Further, the religious right has been pursuing such victimization for the past decade or two as well. There is this space we have in our society, in our cultural morality, for the superiority of victims. It's a healthy space in concept -- victims are owed justice. However, many groups have increasingly sought the status of victimhood -- earned to a greater or lesser extent -- in order to be paid justice, even if that justice is merely to have their suffering and persecution acknowledged and to reduce the amplitude of their critics. (It's always useful to be able to call criticism of you "persecution" or "racism.")