Five Stages of Christian Persecution

An influential priest in the Archdiocese of Washington has warned that Christians are “pretty well set” for outright persecution in the wake of affronts to religious freedom like Obama’s HHS mandate and the forced closure of Catholic adoption agencies.   Monsignor Pope, in his blog post, offered an overview of the five stages of persecution recognized by social scientists. He says it is important for Christians to become familiar with them because “it would seem that things are going to get more difficult for the Church in the years ahead.  The five stages, as he lists them, are:

(1)  Stereotyping the targeted group;

                1960s:  caricatured in the media as Bible thumpers, simpletons, as backwards, mentally simple, haters of science, hypocrites, self-righteous, old-fashioned and so forth.

(2) Vilifying the targeted group for alleged crimes or misconduct;

                - Calling all Catholic priests pedophiles even though only a small number of priests <2% were actually accused of anything

(3) Marginalizing the targeted group’s role in society;

                - Progressives efforts to ban religion from the public square in the name of “secularism” and “freedom from religion”

                - Secular progressives efforts in court to ban religious displays on public property through an incorrect reading of the First Amendment guarantee to practice religion anywhere

                - Obama Administration’s efforts in court to talk of a “freedom of worship” (in churches only) instead of a “freedom of religion” (anywhere at any time)

(4) Criminalizing the targeted group or its works;

                - Obama’s HHS mandate, which forces employers to cover abortion-inducing drugs, sterilizations, and contraception in their health insurance plans.

                - Compelling Catholic hospitals and pro-life clinics to provide information or referrals for abortion, to provide ‘emergency contraception’

                - De-certifying branches of Catholic Charities from doing adoption work because they will not adopt children to gay couples

                - Hate speech laws for those who speak out against abortion, adultery, fornication, sodomy, homosexual unions, and calling sin a sin

(5) Persecuting the targeted group outright.

                - Obama’s Justice Department imposing Fines and imprisonment for Christians praying at abortion clinics

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/america-is-pretty-well-set-for-outright-persecution-dc-priest?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LifesitenewscomLatestHeadlines+%28LifeSiteNews.com+Latest+Headlines%29

               

Rules for Radicals:  A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul Alinsky provided twelve rules for radicals (Occupy Wall Street), unions (SEIU), and community organizers (ACORN, Barack Obama).   Rule 12 states:

-          Pick the target. (Christians)

-          Freeze it. (Stereotype)

-          Personalize it. (Vilify)

-          Polarize it.   (Marginalize)

-          Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy.  (Criminalize).

-          Go after people;  People hurt faster than institutions.  (Persecute)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rules_for_Radicals

Secular Progressives

The Enlightenment began around 1700 as a culture movement by a group of intellectuals (Spinoza, Locke, Voltaire) promoting reason and opposing organized religions.  It led to the Enlightened Despotism of the bloody French Revolution and its attempts to destroy Christianity.   For over 300 years, such radicals have called themselves progressives, socialists or Marxists. They all come out of the same pot and have one aim, which is the destruction of Christianity and the establishment of a secular humanist society.