Brothers and Sisters Under Pressure
In
the past few months I’ve been in several conversations about persecuted
Christians in the modern world. In light
of this, I want to say something on the issue. Nothing I’m about to say is intended to
endorse any political response to what is happening in the Middle East and
elsewhere, but simply to focus on what is sometimes missed in news reports.
I want to put a
human face on what I’m about to say.
A few years ago a
young woman named Aisha began attending our Friday Evening Bible Study. She was a friend of Clair’s, another young
woman attending at that time. Both Clair
and Aisha were graduate students. We
knew Clair’s parents back in Texas where her dad was a pastor near where I
served. Aisha was from the tiny island
nation of the Maldives, located in the Indian Ocean, southwest of India. Aisha—named for Mohammed’s favorite wife—is
Muslim. Still, she seemed to enjoy
coming to the Bible studies—if we put the dogs away because she was terrified
of dogs. Screamingly terrified of dogs!
She said she had
never been around dogs before and, more significantly, told us she had never
known Christians before. We ate
together, laughed together, took her and Clair apple picking and out to eat in
Plain City, and discussed Bible passages together. She told us about her life in the Maldives,
about witnessing the tsunami in 2004, and how she missed fishing for her
family’s meals.
I don’t now how
much we influenced Aisha. No one
pressured her to become a Christian; we simply tried to show her Christ’s
love. I hope she sees Christians
differently than she may have before.
Yet, had Aisha converted, she almost certainly could have never returned
home to fish for her family’s meals or tell her family about Jesus—the New
Testament Jesus. The Maldives
government proudly proclaims the nation to be 100% Muslim; there are no
Christians, no Hindus, no Buddhists in the Maldives—at least they’re not there
openly.
I’ve told you
about Aisha because we have met Christians from other lands. Aisha is a non-Christian, a real person who is
also an object of God’s love, an individual who, were she in her homeland,
could not read a church advertisement on a billboard, start going to that church
and eventually make a profession of faith; and then celebrate the decision with
her new friends at the local Applebee’s.
Our life here
involves rare freedoms. The church at
its best remembers people without such freedoms, whether they are Christians or
not.
Now, since I am
going to be focusing on some non-Western governments and some non-Christian
religions, in the interest of fairness, I am going to make a confession. To our shame, Christians have sometimes been intolerant. This intolerance has usually been the product
of the church being too closely aligned with the state; it has never been
because the church was too closely following the teachings of its Founder.
--Representatives
of Western Christianity have sometimes coerced conversions. The most notorious were the Spanish
Conquistadors who stood before a subjected people and read a document stating
they were now subjects of the Spanish king and were now Roman Catholics. This document was in Spanish so those hearing
it usually had no idea they had been “converted” to another religion; still,
they were punished for continuing their former customs. The French and the English did not follow
this practice.
--On occasion,
there were outbreaks of violence against those holding unpopular religious
beliefs after the founding of the United States. From the 1830s to about 1860, anti-Catholic
mobs led by the Know-Nothing Party or other Nativist groups attacked churches
and property. The best-known example was
the 1834 burning of the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts. But many other Catholic churches were
destroyed or attacked during these years.
In 1854, churches in Sidney and Massillon, Ohio, were destroyed. Remember, these were the actions of
radicals—they were breaking the law, not enforcing any law. This was never government-endorsed policy
and, on occasion, local police and militia were posted to protect Catholic
property.
--Albert Menendez
and others sometime mention the treatment of the early Mormons as an example of
American intolerance. Most Americans thought
Mormons a little strange but tended to ignore them. Others acted against the Mormons in ways that
were morally and legally wrong.
The usual
explanation is the group’s practice of polygamy, but that’s a bit
simplistic. The movement’s founder
Joseph Smith began to portray to himself as a military commander and treat his
followers as an army, drilling them and arranging them in militia units; this
was often seen as a threat. Smith was
killed in Carthage, Illinois, in 1844, when rioters attacked the jail where he
was being held on charges of destroying a newspaper office. Smith, who deserved a fair trial and had probably instigated the destruction of the
newspaper, was now viewed as a martyr. Under
a new leader, Brigham Young, the Mormons began moving west.[1]
Today, of course,
Mormon churches are in every sizable community and Mormons are free to pursue
whatever goals they may wish—including the presidency of the United
States. Or the presidency of “Big Ten”
universities, as long as they don’t joke about Catholics. Ironic, ain’t it?
But, make no
mistake: No Christian is going to become the president of Tehran University, no
Christian is going to lead the Kabul Better Business Bureau. And, there will be no picnics handing out
book bags and New Testaments in Riyadh.
Today, there are
two vast arenas where Christians face intense persecution, the Islamic world
and in the nations where totalitarianism prevails, often in the form of Marxism. Persecution takes place elsewhere, but in
these areas it is systemic. In both areas,
it is the policy of the governments either to suppress Christianity and all
other religions or to so favor one religion that all other religions are
effectively suppressed.
