Hacker News Reader

Comment by mansion7 | Hacker News Reader

As a non-Christian observer, Christianity does seem to be the only religion that it is acceptable to mock, deride, and make a scapegoat of.

A CNN commenter blaming America's problems on Christianity would fit right in and go unremarked upon, other than perhaps by the targets.

The same commenter blaming the problems of the Middle East (or more locally, Dearborn or 'Little Mogadishu') on Islam, would likely be censured and be forced to apologise, if not fired outright. Recall that even after the Islamic terror attacks of 9/11, George Bush was forced to refer to Islam as a "religion of peace" lest he be tarred by the media as a bigot.

And if that commenter should remark negatively on Judaism? One can't even describe the outcome, because to do so has itself been labeled as anti-Semitic, which is a career-killer in many fields.

But any and all attacks towards Christianity are on the table. It seems those evangelical Christians may have a valid point.

View on HN

> As a non-Christian observer, Christianity does seem to be the only religion that it is acceptable to mock, deride, and make a scapegoat of.

Christianity is the largest religious group in the world, which dominates free and open societies that enjoy freedom of speech without fear of repercussion. The places where Christianity gets mocked and ridiculed are the same places where heads of state and leading politicians are freely mocked and ridiculed.

That does not mean Christians are oppressed. It just means that their societies are tolerant, like... Well, like exactly what the religion defends.

Just because we, in western countries, feel free to make jokes about religious groups that doesn't mean they are being oppressed.

If you can't equally mock and ridicule every non-Christian religion (atheism included), then yes the Christians are being oppressed.

That is the case pretty much everywhere. It's the case in the USA, in Saudi Arabia, in North Korea, in the UK, in Germany, in Iraq, in Canada, and in New Zealand.

> If you can't equally mock and ridicule every non-Christian religion (atheism included), then yes the Christians are being oppressed.

Your assertion makes no sense at all. Just because some authoritarian religious groups oppress those who may criticize them or their religion, do you honestly believe your religion is being oppressed if anyone cracks a joke at it?

That makes as much sense as claiming that your political party is oppressed by the press just because the Chinese and Russian regimes murder journalists.

I don't count social media or the American workplace as "authoritarian religious groups".

Try it. Make a few Twitter and Facebook accounts, not associated with each other by phone or email. Use some to abuse Christians, and use others to abuse Islam or Judaism. See which accounts get shut down.

The same goes for the workplace. Get a job. (great examples: Procter & Gamble, Oberlin College, Sandia National Labs, etc.) Spout something negative about Christians and see that nothing happens. Spout something negative about Islam or Judaism, and see yourself fired in the blink of an eye.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com