Mike Pence Continues to Promote the Myth of Christian Persecution

Two modern day Pharisees: Pence and Falwell.

To hear American Christofascists, one would think they are undergoing persecution just short of having their churches bombed and being fired from their jobs daily.  The reality is something far different: Christofascists are simply  seeing increased limits on their ability to persecute and mistreat others.  To say they don't like restrictions on their ability to inflict harm on and to marginalize others is an understatement. Hence, the ploy of claiming persecution and the false flag of religious freedom. Mike Pence, who I find a malevolent force, took the occasion of his address to graduating students at Liberty University - a blight on Virginia - to promote this dishonest myth.  Pence has used this lie previously in defense of his wife's work at an anti-gay "Christian" school.  As one Facebook friend rightly notes:

Nobody ridicules Pence for being Christian. They ridicule him for claiming to be "Christian" while he fights to disregard the marginalized, make the rich richer, turn away war refugees, steal kids from migrants and pretend that Christ shares his homophobia.

The same description certainly applies to Jerry Falwell, Jr., the president of Liberty University who is a Trump cheerleader and supports the GOP war on the poor agenda (and that's not counting his "pool boy" imbroglio).  USA Today looks at Pence's lies at Liberty University.  Here are excerpts (note how a movement is growing at one Christian university to block Pence giving the commencement address due to his failure to support true Christian principles):

The last time Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Liberty University, he used the backdrop of one of the world’s largest Christian schools to vouch for candidate Donald Trump’s faith credentials during the 2016 campaign. 

Pence, who has been facing criticisms of his own religious views recently, warned graduates that they have to stay strong against the challenges they’ll get from Hollywood, the media and the secular left. “Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” Pence said. “Be ready.” “Throughout most of American history, it's been pretty easy to call yourself Christian,” Pence said. “It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible. But things are different now.”

Pence said the graduates will be asked not just to tolerate things that violate their faith, but to endorse them.

Pence didn’t specifically mention this, but he’s been a target on the presidential campaign trail, where Democratic candidate Pete Buttigieg has gotten attention for questioning how Pence can square his faith with both his support for Trump and his opposition to gay marriage.

And the commencement address that Pence is scheduled to deliver next week at a Christian school in his home state has divided Taylor University. An online petition started by a Taylor alum complains that the address will make the school “complicit in the Trump-Pence Administration's policies, which we believe are not consistent with the Christian ethic of love we hold dear.”

A recent Morning Consult survey shows why Pence’s message Saturday that Christians are under attack might resonate with his audience.  The April survey asked people if they felt respected by various types of groups including late night comedians, people who work on Wall Street, national journalists, and college professors at elite universities. Less than 30% of white evangelical Protestants felt respected by any of those groups. But nearly two-thirds said that Trump respected “people like them.”   

The survey results document that two-thirds of evangelicals are fools.  Trump doesn't respect them - he merely recognizes that they are easily duped and easy con-artist targets.