Of course. Did you not read my many and long posts on education, criticizing the modern university for not allowing a variety of opinions? I don’t think I’m being discriminated against merely because voices disagree with me. Nor has that ever been the conservative Christian complaint about modern trends. The worries are about things much deeper than disagreement.
Suppose, for the sake of argument, that in some town where the only clinic or hospital that performed abortions had only two doctors, and the one doctor (who performed the abortions because he believed in them) was away, or sick, etc. Suppose that someone needing an abortion right away came in and demanded that the other doctor, who was a devout Catholic and thought abortion murder, perform the abortion. And suppose a court ordered the doctor to do it, on the grounds that the woman has a right to an abortion and the state has the obligation to supply it, and the doctor should have braced himself for this possibility when he agreed to work in a state hospital. This would be a case where conservative Christians would say that society is slanted against those of Christian faith.
I’m not saying this has ever happened, but conservative Christians fear it might happen in the current atmosphere. After all, we already had one poster here who argued vehemently that someone opposed to same-sex marriage on religious grounds should be forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses against his conscience, or lose her job; would that same commenter say that the doctor should be forced to perform the abortion against his conscience? After all, the logic is the same: in a public institution, the right of the public to service trumps the scruples of the employee. Can you see why Christians might live in fear of potential court decisions like that? And can you see why they would connect such court decisions with general trends of argument coming from university professors, journalists, etc., who could be described as secular humanist?
In the end, fundamentalists aren’t upset that an atheist can go on a blog site and say there is no God or that the Bible is all lies. After all, such people are excellent targets for evangelism! No, they are afraid that if current trends continue, it will be in some cases illegal to act in accord with Christian principles, or that they might lose their jobs if they refuse to act counter to Christian principles. And if the shoe were on the other foot, if it were a secular humanist who felt threatened, who thought he might have to lose his job for standing on what he believes, you would sympathize with his fears. But you seem to have no sympathy for the fears of Christians. You seem to be one-sided, unable to reach out and feel the pain of all kinds of human beings, as opposed to the pain of just one type. That’s my objection.
But criticism of God or religion, in itself? No, that’s no threat to my rights at all. I welcome it. Why do you think I reply to the critics of religion here? Do you see me trying to get an injunction to shut PS down, to protect people in cyberspace from hearing atheism? Let the debate go on. But let the debaters realize that there are rational grounds for the fear that some Christians feel. Many Christians do fear that in the society of the future, secular humanists will be able to live out their lives without compromise, whereas Christians are going to have to give up some of their principles in order to keep their jobs or get promotions or whatever.
As for your other point, that it’s wrong to force non-Christians toward religious belief or practice using the power of the state, I completely agree, so we have nothing to debate there.