I do not think what word means what you think it means. But, whatever....
I was going to embed this, but it won't work. Ah, well, click over and watch it. Except for the bit about a "Christmas tree" being a "religious symbol" (news to me!), it's spot on about how "oppressed" Christians are in this country.
About as oppressed as atheists, actually.
Yes, atheists face the death penalty in some countries in the world, and even in the EU there are laws on the books (no word on whether they are enforced) against public expressions of non-religious sentiment (I guess that's why Richard Dawkins never travels to Europe?). But in America? The worst that happens to atheists is "a range of laws and practices 'that equate being religious with being American.' "
I grew up in very Southern Baptist East Texas, where the assumption was you were a Southern Baptist or you were going to hell. I understand laws (blue laws that kept stores closed on Sundays because the Jews would violate our holy Christian Sabbath with their store keeping! Apparently making people work on Sunday at football stadiums was never a violation of the holy Christian Sabbath, though.) and practices that equate being religious (where religious=Southern Baptist) with being American.
I got over it.
Sometimes I even get frustrated with laws and practices that seem to equate being blind stupid and pug ignorant with being American. I deal with that, too.
Can we call a truce on who is truly oppressed the most, and agree that the situation in some countries is abhorrent to human rights, be you an atheist or a Christian (or even a Muslim, in countries where the enforcement of certain customs seems barbaric and backwards by modern standards)? Can we set the victim cards aside and quit assigning ourselves roles in the Most-Put-Upon-By-Society and Nobody-Loves-Me-Everybody-Hates-Me-I'm-Gonna-Eat-Some-Worms categories?
Huh?
Oh, just go with what Rufus Wainwright says in the song, and put the measuring away for at least 12 days:
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