There has been a lot of talk this week from Christians and their detractors. Non-Christians like to blame Christians for creating an atmosphere in which hate thrives. Christians deny that this is true on the basis that their stated purpose is ALL about love.

The mistakes that people make when lobbing criticism at Christians are many. They assume that hate is like a big gnarly garden and Christians are the gardeners. They aren’t. They are just the loamy, fertilizer-rich soil from which hate springs.

“How dare you say such things about the world’s gentlest and kindest religion?” Easy. It’s TRUE. Why would anybody make this stuff up if it weren’t? People don’t talk trash about Buddhists, Taoists or Rastafarians. None of them have ever tried to convert me after a thousand years of brutality, relying on the fear of eternal damnation to do their dirty work for them.

Between Matthew Shepard and “Corpus Christi,” Christian groups have had more than their usual share of talk show time recently. They are very upset. The one thing Christians can’t stand is honest criticism. They dish it out left and right, but when it comes back at them … watch out!

This is because, historically, they could kill blasphemers at will, and now there are rules prohibiting this kind of thing. In spite of a stated goal of tolerance, it is not always easy to practice what you are posturing.

The Christian response to ANY criticism these days is that they deserve the same kind of respect, consideration and protection as minority groups. They posit that when you “bash” Christians, you are a “bigot.” It just isn’t so. Why? Because hating your oppressor is entirely legitimate.

I am sick of listening to ministers, priests and pastors use every political opportunity to ask for the same kind of protection as groups who get the hell kicked out of them for the color of their skin, their sexual orientation or their religious beliefs.

If there is any group of people on the face of this planet that no longer needs to be protected from individuals, let alone the state, it is Christians. It isn’t like anyone is throwing them to the lions anymore, is it? They haven’t needed special protection for nearly 1500 years!

Since that time, Christians have spread their belief system to every corner of the globe using any means necessary. They have decimated the native populations of four continents without the slightest sign of regret. They stomped all over the world in the name of “saving souls” and filling their coffers with Inca gold.

A few hundred years later, without the slightest hint of decline, amidst the merest whisper of dissension in the ranks, they get all wiggy and start calling to be included in hate crimes legislation without the least suggestion of irony. All because some second-rate play in New York features a little blasphemy. They make bad jokes about nuns and show Jesus doing things that Jesus just would not do.

Well, I’ve got some news for the monolith of organized religion in this country: Blasphemy is not a hate crime.

Christianity has a harder time owning its past than Germany. How many expeditions to the New World did the Catholic church fund in part or in whole? Did they or did they not mandate that every soul in the Western Hemisphere should be a Christian one?

Who got the nod from the United States to turn American Indians into Christian yeoman farmers by beating the red off their kids in state-run Indian schools? The rules of the day were inquisition, crusade, genocide and slavery. The list goes on.

Getting screwed is one thing; expecting us to smile while they do it is quite another. If you are going to steal everything that is worth stealing, tangible and intangible, don’t expect the rest of us to be happy about it, damnit!

The most insidious thing about Christians-on-the-make is how they can manage to maintain their beatific smiles while they preach about love and slip their unadulterated hate in on the side.

I do not doubt for a moment that most Christians think of themselves as good people. I am sure that most have never personally committed genocide or stuck a red-hot poker up the rectum of an infidel, but that hardly excuses the casual manner in which some of the flock have conducted themselves with self-righteous disdain toward the religions and cultures of others.

You get the impression from reading letters from up-in-arms Christians that they just have never gotten it through their heads that not everyone in this world is a Christian waiting to be converted. Not everyone is free for the picking.

I have been witnessed relentlessly throughout my life, and every time it happens, it is performed by some well-meaning, eager Christian who can’t fathom why anyone would mind.

I cannot stand it. I am tired of holding back on the grounds that all belief systems deserve at least a modicum of respect. When is it everyone else’s turn?

Jesus may have been way cool, but I am not a fan of the organization which absconded with him name. I just don’t buy into it — and neither do a lot of people.

If Christianity wants to be left alone, then it needs to practice what it preaches. It needs to stay out of the lives of people who don’t want it there and atone for its sins.

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Greg Jerrett is a graduate student in English from Council Bluffs. He is opinion editor of the Daily.