It's well-known that as the world changes rapidly around them, society whizzes past them at a breakneck pace, and their previously-unchallenged prejudices become less and less socially acceptable, many conservative and fundamentalist Christians are becoming increasingly panicked, bewildered, and belligerent.

They hysterically claim that this loss of privilege is tantamount to "persecution," and whine that their inability to further enshrine their anti-LGBT and anti-woman views into law is an attack on their "religious freedom."

To reinforce this utterly misplaced persecution complex, pastors in Akron, Ohio decided to call the local police last week and ask that uniformed deputies take them into custody in front of their congregations during Sunday services.

And the local police officers said yes. Seriously. The AP reports:

Videos of the mock arrests posted online brought a wave of criticism for the Summit County Sheriff's office from people who thought the deputies really were interrupting church services to make arrests. Sheriff Steve Barry says his deputies took part in the mock arrests Sunday at a couple churches around Akron after the pastors approached his office and asked it to participate. The churches staged the arrests as part of their "Defending the Faith" sermons. Videos showed deputies handcuffing pastors while they preached and placing them in patrol cars.

Holy church and state, Batman! I don't know what's more astonishing/appalling here: that taxpayer-funded police officers were dispatched to local churches to assist in this propagandistic stunt, or that they were staging an event that quite literally does not happen in the United States.

In America, police don't arrest pastors for preaching what they believe -- no matter how vile and repugnant and evil those beliefs may be -- nor do they arrest churchgoers who drink their Kool-Aid. Put simply, Christians are not persecuted in this country in any sense of the word.

Yet conservative religious leaders are so hell-bent on fueling the alarmist "religious liberty" panic, reinforcing misplaced persecution complexes, and triggering self-righteous privilege tantrums that they're willing to go to utterly deranged lengths to do it.

These latest stunts show the true depths of their desperation.

What nauseatingly contemptible nonsense. Videos of these jaw-dropping acts of hysteria are after the jump -- have a bucket nearby in case you need to puke.