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Comment by dan_mctree | Hacker News Reader

> I do not believe the religious are in some way actually oppressed

Aren't they? Sure, western religious oppression is not violent and nothing compared to what happens in say Iran. But there are many circles where coming out as religious is a terrible idea and religious people feel it and end up self-suppressing and hiding their identity. Who wants to be known as the Christian when the world has decided they are idiots at best or villains at worst? You never quite know when it's safe to open up and when you could face sudden social exclusion, bullying, internet mobs, career impacts, etc.

If this comment were under my real name I'm not sure I'd have dared type it with the way the winds are blowing. Even with anonymity, it's giving me pause whether it's really a good idea.

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I say this as a Christian who doesn't go to church much since COVID but used to go more weeks than not.

I would argue the idea that in the US religion is in any way actually oppressed is more vibes than reality. But vibes matter for votes if your party is the one seen to be against religion.

Remember that one of the two major US parties is basically the pro-theocracy party. The SCOTUS appointees by the former guy follow with that theme, of trying to impose a specific religions morality upon the nation, etc. So I think it's hard to say.

> Who wants to be known as the Christian

Christians do; many quite vocally, even aggressively. Thus the pushback.

“Christians” do, sure. But not all of us behave like that, or want others to behave like that. This is especially true outside the US, where a huge chunk of the Christian community is watching the US situation with concern.

Some, sure. No different than some vegans, atheists, DJT voters and Jets fans.

I don’t remember hearing about, say, Buddhists having to hide their religiosity.

There is opposition about certain specific religions, which come from the fact those religions were, and often still are, hostile towards other people. An example would be Catholic homophobia and misogyny.

tl;dr in the western world the “oppression against religion” is actually opposition against social pathologies promoted by certain religions

Buddhism had its share of violence too, IIRC.

I didn't think this needed a past tense?

Of course, and you will find cases of opposition to it in eg Tibet; on the other hand the negative aspects of Catholicism might be relatively unknown there.

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