Reaction to cartoon exposes privilege

It is very striking about this Pope cartoon and the response it has evoked. The response is a baring of the Christian privilege many fail to recognize. Every day people of other faiths or no faiths are marginalized in favor of Christian mythology. Then, one cartoon in one paper dares show the flaws in a particular sect of Christianity and suddenly they are “under attack.”

Do Christians in Bonner County and elsewhere forget the holiday we just enjoyed is specifically a pagan co-opted Christian holiday? How about the fact that our money erroneously states “In God We Trust” rather than “In Allah/Zeus/Krishna/Horus We Trust”? Or what of the fact that in the United States of America the highest political office, and others that are prominent, are open to those that profess belief in a Christian deity and none other? Even a Mormon in the last presidential election had the faithful narrowing their eyes at his religious qualifications and only narrowed because they were worried the other candidate was not even a Christian at all!

No, this backlash is shamefully misplaced and shows just how blind the Christian majority is to their majority status in our society. So, please, take a deep breath, a step back and recognize that all religions have problems and yours isn’t any different or deserving of any special consideration. To say that only your ideas are immune to criticism and to turn a blind eye to the problems with faith is the ultimate insult to freedom of expression.

JASON BENELL

Sandpoint