make a better and improved theology for themselves, Christianity’s social persecutions must end, starting with unemployed individuals with criminal records i.e. “felons”. (The term is a crushing permanent life-time social stigmatization upon many individuals who have made only one mistake with the law, with some offenses stemming from America’s current system of economic injustices wherein one cannot economically survive. Witness the expose, caused by Hurricane Katrina, of the deplorable living conditions of thousands of blacks in New Orleans and then deny that America has an economic caste system. The heavily stigmatized term felon should be legally abolished due to the incredible injustices it has created for this class of people, most of whom have fully repaid their debt to society.) As an unavoidable test of virtuous Christians, if Jesus Christ could forgive and rehabilitate a felon i.e. one with a criminal record, the thief on the cross, so can the Christian Community which is suppose to be modeling Jesus’ example. If not, whose? Is it a case of theological confusion? A good remedial start and good faith showing by Christians towards ending their litany of social persecutions would be to contact their Congressperson to support a bill amending Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to include Americans with criminal records as a “protected class” against employment discrimination to deliver these victims from economic brutality and the complete absence of any quality of life. Not even able to afford shoe laces. This is a Christian brutality and theological sadism that must be ended by virtuous, non-hypocritical Christians themselves if their theology is to retain any form of legitimacy as the antithesis of hatred, cruelty, intolerance, and evil. If the non-hypocritical, Christian faithful truly model the example of Christ, ending such persecutorial evil should be a mandate and Christian duty. Or is the Christian religion just window dressing and it is really about marketing i. e. Who would hire someone with a criminal record or want their customers to know. If such is truly the case, Christianity is but a shame and hypocrisy of the egocentric merely wearing their religion as a cosmetic decoration as to their social importance in never failing to be seen at church on Sundays for various motives, political, social, economic, and personal alike.

Until their social persecutions and theological "hatreds" finally end, one might continue to be wary of Christianity’s Dangerous Sheep, and maintain a constant vigilance as to who might be the next class of American citizens designated as Christianity's new evil by the Christian hierarchy. Axiomatically, unless human decency reigns among the faithful, the legitimacy of any theology and its claim to spirituality will remain seriously in question.

Wrong rabbit trails have been a problem for society. To shift to another rabbit trail, current good hearted, well intended, and undeniably loving, warm, and forever smiling Christians might consider forgiving criminals as a start towards ending the oldest and cruelest Christian social persecution of them all. The 1,500-year old crushing social persecution of imperfect fellow human beings includes the 30+ million fellow Americans among us with criminal records. “To err is human. To forgive is divine”. A return by Christian persecutors to forgiveness and turning the other cheek teachings of Jesus might be noteworthy. Thinking – is also another admirable virtue along with not harming one’s fellow man, Christian or otherwise. Common decency will always be popular and attractive along with humaneness towards one’s fellow man. To the Christian reader, the winds of change are always there for the taking, unless the theological blinders are permanently in place as in the Catholic doctrine of “blind faith”. No thinking allowed, please. “Free thinking” is always a risk to the orthodox among us. If virtue is to ever triumph over evil with Christianity’s doctrinal conformists, social persecutions must end in America, starting with the rehabilitation of individuals among us with criminal records.

Or - does Christian conviction come down to “What would my customers think if I hire someone with a criminal record. Let’s opt for the cruelty instead if it is going to cost me business”. Sound familiar? Like “If a “nigger” moves in next to me, there goes the neighborhood. They are even drinking from our water fountains and using our restrooms”. This was the sentiment of [most Christians] in the 1960s in the Christian Community’s long time persecution of African Americans before the Christians’ hated “school busing” was forced upon them which event represented the beginning of the end of abjectly cruel segregation in America, followed by the enforcement of The Civil Rights Act. Some times “social change” must be FORCED upon a population by legislation or the U. S. Supreme Court to crowbar the recalcitrant Christian Community from their ancient and deeply entrenched prejudices and class hatreds, and irrefutably there has been a historical litany of them which the Christian Community would be hard pressed to deny. Another such persecution and [segregation issue] is now presenting itself to this same Christian Community in the 2010s and demanding change. Their centuries old persecution, hatred, heavy discrimination, ostracizing, and 100% economic and social disenfranchisement of anyone with a criminal record, discovered by mandatory background checks, which unrelenting persecution and [absence of forgiveness and rehabilitation], cruelly imposed upon these suffering fellow Americans, continues by the same smiling, loving, and warm Christian Community from conviction to grave, i.e. a lifetime of crushing suffering and persecution upon broken and downed human beings almost appearing to make sure they stay down. This cannot be God’s work but the cruel, demonic actions of the theologically misguided i.e. the blind sheep among us who continue to refuse to think beyond religious dogma, i.e. “The Bible says it so”, and don’t have a clue as to the harm they are inflicting upon fellow human beings.

So much for the Dangerous Sheep and Christian hypocrisy. After 1945, the Jews, for one, can no longer be considered asleep to such inherent tyranny, the theme of this essay. Back to the real world of Christian persecutions. Still think social persecutions are only a thing of the past? Axiomatically, - “to not resist evil is to become partners with it”. Now that the well meaning sheep (and no doubt they really are – just sleeping) have been morally awakened with this reality shock, an amendment to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act adding individuals with criminal records as a “protected class” from employment discrimination would do it for these 30+ million fellow Americans and end their lifetime journey of incredible deprivation and crushing human misery and suffering, by allowing them an opportunity to work and earn a living to provide for the basic physical survival of themselves and their children, without which jobs there is no existence, paid for only by income. Any Christian reader planning to pick up the telephone to call their Congressperson? Why not? We’re waiting. You and your faith are being challenged. Or is the concrete of theologically perceived evil that hard and unchanging? Or is church attendance really just a vain expression, cosmetic nonsense, a time to socialize, an opportunity to promote business, and coffee and donuts as the sum total of its virtuous offerings? Is spirituality and religious conviction still viable in Christianity or now just a fanciful notion not to be permitted to inconvenience one’s comfort or agenda? To the Christian reader and theological resister, your honest challenge is to prove anything said in this essay is wrong! If you cannot, then DO SOMETHING morally right, in the name of common decency and spiritual conviction for goodness sake, in the interest of restoring HOPE to the lives of 30+ million forlorn and suffering human beings, also creatures of God, and fellow Americans not being permitted to work after a background check, - and end this greatest of social persecution once and for all. (Empathetically, what would you do without one dollar of earned income in your pocket for 30 to 50 years? What would your life be like? It would be like one with a criminal record. What would your children do?)

Help out now. You will be happy you did. What a contribution that would be and what an engraving upon one’s tombstone as a testimonial to a life worthwhile. That you were part of the Mission that rescued, resurrected, rehabilitated, and healed the broken lives of 30+ million human beings, fellow Americans, and finally put an end to centuries of crushing human suffering resulting from biblical derailment from scribes who had to have misquoted Jesus if Jesus forgave the thief on the cross. By a consensus of the entire world community, yours would be a [spiritual act].

By the way regarding the imperfect human condition, a request is now made for all the “perfect people” to please stand up. How about the humane and compassionate ones? Best wishes to all those among us who have also been convicted - of common decency.

Food for thought.