No One Gives A Shit That You're A Jesus Freak
It occurred to me that the through line of presenting your demographic as victims as a culture war tactic traces back very clearly to the Religious Right of the Nineties and their drive to be persecuted.
pietists are just like that
I assume you don't mean a historical sect of German Lutherans, and instead mean religious folks in general?
@echofromtheabyss pretty sure the idea is much older, but it seems like it came to increased prominence among the Jesus People/Born Again movement that transitioned to the Moral Majority/Religious Right. I remember my parents making jokes that were explicitly originally from their LA area "college and career group" the 1970s about, "getting your martyr card punched" which made it clear to me that claiming that one was being all but martyred by, eg. your boss being less than thrilled about your request for Wednesday night off to attend midweek prayer meeting.
@barren-and-trivial-words idk if this is your wheelhouse but I'd be interested in your input on this.
I think there's something to this, but I'm wondering how much of this is the Jesus Freak crew as opposed to the Southern (Southern Baptist et al) shift to a more politicized religion (to try to cover segregation under freedom of religion) in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement. For all its supposed honor culture, there's an old strain of Southern victimhood dating back at least as far as the Lost Causers if not to the antebellum period or even further back that may be the more important ingredient there.
