How should an American who is for an example a professed Christian deal with the more widespread persecution? What would or should any of us do?
There are basically two ways this could happen. The first is by legal means, that the constitution of the United States is amended in such a way to restrict freedom of religion, or else that the constitution is entirely re-written.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."
This could come as a supreme court decision which re-interprets the first amendment by redefining "no law respecting an establishment of religion" as that establishment means either the
existence of organised religion in the US or its
public practice (i.e. Religion "must" be restricted to a private sphere to be defined by the courts if it is not to be considered "established"). The Law is ultimately made by man and can be changed and re-defined by man, but as far as legal systems are concerned it would have to be a coherent "interpretation" so it can be applied in multiple instances through out the courts. For this to happen, you'd need a new legal philosophy to take hold of the court system and for the legal profession and courts to accept it. Such a change is unlikely to occur in isolation because it is an attack on individual rights and the boundary between what the government can regulate ("public" activities) and cannot regulate ("private" activities).
The second method is illegal, i.e. in direct contradiction to the First Amendment and the constitution. You'd be dealing with either armed gangs acting illegally under the current system smashing churches, burning bibles, persecuting believers and lynching priests. The law would have to be either ineffective or indifferent but this is
theoretically possible under the current system (think KKK lynching Blacks or rioting).
At the far end of the spectrum is the (illegal) overthrow of the US government, the constitution and first amendment by a group that actively seeks to persecute Christians. Whether it were State Atheists (i.e. Communists) or Theocratic (such as Islamic Fundamentalists or somehow militant Buddhists or another religion) or perhaps a group that wants organised religion to be subordinate to the state (Fascists/Nazis) you'd then be in a situation in which the "law" of these new governments says it is the right and duty of people to persecute Christians as "un-believers" of the official state doctrine. One possibility to consider is that
one group of Christians establish an American Theorcracy but then seeks to eliminate adherents of "heretical" christian groups. It is also possible that, wanting to ensure their legitimacy, they keep the constitution but fundamentally alter its meaning (as happens in the first "legal" approach).
However you look at it, this change would be the result of a mass movement that radically changes the conditions for Christians to practice their faith or how the government treats it. Whilst there are groups in the US who are vocal in criticising Christianity, there are few who will openly and explicitly advocate rejecting the individual's freedom of religion, or the destruction of people and property because of its association with the Christian faith. Mass Movements do not develop over night, so this worst case scenario would probably take decades to actually come to fruition assuming it could happen. There is a lot of sensationalism, and people tend to throw accusations of "Radical Islam", "Fascist" and "Communist" around, but the
real thing in wanting to monopolise political power and enforce a state doctrine is very rare.
The rise of revolutionary movements wanting to destroy Christianity would produce some major warning signs well before this could even happen like a second American revolution, military coup and end of civilian government, or a second US civil war, a successful invasion and occupation of the US, or the election of a Radical "Third" party that would implement these changes under the current system. Whilst we may complain about the Republicans and the Democrats, they are really debating the scope of religion and secularism under the constitution, individual rights and freedom of religion- so its
really unlikely either one of them will produce this because they are not ideological predisposed to it.
Assuming it happened, Christians have to believe that these changes are wrong and act on that belief. There would be huge social and psychological pressures not to and to simply conform, and perhaps even the threat of violence if someone tried not to go along with it. Unless Christians were able to organise in a "counter-movement" that could offer serious resistance, it depends on the actions of individuals or small groups of Christians to act on their conscience at their own risk.
It should be relatively self-evident that the extreme nature of the changes involved and the time required for them to become widely acceptable. So you're pretty safe.
Do you believe that you would stand strong or would you be afraid?
I would think that the measure of a person's strength is not the absence of fear. It is the ability to accept fear, to respect it but not let it control or overwhelm you. Fear is an entirely normal response to certain situations and it is up you have to made the conscious choice over how you use and respond to it. That's the secret basically.
