Is There Really a War on Christianity?

My husband and I consider ourselves to be moderates (not heavily liberal or heavily conservative), but we do watch mostly liberal news networks. (GASP! Shun the non-believers!) Whether you agree with our choice of dinner-time programming or not, I find that it unveils a lot about what's wrong with the GOP (and, because we watch The Daily Show, we hear a lot about what's wrong with politics in general).

And, sometimes, it gets me thinking.

If you watch a lot of Fox News, you might be familiar with the concept that there is a war on Christianity. That's right, folks. The world persecutes Christians for their beliefs. Also just in: the sky is blue.

On the one hand, this is completely untrue. Christmas is still the primary winter holiday and TV stations don't even edit Linus' scripture monologue from A Charlie Brown Christmas. The U.S. government does not consist primarily of Hindus, or Muslims, or atheists, and when the Constitution mentions "God," we know it is not talking about Suijin, Japanese god of water. My husband was raised Jewish and, looking at the world through the lens of his background, I see how Christianity doesn't appear to be a prisoner of any kind of war.

But on the other hand, evidence of persecution is everywhere: Tim Tebow is told to be quiet about his beliefs while people like Michael Sam of the NFL and Jason Collins of the NBA are congratulated for sharing theirs. Christmas has been commercialized for centuries. Abortion is still legal (and celebrated!) and the stars of Duck Dynasty nearly lost their reality show because of the backlash from a comment. Looking through the lens of my Christian background, I can see all the ways that Christianity (true Christianity, not the politician variety) is reviled.

My question is:

Why are we so aghast?

If Christians have read the Bible, why does this surprise them? It's not as if Jesus didn't warn us 70,000 times that the world was going to hate us for believing in Him. 

"Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." (Matt. 5:12)

"If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you." (John 15: 18)

"If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you." (John 15:20)

The list goes on and on and on.

People point the finger at everyone and everything else, but they never think to point it at themselves. And the biggest problem, in my mind, is society.

Living in America, we have gotten coddled. We are used to democracy. We have gotten accustomed to having a voice, unalienable rights, and a place in society. We are too far from the first intended audience of Jesus: the colonized Jews living in oppression under a Roman empire. We just can't wrap our minds around the fact that we might be stigmatized, hated, or mocked for something that we believe in. We find the very idea repugnant and unacceptable.

But Jesus didn't. He accepted it, and to the extent that He was persecuted worse than any of us have ever been.

If Satan runs this world (and most Christians believe that he does), then we should rejoice when we hear about so-called "wars" on Christianity. Or at least react to the idea with an attitude of resigned acceptance.