njrob, I can answer all of your questions.
Have you been onto the internet? Especially youtube. Almost every time I say "Jesus is lord" I get assaulted with people screaming their "facts" about evolution (idk how they get these facts as it supposedly happened millions of years ago) and almost always leave a forum/chat room with an ongoing argument. and considering saying "I dont agree with homosexuality" is "hate speech", in america even, saying stuff that basically means "you're a fricking idiot you stupid bigot christian" (and saying things like that without any sugarcoating) should be what, jail worthy?
In the Middle east christians are being beheaded... so yeah... and in Europe, christians have lost almost all of their rights.
The pastor I speak of was actually in Ireland, I basically made a meme of what would happen in America. In America, everyone would just lose their minds on social networking, but in Ireland, people not only did that, but also he almost got arrested, he was forced to make a formal apology and is now going on trial because he would not take back what he said. (btw, this happened after he posted the video in which he said this during a service on the internet.)