You will always have the freedom to believe whatever you want to believe, and congregate in your churches or mosques or whatever. Christians will not have the right to keep infringing on others who do not believe in god to tell people that gays can't get married, or women can't get abortion or even healthcare because christians are against it.

You get to believe whatever you want and always will, because I who do not believe will fight for your right to believe what you want, I will take on fights to protect other people's rights who are different than me. I will not fight for your right to "practice" your religion if it means saying a county clerk who doesn't believe in gay marriage won't issue marriage licenses when their job is to issue licenses. It is a christian's right to go get a job where they won't be required to do something that is against their religious beliefs.

That is not persecuting christians, that is protecting the people who suffer losses of their rights due to someone else's beliefs.

You are widening the divide with this poor persecuted christian BS. This is the freest country in the world in terms of being able to believe what you want, the line is drawn at practicing your religion when that means infringing on anyone else's rights.

You are wrong, they were not targeted because of their beliefs, they were targeted because they violated someone's rights. Had they not done that they would not have been targeted for their beliefs.

I know that the vast majority of christians do not care one way or another about gays, they have no problem with them on religious grounds or personal grounds. It's just another form of hatred and bigotry. The person who hates gays also hates others as well, it goes with the territory. It's not the religion that hates gays, it's (some) of the religious people.

How do you feel about how strong social media is getting? The store that refuses to serve a gay can find themselves losing half of their business when the word goes out that this is who runs that business.

Here in town there was a compounding pharmacy that was family run, the founder (grandpa), his kids, and some of their kids all working there, great family business, we really like grandpa. During some gay initiative about 10 years ago he puts up this great big banner that says "Jesus hates fags, vote no on...". My wife went in and asked him what was wrong with him, he says what do you mean. She told him she was not going to do business with him if he didn't take that down. He kept it up for three or four weeks. So she gets a call from one of the kids and they told her that they had booted Grandpa out of the business, it had hit sales for more than 60%. They said they had noticed that she hadn't been in for a few weeks (she has a veterinary clinic and bought things several times a week). She told them she had been forced to look for another compounding pharmacy, and had found one online that charged half as much as a minimum order. They cut their minimum in half for her because she was a valuable customer.

That's not being persecuted because you are a christian, you have the right to keep that between you and god, that's being persecuted as a person because society is done with bigotry and hatred, religiously inspired or otherwise. Grandpa was a well liked and respected member of the community until he took up persecuting gays.

OPINION
8 hours ago
How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian?
Douglas MacKinnon
By Douglas MacKinnon | Fox News





“How long will I be allowed to remain a Christian?”

That was the deeply dismaying question posed to me by a friend with four young children as we discussed the plight of the Christian faith in America and around the world.

With each passing month, that shocking question becomes more relevant and even more disturbing.

To say that Christians and Christianity are under a withering and brutal attack in certain areas of the world would be an understatement.

In various parts of the Middle East, there is a genocidal cleansing of Christians being carried out. Women, men, and their young children are being slaughtered because of their faith and world leaders and most of the media turn their backs in bored indifference.

Here in the United States, Christiankis and Christianity are mocked, belittled, smeared and attacked by some on a daily basis. This is a bigoted practice that is not only increasing exponentially, but is being encouraged and sanctioned by a number on the left.

Too many of those who worship at the altar of political correctness have deemed that Christianity should no longer be respected. Rather, they assail it on a regular basis in a coordinated campaign to weaken the faith and its base.

The prevailing view in much of the media is that Christianity is aligned with Republicans, conservatives, or the views of President Trump – and therefore must be diminished and made suspect.

The New Yorker just described the opening of a few Chick-fil-A restaurants in New York City as “Pervasive Christian traditionalism,” and a “Creepy infiltration of New York City.”

Christianity is an “infiltration” to some on the left.

In college, they now teach about the evils of “Christian Privilege.” On Broadway and in theaters around the world, mocking Christians has become a massively profitable money-making venture.

In name, on the crucifix, and in art, Jesus Christ is desecrated in the most twisted and obscene of ways. In movies, on television and online, Christians are portrayed in the most dishonest, prejudiced and insulting of ways.

Across the country, Christian colleges are under constant assault from “social justice warriors” seeking to strip their accreditation and put them out of business.

Christian groups on campus are at times being persecuted, their offices and handouts vandalized, with members even being physically assaulted.

In a nation that is still majority Christian, those who follow the faith have been litigated or brow-beaten into being fearful to utter the words “Merry Christmas,” or to display a Nativity scene celebrating the one and only reason there is a Christmas Day.

Want to stay true to your Christian faith in the most innocuous and giving of ways?

To do so is becoming more perilous by the minute, when you stop to ponder just a sampling of the negative consequences. For example:

A high school football coach is fired for taking a knee in prayer. A teacher is fired for giving a Bible to a student who requested it. A Marine is cursed at and then court-martialed for not removing a Bible verse from her computer. Another Bible verse posted by sailors in a military hospital is labeled “extremism.”

For me personally, I continue to be ridiculed for writing and speaking about a vision I had regarding the 40 days after the resurrection.

If you are a practicing Christian in the United States and open about it, you, your congregation and your organization will become a target of some sort. It is only a matter of time.

Ironically, in some very real and ominous ways, it’s as if we are being transported back to ancient Rome.

Will we soon have to meet with fellow Christians in secret? Will we have to whisper our beliefs from the shadows? Will those Christians with “traditional” beliefs lose their jobs and livelihoods if discovered?

As more and more of the mainstream media, entertainment, academia and the hi-tech world continue to purge or discriminate against Christians, what future job fields will be open to young Christians?

Will those Christian children eventually be forced to renounce or deny their faith in order to get a job and provide for their families?

As a Christian, I truly do have the deepest respect for every faith. The vast majority of people of every faith are beyond good and do seek to follow the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Why do so many on the left, in the media, entertainment and academia not practice that most simple, loving and humane of rules when it comes to the Christian faith?

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official and author of the memoir "The Forty Days: A Vision of Christ's Lost Weeks." (Simon & Schuster, 2016).
Trending in Opinion

Dietrich Bonhoeffer's faith gave him the courage to stand against the greatest evil of the 20th century.
The man who defeated Hitler

If you were wiser, which you are not, you would realize that it's covered in "You must not commit adultery."

It's also covered elsewhere in the bible...

Leviticus 18:22
Do not practice homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman. It is a detestable sin.

Leviticus 20:13
If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God.

1 Timothy 1:9-11
For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.

Being a Christian I take it that you believe in God. That's great! I do too. However, if you believe in him why do you not believe what he says? I ask this genuinely. Where did you hear and where is it in the bible to celebrate xmas in reference to Jesus? Show me and I will believe it. Have you read Jeremiah where God tells us not to pick up the ways of the heathen? By heathen I mean old Babylonian pagan festival holidays which include xmas and easter. Neither of these days have anything to do with Christ. Both were celebrated long before Christ's birth. They have nothing to do with him. This is where pastors mislead the flock and they will answer for it. Nowhere in the Bible does God tell us to celebrate these pagan festival holidays in honor of Christ. In fact, he says the opposite. The truth pastors are not telling is found in Jeremiah. That is why I ask if you believe in God why do you not believe what he says? Beware of false teachers and know how to recognize them. They are behind every pulpit. I know, it shook me too when I found out by God's grace that pastors have been deceived. Even the very elite. God has warned us but we don't listen. What many Christians follow today is man-made religion. They don't believe what God says and follow man instead.