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Point of Reference
by Fred Price
In dealing with the threat and reality of active persecution against the Christian faith, the key word to the scripture quoted above may very well be yet. The news out of the Middle East – such as the bombing of shrines in Iraq, beheadings and assassinations, a million dollar bounty on the head of the Danish cartoonist who supposedly insulted the Prophet of Islam and the desecration of the Koran during the Abu Ghraib fiasco – has gotten all the attention of the news media. And while global occurrences of religious persecution are on the rise, they certainly are not being perpetrated against Muslims alone. In fact, the preponderance of reported incidents of aggression against people of faith are indicating Christians as the principle targets.
While demanding respect and tolerance of everyone else – not all – but many Muslims practice what is fast becoming one of the most radical and intolerant faith-based movements the world has ever seen. This mirrors to a large extent the attitudes (if not the actions) of many liberals in our own country, who in claiming to champion all religions and expressions of individuality and lifestyles do their best to suppress anything that smacks of Christianity. Christian missionaries have been kidnapped, ransomed and killed; men beaten, women raped and children mistreated around the world. A few of the most recent cases will serve to highlight this growing and troublesome rise of intolerance and extremism aimed at Christians and their faith.
Indonesia jailed three native Christian women for including Muslim children in a church program in West Java, followed by government enforced closings of dozens of West Javan churches with hints that more are to follow throughout the rest of the country. The watchdog group Compass Direct reports that these efforts were directed by a government sponsored organization of Muslim clerics who oppose any Muslim cooperation with non-Muslims.
In India, nearly 100 Hindu extremists attacked a group of Christians distributing literature in the city of Hyderabad this past January. They severely beat one student in particular and brandished cans of gasoline in threatening to burn others.
In Venezuela, New Tribes Mission began moving its missionaries, who had provided humanitarian aid and Bible translation to remote tribal areas for 60 years, out at the insistence of President Hugo Chavez who had branded them as imperialist infiltrators.
In Nigeria, 14 additional churches recently received demolition notices from the Islamic government. These and previous demolitions are only part of a larger campaign by Muslims against Christian "infidels" who reside among them.
In Turkey, a Christian pastor was brutally beaten after services at an Istanbul church, demanding that he deny Jesus and become a Muslim. Mr. Kiroglu is pastor to one of only three Protestant congregations in Turkey’s fourth largest city. Having converted to Christianity only a year and a half ago, he said, "I am praising God not because He saved me from death, but because He helped me not to deny Him in the shadow of death."1
In Afghanistan, where freedom and democracy have supposedly taken root, a Christian convert has been legally sentenced to death. A moderate cleric reportedly said, "Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die," warning that if the government bows to pressure for Abdul Rahman’s release, they will incite people to "pull him to pieces."
I believe the next step to controlling troublesome religious rhetoric and abusive practices – to which any and all active believers will be assigned – will be to blame religion in general for all that ails the world and seek to suppress any faith that openly practices its tenets. (Many adherents to any number of belief systems giving ammunition to their adversaries by saying and doing truly embarrassing and inflammatory things that do indeed harm others as well as themselves.) The world at large is tired of dealing with religious extremists – as am I! The difference being, I’m not ready to throw out the baby with the bath water.
One proposed solution is for us to embrace secularism (or something called civil religion) as a means of purifying ourselves of the fallacies of traditional religions and their more extreme adherents. (Did we learn nothing from Hitler – Stalin – Lenin, et al?) "The problem is that secularism is nothingism. As a negation of all religion, it is a vacuum – and nature abhors a vacuum. Just as the house swept clean of a demon but not refilled with God will attract seven worse demons (Matthew 12:43-45), so too the slogans of liberty and tolerance cannot stand before the aggressive reach of Islam. (May we Christians be so aggressive for the truth!) A clash of civilizations is underway. Push does come to shove, and the nation that stands for nothing will have to stand for something or be swallowed up. The nation that has no absolutes except its commitment to non-absolutes will have no chance against a nation that stand for absolutes – however terrible those absolutes. The civilization with a lie at its center – the creed that all religions and cultures are equally valuable – will collapse before that civilization that insists it is superior."2What an insightful and frightening assessment of conditions facing us on the horizon if we don’t change our ways. (We need look no further than the example of Rome to see the outcome when an advanced yet fractured society is faced with the raw energy and ideals of a "barbarian" people.)
So how should we respond – entrenchment and isolation; removing ourselves from the world and tending to our own country and interests? I don’t think so. (In fact, that’s just what our enemies want.) We have been challenged in the past, this is nothing new – although the intensity may be such that we haven’t dealt with in some time. Jesus reminds us, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." John 15:20; and Paul assured believers that, "…everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted; while evil men and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have heard and have become convinced of,…" 2 Timothy 3:12,13
"Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men (and women) of courage; be strong. (Yet) Do everything in love." 1 Corinthians 16:13 And finally, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9
1Examples of violence and quote from Mr. Kiroglu obtained from an article by Jamie Dean appearing in World Magazine, Feb. 11,2006 and the Persecution Update of the same issue.
2Quote of Andree Seu’s article, France’s Veil, Senior Writer for World Magazine, Feb. 7,2004 edition.
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Read Article »Fred Price - married (50 years), father of two grown children, grandfather of six.
Fred retired earlier this year after 42 years as a factory worker. He has always had a heart for young people and the challenges they face today. Over the years Fred has taught Discipleship Groups for High School and college students.
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