Letters to the Editor
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Religious Persecution?!
Christians constitute between 80 and 85 percent of the American population. Conservative protestants have control of the White House, both houses of Congress, and most of the state governorships. Everyone in the US has the privelege of being able to worship as he or she chooses in an easily-accessible, tax-exempt church, mosque, synagogue, temple, etc. For Christians in this country to claim that they are being 'persecuted' trivializes in a very ignorant and obnoxious way the actual instances of religious persecution currently happening in other parts of the world. In many places, religious groups are not allowed to worship or even meet openly. As we have seen in recent events, there are people subject to prison or even execution for their beliefs. In other places, minority religious groups are being politically, socially, and economically oppressed by others, and in some countries people are killing each other over religious beliefs. The vast majority of people living in the US, myself included, have no idea what real persecution is all about. Let's try to keep a sense of perspective.