Persecution: How Liberals are Waging War Against Christians by David Limbaugh

Product Description

A wake up call to lovers of liberty everywhere and a call to action to conservatives and Christians to defend the religious freedom envisioned and practiced by the founders.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #364033 in Books
Published on: 2003-09-25
Number of items: 1
Binding: Hardcover
256 pages
Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
They may not get thrown to the lions any more, but today's Christians endure subtler forms of martyrdom, argues this strident manifesto. Limbaugh (Absolute Power: The Legacy of Corruption in the Clinton-Reno Justice Department) recites a litany of abuses and insults perpetrated, he claims, by separation-of-church-and-state absolutists and the forces of secular humanism. Most of them are familiar complaints of the Christian Right: school children are forbidden to pray before football games; nativity scenes are banned from municipal property; the media ridicule Christian politicians, and Hollywood caricatures Christians as Bible-thumping yahoos or axe-wielding fanatics. At universities where Darwinism, relativism and "sexuality studies" hold sway, Limbaugh says, vocal Christians get packed off to the psych ward. Most insidiously, Christians are continually subjected to sensitivity training-which often promotes a "homosexual agenda"-and silenced when they object. Many of the cases Limbaugh cites raise legitimate questions about society's hypersensitivity to religious expression (although the really serious abuses were often remedied after the inevitable lawsuit). Unfortunately, he tends to equate political controversy with religious bigotry, and Christianity with fundamentalism. Many of the issues he cites, like Democratic opposition to pro-life judicial nominees, or laws requiring Catholic employers to cover contraceptives in health insurance, amount to political disputes pitting conservatives like Limbaugh against liberals, feminists, gays or users of contraceptives, with Christians ranged on both sides. Limbaugh has a point: there are anti-Christian tendencies-rigid school bureaucrats, militant atheists and an often profane and irreligious popular culture-in American society. But there are plenty of pro-Christian tendencies too, such that Limbaugh's persecution complex seems overblown.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From AudioFile
The point of view is that persecution of Christians in the media and public life is not recognized with the same consistency it is when other groups--such as minorities and gays--are similarly persecuted or criticized. The articulate author says that attacks on Christian expression, often framed as a concern about separation of church and state, have gone too far in removing God from our educational institutions. Since many kinds of controversial expression are being suppressed these days, the essay is a welcome effort to open up the marketplace of ideas we call public discourse. Though provocative and even captivating, the arguments still fall short of the sound and nuanced discussion this topic deserves. The audio also would have been helped by a professional speaker. T.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About the Author

David Limbaugh is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Absolute Power, and a nationally syndicated columnist and political commentator.
Customer Reviews

Disheartening Compilation
I picked this book up because it was quoted in several other books I have read. It was actually depressing to see how many recent cases there have been of Christians being persecuted for their beliefs in a country that was founded for the escape of it! We've heard these stories in the news over the years but the impact doesn't hit you until you see them all compiled between two covers. Very informative and well-written. I am looking for other books by this author.

Who's inflicted more damage on Christians--Saddam or W. Bush?
Admittedly, I saw this prominently displayed on a bookstore shelf and couldn't resist spending some time (too much) with it. How profiteering alarmists like Limbaugh and his lot can continue getting mileage out of demonizing "the media" (translation: the limited media that doesn't reduce all global, national, and local issues to an "us vs. them" mentality), portraying "liberals" as infidels, antichrists, and domestic terrorists, and without even defining what a "liberal" is, simply boggles the mind. In lieu of defining "liberal" (which might require some historical research and even abstract thought), it's always a matter of singling out poster "bad boys"--newscasters fallen out of favor, educators who believe in the value of teaching not rules but how to think, scientists who teach what has been known and proven by enlightened beings for thousands of years, along with gays, feminists, pro-choice, anti-capital punishment, anti-NRA types--and keep hauling them out for yet another pummeling before the insatiably sadistic haters of all things rumoured to be "liberal."

Understandably, there's a considerable hard-core "conservative" base (but certainly not "conservationists" of the Constitution or of the tolerance represented throughout Christian texts) that requires books like Limbaugh's as periodic reminders of their own significance--better to be a victim or martyr than a non-entity. The central issue, as even Limbaugh & Co. would claim, is about security--however, it's not national security but personal insecurity that makes these fear-mongers attractive to so many uninformed readers. The fans of the Limbaughs, Coulters, O'Reilly's, Hannerty's (whatever happened to "intellectual" conservatives like Buckley?) are drawn to this stuff not for enlightenment but personal reassurance--it makes them feel better about themselves.

Most of these righteous far-righters, moreover, support the Iraq initiative and view all the tragic waste of resources--monetary, cultural, and human lives--as worth it, if only to take out Saddam--and also because if it happened under a Republican president perceived as "conservative," it must be right. It's unlikely this audience will ever take the time to read a modern history of Iraq ("Understanding Iraq" by William Polk might be a start). They would learn that since (and because of) the American invasion a small but nonetheless vital Christian community in Iraq has virtually been eradicated by radical Islamists, its churches emptied or bombed to smithereens, the surviving members forced to seek refuge in Iran, Syria, Jordan (certainly not the open arms of the U.S.A). Maybe that's the "war against Christianity" that Limbaugh really has in mind. It would certainly be much closer to the truth.

At its core the meaning of "liberal" is change (and, of course, progress). Yes, America has changed in many significant ways over the past 100 years, and at an accelerating pace over the past 40 years. We have become less religious, but through our own backsliding and consumer distractions, not because of some "nefarious plot" that not even a Joe McCarthy could have dreamt up. And we have become more open to other points of view--to a great extent because the numbers and developments in our society have increased at such a rapidly exponential rate that we could not exist as a nation without greater tolerance and acceptance of one another. But if Mr. Limbaugh wants to see a real, blood-spilling war against Christianity, he's looking in the wrong place; if he wants, moreover, to see the face of those who perpetuate such wars, he needs only look in the mirror.

Finally the true "liberal" has been exposed, and he's every bit as bad as Mr. Limbaugh claims.

David Limbaugh's "Persecution," and educational read
I first read this book around five or six years ago. So I don't recall many of the court cases he sites, or any specific example now that I think about it. However, the one thing that really struck me that I won't forget is how Mr. Limbaugh proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that some people within our country truly hate Christians, and that they are doing everything within their power to steal our ability to freely worship God. They will do just about anything they can to thwart and rip down christianity in the United States. Limbaugh quotes example after example of christians getting attacked by what I'll call "Christian hate groups." He paints a picture of some well known groups (like the ACLU and others) that you won't soon forget.

In the end this was an educational read for me. I don't agree with all his conclusions, and I definately don't feel that we have it anywhere near as bad as some of our christian brothers and sisters in other country's. However, this book properly informs the reader of some court cases that have taken place, and serves as a good warning to us. We can not allow the laws to be written in a way that strips us of our religious freedom. There are groups and individuals out there that would love nothing less than to outlaw christianity. Just because they hide in the shadows right now doesn't mean they don't exsist. There is a difference between freedom of religion and the governments self imposing freedom from religion on it's citizens. Were not there yet thank God.