Comments on: Cognitive Dissonance and the Religious Siege Mentality

By: CliffsNotes for Christ « Come to the waters

CliffsNotes for Christ « Come to the waters — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:31:24 +0000

[...] thoughts emerged after reading a couple of interesting posts here and here. Please don’t blame these fine folks for my ramblings. I’m not entirely sure how they [...]

By: John Meunier

John Meunier — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:50:05 +0000

I’m from the far right wing American Christian movement. Want to dialogue?

Just kidding.

My wife and I just bought a new house. I spent part of the time as we agonized over the idea wondering to myself - and God - whether it is appropriate for a Christian to own a 2,000 square foot house.

The bad news is I fear that it isn’t. I’m sure it is better if the house is used in some way to minister or engage in ministry of some sort.

By: ee

ee — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:21:19 +0000

I've just linked this post and developed a few additional thoughts.

By: Wood

Wood — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:22:59 +0000

DV/Ian: You’re right about Armenia, I think. I was thinking of the Armenians I know who ended up seeking asylum here, who are actually from Iran. As for the Palestinians, well. Tomorrow I’m going to be interviewing this Palestinian Christian peace activist (this chap, in fact: http://kroc.nd.edu/alumni/zoughbi.shtml ), so I’ll ask him.

By: Politics in the Zeros » Cognitive dissonance and the religious siege mentality

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 04:23:34 +0000

[...] a Christian from Wales, asks, why does The Religious Right in the US squeal so loudly about being persecuted when in reality they are “completely in bed with the most [...]

By: DV

DV — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:14:48 +0000

Tell you what, lads â€” go hang out with some Christians in Myanmar, or Bhutan, or Armenia, or Saudi Arabia, or Palestine, or North Korea and then tell me youâ€™re being persecuted.

I’ll have to read up on some of your examples… isn’t Armenaia a majority Christian country? Or do you mean the territory in which Armenians have in the past lived, rather than the territory of the modern state of Armenia?

I’m not sure that Palestinian Christians are *that* oppressed, or at least not that oppressed as Christians (as opposed to just being oppressed as Palestinians, which is a bit different). I think there is more than no tension between them and non-Christian Palestinians, but it’s fairly small beer (I think… I was going to do academic research on this and then drifted off to another topic).

By: Wood

Wood — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 15:20:09 +0000

Isn't it? Then why haven't I sold everything and gone back to India?

By: ee

ee — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 13:20:06 +0000

Sure. But I don't think that means that God has a problem with you, unless your life is based around your possessions.

By: Wood

Wood — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:04:40 +0000

Youâ€™re not the â€˜proud, rich and comfortableâ€™. Youâ€™re a freelance writer living in Swansea. Well, I'm not rich. But that's only by Western standards. By world standards, I'm fabulously wealthy.

By: ee

ee — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 09:32:19 +0000

Forget the tribal UCCF/SCM stuff, your original question is very interesting. Do Christians live in a permanent state of cognitive dissonance? Yes. It’s long and painful and makes us feel wretched and useless, because we’re not the people we’d like to be. We’re all engaged in one form of idolatory or another. The religious right has its form of idolatory, we have ours.

PS. You’re not the ‘proud, rich and comfortable’. You’re a freelance writer living in Swansea. :) But even the earliest church was made up of slaves and slave owners, wasn’t it?