American Christians are hated worldwide and for good reason. They have supported persecution of minorities in their own country- the native peoples and blacks to name a few. They are strong supporters of Americas wars- the Gulf War, World War I, II, Vietnam war, and now WWIII against Muslims and others opposed to the US- yet claim to be Pro-Life (Ha!). They are the strongest supporters of torture. They supported the Apartheid regime in South Africa and now support the Zionist Apartheid state in Palestine.

American Christians act like “thieves in the night” by trying to takeover the courts, the army, the politics and every other aspect of American society.

Just as Jewish fanatics like to blame anti-semitism for all their problems, Christofascists (and fellow travelers like the author) like to blame all their probs on Liberals. Enough is enough. It is time for Christians to stop behaving so fanatically and take a more liberal stance towards the world and American society.

I think Christians are “bashed” for 2 reasons:
they are the main religion, so religion- bashers would most frequently be Christian- bashers, not Zoroastrian- bashers;
Christianity is a mixture of monotheism and Paganism. The Pagan element remains fairly strong (e.g., the Trinity, the Saints, the Resurrection), so those who would bash religion would have at least 3 times as many reasons to bash Christianity.

Still, it’s not right to do this, and non-theists should be setting an example of decency and tolerance.

But people like Bill Gothard, whose teachings helped push Matthew over the edge, don’t help create good will toward religious teachings.

I’m not aware that Christians feel besieged. I think people on the political right tend to feel besieged.

The Washington Times article you cite illustrates this. It quotes a number of Christians who are on the political right who, to varying degrees suggest that Christianity is under siege. Harold Brown goes so far as to compare the present situation in America to the persecution of Christians by the Romans. But this perspective is not shared by the one Christian quoted who is not on the political right (the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy).

But if it makes you feel better Rick, blame the “Christian bashers” for sending guy over the edge, and not the fundie wackos that created this Frankenstein.

Speculation about the Okla bombing is more distracting than helpful. Maybe far-right rhetoric affected McVeigh, but maybe not; there just isn’t any way to prove causation from such tenuous contacts with far-right rhetoric, much less rank the influence of the various factors.

A better comparison is probably anti-semitic jihad rhetoric, since suicide bombing is only different from suicide gun-attacks in the choice of weaponry, and the jihad propoganda is probably directly accountable for the semi-constant suicide bombs that Isreal used to suffer.

Alternately, the racism of the early half of the twentieth century could be a useful comparison, since it clearly motivated 1000+ lynchings.

The racism and anti-semite comparisons are helpful because you could prove causation with them. People died, and their deaths can be attributed to [instert propoganda] because of: (1) the number of murders; and (2) similarities tying them together. (KKK for the one; martyr-training and videos for the other.)

Did anti-Christian hate speech influence the Colorado murders? Who knows. The Colo killer could have influenced by others, but he could have developed his pathologies himself. Either way, I’m too skeptical to accept the ramblings of a psycho killer on first impression.

Even if you suspect the former, you provide almost no more evidence that far-left hate speech contributed to the Colo killings, than Bill Clinton provided tying Okla and Rush Limbaugh.

Eight murders over eight+ years just ain’t enough, especially when the only similarities between the killings is that they occurred in a place of worship.

On a daily basis I see more and more people who have aligned themselves with an increasingly secular point of view, eschewing religious belief and placing THEMSELVES in the position of some sort of tinpot diety. The more we remove God from our schools, and our public dialogue, and our lives, the less our lives have any kind of meaning.

I don’t blame the guns for the violence, I blame the secular atmosphere and the people who buy into it so fully.

Never forget that it was a woman with a gun and the ability and will to use it that prevented greater bloodshed.

It also seems to me that this alleged media “hostility” towards Christianity is overblown. A number of books by noted Christian scientists have been written in response to Dawkins, but you don’t see those authors appearing next to Bill O. on FOX because it is the controversy that pushes audience shares and pulls in the big advertising dollars. “Narnia” was a huge hit, and did much better at the box office than the “Golden Compass,” largely because it was the better film. In addition to “7th Heaven” the show “Joan of Arcadia” portrayed a positive view of faith, and after all even the Simpsons attend church regularly (not to mention Homer’s regular conversations with God.)