I once knew a young evangelist who claimed that he had been persecuted. How did he get persecuted? He evangelized some club-goers, and they told him off.

No, you did not get persecuted. Persecution is when people get put into jail for their religious convictions. Here, someone disagreed with you. That’s not persecution. That’s liberty.

Do Christians get persecuted? Some do. Most of them are in the Muslim world, and there, everyone gets persecuted. But to claim that Christians are being persecuted in America is ridiculous. Christianity is by far the most powerful religion in America. Not Jews, not Muslims, not Buddhists, not atheists, not New Agers come close to the power it wields.

I know a very serious Christian family in Australia, and they told me that they cannot afford to be tolerant of other religions. They demand religious tolerance for themselves, but they fail to extend the same to others. And what they don’t understand is that freedom means freedom of conscience, and if they afford themselves the freedom to practice their religion then they need to extend the same freedom to others, even if their religion be different from theirs.

I have seen the good and the bad both within Christianity and outside Christianity. One criticism of Christians is that they are stupid and brainwashed; but I know many intelligent Christians. One criticism by Christians of others is that they are not righteous; but I have known many righteous and wise people who were not Christians. And while I pursue a relationship with Christ, I am also open to wisdom both in science and in other spiritual paths. There have been many smart people in history, and many of them have valuable things to say, whether or not they were Christians.

Christians need to take more interest in other things than Christianity. That will supplement their understanding of the world. The medievals, who were profoundly Christian, took strong interest in Aristotle and in the knowledge of the Romans. We need to do the same thing. Do more to explore scientific knowledge and do more to explore other spiritual paths. And then see righteousness supplemented with knowledge, leading to better decisions being made all across the board.