Having been raised Catholic and then as a young adult converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons), it has been very sad to me through the years to have occasionally been treated with persecution, disdain, and outright hatred by the very people in other churches who profess to be following Jesus Christ. Whether you believe me to be a Christian or not, to treat me with disrespect and unkindness would never make me want to listen to what you have to say. Nonetheless, my faith is in Jesus Christ of the New Testament, who lived, died, and lives again. He suffered in the garden and died on the cross and rose again for me and everyone else. He is my Savior, my Consolation, and my Peace.

Hah! Interesting response! Someone has sure turned your key. Since you have been very concise in your disbelief, let me be just as concise in my belief. I believe in Jesus not because of how many others believe or even because the Bible talks about him. Being a skeptic myself, I believe because He has proved to me that He exists and that He is who He says He is. It is no longer a conviction, but an absolute knowledge. I have a daily communication with Him and have found His teachings to be scientifically verifiable, based on cause and effect. You are looking only at the surface and will never prove or disprove anything in that way. May that God who is the father of your spirit and mine one day give you a reason to seek for His eternal truth, for if you seek for it you will find it.

I will have to agree with the atheist above in that mainline Christians should have no fear of persecution within the United States.  In the story above the Jewish nation had been conquered by another nation.  However, they acted as though they had not been conquered.  In those times, a culture conquered was required to assimilate to the culture of the conqueror.  This could be likened to the Christian European conquest of the world centuries past.  The Mayan civilization was for example forced to turn from their demonic culture or die.  This in fact is the nature of war itself.  One side finds its culture to be superior and determines to wipe out the inferior.  

What pervades in abundance within the boarders of every country is a culture war.  In most cases the pervading culture rules and laws made define that culture and marginalize the minority culture.  Religion is a cultural aspect.  Xerxes stood on an extreme end of what happens naturally in every culture and era of human existence. Christians hold an interesting place in world culture today.  Christianity has a seat of power greater than all other religions with Islam close at its heels.  Christians have had their time of rape and pillage.  They have had their time of conquering and ruling the world sphere.  They have had their time of peace and increase.  They have had their time of wisdom. 

We Christians, if we live as we aught to, will bug worldly people.  It seems as obvious as the sun coming up every morning that eventually we will go thru a persecution in the US.

The rapture people seem to be trying to avoid this persecution -- like they are saying, "no pain, no pain!"  Well, I don't like pain either, but I say 'your will, not mine' instead.

Let's make the most of our future suffering.

(The Westboro Church is the most visible example of the apostate (false), visible church I can think of. Totally distorting the message of love Christ brings to all who truly know Him, they turn many from the message and doom them.)

Excellent post.  And the lesson of Esther assuredly applies to the present day.  God's true people are and always will be in the minority on the earth until, that is, they are snatched off before the full impact of God's judgements are poured out from heaven.  They are sprinkled among every denomination.  Some will be found worthy to be snatched away before the real trouble starts.  Others left behind from the first wave of the saints will come to their senses concerning their eternal destiny and face up to horrendous martyrdom rather than deny Christ, thus entering heaven barely.  THEN the proverbial HOLY SHIT will hit the fan!

I don't hate god. I don't believe in him. This is as patently ridiculous as me accusing you of hating leprechauns if you don't believe in them.

Also, I don't have to "hate God" to hate what the people who profess to act in his name are doing. Trying to ban a Muslim rec center half a mile from the Twin Towers site, working hard to deny equal rights to gay citizens, setting a culture where it's nearly impossible to be elected unless you're more "Christian" than the other guy... yeah, I hate all of that. None of that has to do with my atheism, however.

You are not a persecuted minority in the USA. The Sikhs that were gunned down in Wisconsin are a persecuted minority. The gays and lesbians kicked out of their homes by ignorant, bigoted parents are a persecuted minority. The atheists ostracized by their communities for simply not being Christian are a persecuted minority. The Muslims incarcerated without evidence or access to a lawyer are a persecuted minority. The Christians who make up over 90% of our elected officials at a national level ARE NOT a persecuted minority. In fact, what with all the legislature pushing a "Christian" agenda, I'd say you may just be the persecuting majority.

@When_We_Were_Both_Cats@xanga - Christians don't make bomb threats toward atheists. That kind of bigoted lie has to be put to rest immediately.

In fact, the last religion-motivated murder was an atheist who shot a Christian because the shooter didn't like the Christian's politics. 

That shooting happened recently. The reason you never heard of it is because you live in a bubble that is only populated with like minded atheists.

@brown_buffalo@xanga - America, the greatest nation in human history has a legal system that was originally based on the Ten Commandments and Judeo-Christian moral ethics.

The existence of the United States is clear proof that what you said in your comment does not conform to reality.

it goes both ways.......