Christianity: A Threat to America

Erica Corder, one of 15 valedictorians of Lewis-Palmer High School in Denver, Colorado was threatened, by the school principal, to not receive her diploma if she did not prepare a public apology for mentioning Jesus Christ in her commencement speech. Many Americans embrace their right to free speech and their right to freedom of religion; however, when Corder embraced the two together, she was at risk of disciplinary action. The growing intolerance for Christianity has become more than apparent in the United States. What is it about this particular religion that makes individuals and organizations feel threatened?

There are religious extremists in several major religions of the world and their acts reign terror on many nations. Radical Christians have killed and destroyed on the basis of protecting human life. Extreme Hindu organizations have completely demolished buildings of other religious groups out of intolerance. Sikh terrorists have bombed airlines and massacred hundreds for fear that the position of their religion was descending. Radical Muslims have murdered thousands in their own lands in adherence to the commands of their god.

Christianity is not the radical philosophy that is often exploited in the media. True Christianity is love, compassion, hope, patience, and understanding. Where in these attributes is the threat to Americans? When followers of a different religion are the subject of negative stereotypes, American people work diligently to reverse those notions as nothing more than just poor representations of the group as a whole. When Christians are subject to negative stereotypes, the labels are accepted by many Americans: “Christians are hypocrites.” America’s religious tolerance has become acceptance for all, except Christianity.

The majority of Americans have experienced the evangelism of a Mormon follower at one time or another (For the record, my opinion holds that Mormonism is not Christianity. Christianity has a closed canon consisting of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible. The Mormon religion incorporates the teachings of a second book, The Book of Mormon. Mormonism has developed from the fundamentals of Christianity, as Christianity—and Islam—have from Judaism). Mormons are tolerated (even if for only seconds) when they knock on the door of homes; they are tolerated when they interrupt an individual in a public shopping center and dismissed as “that’s just what they do.” A young girl embraces the name of Jesus in a speech about moving forward with her life and she is threatened to lose the reward of years of hard work—her high school diploma.

As children, Americans are taught equality and tolerance. Equality and tolerance for different races, genders, and concepts of sexuality are implanted in a child’s brain as early as pre-school. Religious tolerance is embraced: to Buddhists who affirm no god, only Nirvana; to Hindus who worship Brahmin and Vishnu, among others; to Muslims who embrace one god and one god only, Allah. Shift to Christians in America who proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and that tolerance becomes a theoretical reality.

In many local Asian food restaurants, there are statues and paintings of “Buddha.” They are admired, perhaps sometimes chuckled at, but never viewed as an infringement on another’s personal religious freedom. These icons of the Buddhist religion are accepted in public areas—Americans are proudly tolerant of other religions! No one person wants to be branded a bigot because they are offended by the Buddha. Turn the tables to the symbol of Jesus Christ and Christians are in violation of everyone else’s first amendment rights. For example, a high school in Charleston, West Virginia is home to a classic picture of Jesus—a picture that had been an art piece at the school for more than 30 years. Two people have taken offense to this picture and caused the school to enter into litigation on the basis of “unconstitutional religious expression.” The lawsuit exclaims, “The expenditure of public funds to maintain the Jesus portrait is unconstitutional." What types of additional funds are actually required to maintain a picture that hangs on a wall?

The picture lawsuit is one of many examples of the anti-Christian religious tolerance that is sweeping the nation. A 10-year old boy in suburban Philadelphia was not allowed to wear a Jesus costume to school because it was said to promote religious activities. Yet, other students were allowed to dress as devils for the festivities. Devils too transmit religious symbolism, but for some reason, that was overlooked. Why was the Christian image of hope and love a threat to Willow Hill Elementary administration?

A former classmate once described her work environment where Muslim co-workers would congregate at certain times of the day, and bow down in prayer. This, of course, is their right—their religious freedom. Among fellow employees who did not share the same religious values, the Muslims were allowed to embrace their religious duties. In New Orleans, multiple school districts have entered into litigation because school board members joined in prayer prior to their board meetings. School board meetings are held after school hours, outside any school building, and no children are required to attend. Some parish school districts have already lost their battle to maintain opening prayers due to, that’s right, first amendment violations. Violations have been declared, yet there was no person present at the board meetings that did not engage in the same beliefs and practices of the board as a whole. The hypocrisy of America’s religious tolerance is more than evident in circumstances such as these.

Every person should question why Christianity, why Jesus Christ, why the Christian God is perceived as threatening, and why so little tolerance is offered in comparison to the hundreds of other religions abounding in this nation. Maybe then, the double standard of religious freedoms guaranteed to all by the Constitution of the United States of America can be relieved.