Since when has the "religious right" been a persecuted minority?

I'm really kind of dumb founded as to how the religious right and evangelical Christians in the US see themselves as a persecuted minority, such as what's seen here. I was reading an article in the Globe & Mail about a month or so back that was by a Globe reporter who went through the American South talking to Christians. Apparently many of them feel that they are a persecuted minority being shoved around by the whims of other religions and left-wing liberals.

See...this is one of those weird delusions that baffles me. It's like a cultural narrative used to justify them being "the good guys" by showing them to be the underdog. Some of them even feel that they're being persecuted by the President.

What is this persecution, might you ask? They feel that the government not outright banning abortion, divorce, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, and not bringing back madnatory school prayer is persecuting them. Since when was not having your political interests fulfilled persecution?

These people just confuse me. They're religion confuses me. I can understand hardline Catholics who stand against stuff the Bible stands against. I can't understand this weird religious culture that has grown in the south that supports things like lynchings, racism, and general persecution of everyone who's not of an accepted social norm.

I end rant now.