In the same way I don't stop a street preacher or apologist for a homiletics lecture or methodological critique, I don't attack Christians facing off with the state or hostile groups. I understand the reality of a persecution complex. I also understand the reality of persecution.

It's very rare that persecution pops up fully formed and pointed directly at the preaching of the gospel. Instead, fringe figures are criticized by Christians as much as they are by corporations and the state when they fail to follow seemingly common sense measures.

When Christians pile on in that way, mocking even the *possibility* of persecution, they push the window of acceptable discourse in favor of regulations for those who disagree with them on particular nuances of worship. Non-Christians don't understand or care about those nuances.

So yeah, some crazy people are out there, and they're probably damaging the Church's witness in many instances. At the same time, the persecution of the Church across time and geography isn't some wild conspiracy theory. It can and does happen in different ways.

The concern that "it could happen here" need not stem from selfish desire, either. It could, but *a lot* of people suffer when the state sets itself up as a god and the conscience is trampled. Everyone draws the line in different places. Debate it. But err on the side of caution.