Uncommon Commentary #528: The Cross Versus the Cross

(That is, the instrument of our salvation versus those whom it apparently angers.)
Does the mistreatment of Christians and of Christianity by so many in today's Western World truly qualify as persecution?  Obviously, this cultural assault is not the equal of what occurs in places where Islamists simply imprison or behead whoever professes Christianity.  Western countries have laws that prohibit the doing of such things, and so our antichrists must be more cunning; rather than lop off someone's head, they accuse him of intolerance toward others, especially homosexuals, and try to do him whatever personal or professional damage they can do thereby.  Defamation of Christianity and of its followers and values is, therefore, being wielded like a weapon--there's an opening here for a pun on "mass destruction"--, and indeed is persecution.  (It's not that Christians cannot, or ought not to, tolerate any criticism of their religion; respectful objections by unbelievers may have value in keeping the faithful from complacency.  Even the current ostracism, slander, and other tactics in the West may prove useful as training and preparation, if what seems to be the Time of Tribulation spreads to here from those parts of the globe where it has already commenced.)