By Don Feder, Creators Syndicate
June 1996 – Religious intolerance is rampant in America.
I don’t mean Catholics hating Protestants or Evangelicals baiting Jews, but bias against people of faith by the secular left – a cabal that encompasses a large part of the news media, Hollywood and the political establishment.
Item: Last week (Holy Week), all three newsmagazines had cover stories seeking to debunk Christianity. “Rethinking the Resurrection” was the headline on the cover of Newsweek. “In Search of Jesus: Who was he?” asked U.S. News.
While presented as coverage of a scholarly debate, all three amounted to slick skepticism. Would any of these publications have the chutz pah to run a cover story questioning the authenticity of Moses’ message (“Moses: Man or Myth?”) or dissing Islam’s founder (“Mohammed – Charlatan or What?”).
Item: On March 28, the Los Angeles Times ran a Conrad cartoon that depicted Bob Dole as a crucified Jesus with a crown of thorns spelling the words “Christian Coalition.” This was not only insulting to Christians everywhere, but another attempt to demean those engaged in the exercise of their rights of citizenship.
Since January 15, the Times has refused to run three of Johnny Hart’s “B.C.” comic strips – including one for Good Friday – with pro-Christian messages. Its justification? The Hart strips might offend some of its readers. Secular sensibilites must be guarded. Christians have to grin and bear it.
Item: In San Diego, a group of atheists and New Agers upstaged the community’s traditional Easter sunrise service. For most of this century,Christians have conducted an Easter service at the base of Mount Soledad, which is topped by a 43-foot cross.
This year, San Diego’s Atheist Coalition applied for a permit first and received the city’s blessing to have a ceremony mocking Christianity on the faith’s most sacred day.
Item: Also last week, Paramount released the movie Primal Fear, which revolves around the murder of a fictional Chicago archbishop who made pornographic videotapes of teens at a Church-run shelter.
Hollywood’s last essay in Vatican aversion (Priest) was scheduled for release during Holy Week 1995, but was delayed for a few days after a vigorous protest.
Item (the last, I promise): I just received a copy of a fund-raising letter from the Anti-Defamation League puffing its work against neo-Nazis and skinheads.
The mailing includes a full-color brochure on various ADL publications, among them 1994’s classic smear, “The Religious Right: The Assault on Tolerance and Pluralism in America.”
This is a crude attempt to connect Christian activists to some of the most loathsome creatures to slither across the face of the planet. Speaking of the grandmotherly types who contribute to the 700 Club, the ADL maintains that a movement which “demonizes its opponents” must be resisted – a standard applicable to the ADL itself.
Please understand, the secular left isn’t merely terrified of Christian conservatives. It’s also concerned about Christians who aren’t politically active.
Even if a follower of Jesus isn’t a member of the Christian Coalition or Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights – even if they don’t demonically oppose the homosexual agenda or seek to influence the curriculum of their local school system – all are viewed as potential problems.
There’s always the possibility that people who adhere to what secularists consider primitive superstitions will someday act on their beliefs, will do something that threatens the very survival of civilization – like trying to set up a creche in a public park.
They worry about Christians – Christians clinging to their morality, Christians publicly displaying their symbols, Christians objecting to unequal treatment by public institutions, Christians intruding in the political arena (as the Founding Fathers did).
As those issues that divide us most deeply (abortion, gay rights, public subsidies for smut masquerading as art, school brainwashing) all have a spiritual dimension, Christian-bashing is bound to increase.
For people of good will who are willing to man the barricades, a new book by Dr. D. James Kennedy (The Gates Of Hell Shall Not Prevail: The Attack On Christianity And What You Need To Know To Combat It) is highly recommended.
WE ARE IN THE MIDST of a religious war – a war against people of faith waged by those with stunted souls, whose perception is circumscribed by the five senses. 
