The title of this post comes from the subject line of an email that I received from Dr. Gary L. Cass, head of the "Christian Anti-Defamation Commission." If you read on, you'll notice that none of the "top ten anti-Christian acts of 2013" represent actual discrimination against Christians. Most of them are about Christians' "right" to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

10. "Quentin Tarantino parody" on the life of Jesus Christ, entitled “Djesus Uncrossed”, showing a fake movie trailer of Jesus engaging in extreme violence and shocking profanity.

9. The unveiling of an IRS scheme that harassed conservative organizations, including DefendChristians.org.

8. California bill stripping youth organizations of their tax exemption unless they allow for openly homosexual members.

7&6 [tie]. Air Force Technical Sergeant Layne Wilson faced sudden termination after he complained to a Air Force chaplain over the use of the Christian chapel for a homosexual “wedding”. California bill allowing “transgender” public school students to pick which bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams of which to be apart.

5. Boy Scouts caving to the immense pressure from radical homosexuals to allow homosexuals into the organization.

4. Southern Poverty Law Center partnering with Marines’ training on extremism and labeling pro-family organizations as “Christian terrorists.”

3&2 [tie]. US Senate passing Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), a bill that would allow for cross-dressing teachers in public schools and punish Christian businesses and institutions for not hiring homosexuals. Supreme Court ruling that the Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was unconstitutional.

1. Obamacare requiring Christian businesses and institutions to fund abortions.

 

From http://defendchristians.org/news/2013-top-ten-anti-christian-events/

Dr. Cass's email embodies the nature of 21st-century bigotry in the United States. Prominent homophobes rarely attack gays and lesbians these days. Instead they present themselves as victims. Usually, they accuse gays and lesbians of discriminating against them.

The fake-discrimination gambit goes way back. When Anita Bryant led a famous campaign to defeat a Miami gay rights statute in 1977, she insisted that the proposed law was "infringing upon my right or DISCRIMINATING against me as a citizen and mother to teach my children and set examples or point to others as examples of God's moral code."

Modern racists often employ the same trick. White supremacist David Duke likes to insist that he's not "anti-black"; he's "pro-European American." Duke also founded the "National Association for the Advancement of White People," which distorts the NAACP, just as Dr. Cass's "Christian Anti-Defamation Commission" distorts the Jewish Anti-Defamation League.

Public relations is obviously a big part of such rhetoric, but people like Cass are not necessarily disingenuous. Many bigots convince themselves that they're victims in order to feel better about their own bigotry. In psychoanalytic terms, they project their feelings of hatred onto the object of their hatred in order to rationalize their intolerance. As Freud put it, "He hates (persecutes) me, which will entitle me to hate him."

So the next time you hear someone complain about a war against Christians or discrimination against white people or other alleged persecution of the majority, don't forget to read between the lines. Such is the face of modern bigotry.

Michael Wolraich is the author of Blowing Smoke (Da Capo, 2010) about the rise of the right of the right wing. His next book, Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics (Palgrave Macmillan), will be published in Spring 2014. Sign up for the mailing list to notified about pre-sales.