Yes, people do. In this case, ones waving Bibles and claiming to do it in the name of their Lord.

You do not get to blame the behavior of religious people on individuals when they claim to be doing it specifically for religious reasons.

I treasure civility and rationality. I’m just suspicious when uncivil and irrational people suddenly get all interested in good behavior when it’s their ox being gored. Where was that concern before?

The best way to be treated well in the minority is not to kick the $#!+ out of people when you’re in the majority. You guys have injured, discriminated against, and generally pissed off a lot of people. What part of human nature makes you think everybody will just kiss and make up?

You kick a dog every day, it’s going to bite you eventually. And there’s no point complaining - it may not be right, but it is well and truly deserved.

But here’s the real issue: you guys misunderstand the people you’re upset with. You can’t think outside your own frame. Which, to be fair, is very human.

We both know religious people love persecution. It’s integral to the faith. History shows they love to do it and also are quick to claim it’s being inflicted on them. Whenever someone criticizes a Christian, you guys jump straight to assuming religion is the reason.

I get it, you see religion as the core of your being, so every attack - be it against your faith or against you - is an attack on both. One point on your side, I don’t think non-Christians recognize that. But what you don’t understand is most of us out here give a damn about it.

What pisses us off isn’t who you are. It’s what you do.

What you see as persecution, we see as consequences.

For instance, there are a lot of LGBTQ+ people on Medium, and there is very little they can say about religion that I will begrudge them.

If I were gay, I would hate you and everything you stand for to the very depths of my soul. And it would be completely justified.

The way religion has treated them for centuries is appalling and brutal. When it comes to gay rights, Christians - the faith and the people who follow it - deserve to be treated as subhuman. Because that’s how you’ve treated them. The sheer gall and lack of self-awareness to complain about reaping what you’ve sown are breathtaking.

What would it take to feel differently? For the bulk of Christians to stand up and be counted, apologize for past mistreatment and promise to make up for it, and shout down the voices of intolerance. Because the moment LGBTQ+ people begin to see Christians as allies, the anger and vitriol will begin to fade. And I’ll support you when it happens because you’ll deserve better.

But that ain’t what’s going on, is it? In fact, the opposite. The supposed extremists are carrying the day, and the so-called moderates are sitting on their hands.

It bears repeating: you kick a dog every day, it’s going to bite you. If it ever gets off the leash, it may do worse than that. And there’s no point complaining about it. It may not be right, but it is well deserved. “Two wrongs don’t make a right” sounds very glib coming from someone who’s never had to face the consequences of what they’ve done.

“Hey, I know we’ve run the country for a long time, and we’ve used that power to kill, injure, ridicule, and discriminate against you. But now that you’re starting to get a little power too, we think it’s very unfair if you do the same to us. I mean, even though many of us are still mistreating you and the rest of us aren’t doing much to stop it, two wrongs still don’t make a right!”

When you say it that way, does it make any sense? Nope. Reaping and sowing and all that.

Stop deserving the anger and ridicule, and maybe you’ll get less of it.