Like everyone on this board, we all have the options of quoting documentation and perpetuating the he said she said argument. I will offer you my view a couple of definitions and some observations. I apologize if some of my comments aren't directly related to comments on this board ..
My opinion on Christian persecution. To say anyone in America is persecuted because they believe in Jesus Christ is ridiculous. Please look up the definition of persecution.
Google: The term "persecution" derives from the vocabulary of religion and was used to describe the torture and torments inflicted on the early Christians martyrs. In everyday usage, it characterizes all relationships in which one party, the persecutor, pursues the other, the persecuted, with malevolent intentions, cruelty, and hatefulness.
In that definition, I haven't seen a Christian thrown to the lions yet. However, if you or someone has forced your view on someone else claiming Christianity as your reason and that person didn't really like it and kicked sand in your face, then that is not persecution but payback.
Now that we have defined persecution, we need to know who a Christian is as well. www.religioustolerance.org has a comprehensive list of definitions and groups that define Christianity differently and the point is that "Christians" can't agree on who is a Christian and who isn't. In my opinion this is one of the reasons some look at faith with skepticism.
So in reality, if no one is really getting persecuted and we all can't agree on who is a Christian and who isn't, the United States of America has done it right. We can go anywhere we want and preach whatever we want, whenever we want. We can be or call anyone bigots, racists, Christians, Muslims, homosexuals, sinners, saints, etc. No one is stopping us from doing that, UNLESS, it infringes on the rights of others.
This is the case with Mr. Harvey. He refused to respect the rights of others and do what he was told by management. This was a morale issue and the complaints weren't just from Jewish people but other versions of Christians. I know you will find this hard to believe, but it's not a Muslim conspiracy! Some versions of Christianity don't believe in being born again and don't take very well to someone telling them they are going to hell if they aren't saved. These are just some of the issues that are underlying this debate and this doesn't include the patient complaints. Imagine you are facing death and someone comes in and instead of comforting you, asks you what sin that you committed caused this affliction. Or, imagine someone coming into your room and talking about demons and hell fire while you are in a hospital bed!
I can assure you that the context of his reprimand has been taken way out of context. Did the administrator create some unbelievable bulletin board material? You bet, but the intention was to have Mr. Harvey respect other faiths in a group setting. I mean the guy gets paid to pray! But he refused and if the reprimand had been worded correctly, we wouldn't be having this discussion. No one is perfect but the administrator who wrote it has always been an advocate of the Employee, is a Christian, and ALWAYS thinks of others first. Life is ironic but situations like this make us think and that's a good thing.
I hope Mr. Harvey files an EEOC lawsuit so all of his improprieties will become public. And by the way, if Mr. Harvey (he's not much of a chaplain in my opinion and is not a pastor of a church) thinks he is furthering the spirit and the good news of Jesus Christ by "martyring" himself, he isn't. He's just confusing people and using this issue to get his job back. It's not until recently his statement has changed to include the demand of being able to pray in in the name of Jesus Christ. All of the letters that he has published online are all about him. He didn't mention Jesus Christ in any of them. However, I do feel sorry for him that his irrational behavior cost him his job but as you can guess the petition that he had everyone sign to try and get his job back had a request to send donations directly to his house.
This is just another emotional manipulation and in light of the recent religious manipulations on a grander scale, when are we going to wake up? Oh, and the T-Shirts the marchers wore with everything starting with "MY" tells volumes of the mentality we are dealing with. Jesus/God is not yours, mine, or your neighbors, we are His.
Words speak volumes but actions tell more, and I can't wait to see his dirty laundry in public. He might make Ted Haggard look straight. Well, he's probably not that bad ...
Oh, one more thing, a rhetorical question if I may; why haven't the employees at the hospital joined hands and demanded he come back?
You know, I keep forgetting. Everyone is saying Louis Bremmer resigned because of Chaplain Harvey. That couldn't be farther from the truth.
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