Crucifying Christians

Tiffany Robinson

Davis

Rhetorical Analysis

3/27/13

Crucifying Christians

Here in the United States, it seems we strive to create a “politically correct” society and eliminate any discrimination against many groups of people. But sometimes it seems there are certain groups that it seems to be socially acceptable to discriminate against. One of these groups is Christians. “Socially Acceptable Discrimination” by Rachel Smith brings this problem into the light. In this commentary, Smith explains that discrimination against Christians focuses on the actions and ideologies of extremist Christians, which is a miniscule percentage of the group. The article states that there are always extremists in every group and this is usually just a very small percentage of that group. But that small percentage is always the only part seen on television, on the news, and in the media. Smith’s argument in her commentary is mainly focused on the 1992 movie, Leap of Faith. This movie poses Christians as unbalanced, irrational, bigoted people. Leap of Faith’s main character is a fraudulent televangelist who takes advantage of “narrow-minded” Christians. He goes town to town holding “revivals” to gain money and fame by being a famous televangelist. Once cameras stop rolling though, he only truly cares about himself. Smith also brings media’s interpretations of Christians forward, stating that the media only uses the extremists’ views to define all Christians. Even normal Christians face discrimination, when people say that they do not have any fun and just stay at home and read their Bibles everyday while shoving their religion down other people’s throats. Smith uses many examples of rhetoric, such as ethos, logos, and pathos, to convince her audience of the injustice faced by Christians every day.

The audience for this commentary would mainly be Christians who feel like they have been discriminated against. However, non-Christians and even Christians who do not feel that they have...