There are nations
where religious freedom is the official policy but where the expression of that
freedom is increasingly limited. The
primary example of this is India where religious freedom is guaranteed yet
limited by recently passed (2006) anti-conversion laws making it illegal to
convert from one religion to another without a 30 days notice to local
authorities and the permission of those authorities. Such laws are believed to be directed
specifically at Christian evangelistic efforts.
In some parts of
India, violence against Christians and non-Hindus is a major concern. In August of this year, a representative of
the ideological wing of India’s ruling party announced a program to convert
Muslims and Christians back to Hinduism.
He boasted, “In two to three years the rural hinterland will be free of
Christians.”
Despite this,
Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey sees dynamism within Indian
Christianity:
Today Christians form just over 2
per cent [sic]
of the population but their relative failure has perhaps been exaggerated. There are more Christians than Sikhs in India. Christians outnumber Buddhists in the
birthplace of Buddha by three to one. In
three of the very small Indian states, Christians form a majority. In Nagaland, near the north-east [sic] frontier,
nine of every ten people are Christians, primarily Baptists. It is the most Baptist state in the world,
even more so than any southern state in the United States….[2]
I mention India as
a reminder the promise of religious freedom does not guarantee religious
freedom. Now, I want to turn to areas
where persecution is a set policy.
The Islamic
Nations
Good scholars
disagree about whether the Quran and
Islamic tradition encourages the suppression of other religions or allows for
forced conversions. But, I am not going
to try to resolve what may or may not have happened in the seventh
century. Instead, I’m going to focus on
today.
Today, there is no
Islamic nation where Christians have real freedom. In 2000, a watchdog group published a list of
the top ten nations known to be persecutors of Christians. Seven of those ten nations are Muslim, with
Saudi Arabia at the top of the list.
In several of
these nations, for a Muslim to covert Christianity or for a Christian to entice
a Muslim to convert is a capital crime.
Due to international pressure, the sentences are often commuted but the
threat is still there; and, with the increasing radicalization in some areas we
don’t know how long that will be true.
Nor, do we know what happens in those regions away from the attention of
the international press. At the same
time, it seems as if a number of Christian leaders, once released from jail,
have been victims of fatal “accidents” or unexpected heart attacks.
Yet, there are
Christians in Muslim nations—some belonging to churches that date from before
the beginnings of Islam and some who were prompted to trust Christ through the testimony
of their few Christian neighbors or the influence of Christian radio, internet
witnesses, books, and what can only be described as profound encounters with
Christ through dreams and visions. In
fact, in the early 1990’s some Muslim observers believed the intensifying anger
toward the West was inspired, in part, by the growing number of converts to
Christianity in Islamic nations.
In Islamic
nations, those born into Christian homes have limited freedom and sometimes are
targets of oppression. Recently, in
Mosul, representative of the Islamic State told the Christians there that they
must convert or leave. Some 200 families
chose to leave the city. Outside the
city, there are a number of Christians who were born into Muslim families but
converted to Christianity. They must
keep a low profile for they face a greater threat: Return to Islam or be killed.
Across the Islamic
world, Christians face varying degrees of pressure. We’ve read stories of how the ancient Coptic
churches in Egypt were the targets of violence.
In some nations, foreign Christians who have come to work on building
projects have been arrested for carrying Bibles and for praying.
Still, many native
Christians have sought ways to honor Christ and share the good news with their
neighbors. They have done so by
demonstrating Christian love, hospitality, and compassion. They have done so by attempting to appeal to
the natural curiosity Muslims have about Jesus, since he is mentioned in the
Quran as a prophet and miracle-worker who will be involved in the final
judgment. They have even attempted to
use Muslim holidays to find occasions for sharing the gospel.
At the beginning
of the twentieth century, scholars believed Africa could become a Muslim
continent. Today, Christianity is the
fastest growing religion in sub-Saharan Africa.
The religion of Jesus continues to make inroads into Muslim lands. At least a few new believers have announced
their conversions online, maintaining anonymity for obvious reasons. The Italian newspaper La Stampa in its
monthly Vatican Insider magazine,
reports there has been an increase of conversions to Evangelical Christianity
in Muslim countries. Christian news
sources in the Middle East also reported that a member of the Kuwaiti royal
family has become a believer; in his testimony he stated, “If they kill me…I’ll
go into the presence of Jesus Christ and be with him for all eternity.” If this is true—there are some sources that
deny it—it shows the power of the gospel to breach “closed” doors.
Jesus once warned
that no one can serve two masters. This
appears to be the one statement of our Lord’s that nations like North Korea
take seriously. Being a Christian there is
perceived to be a threat to the devotion demanded by the government and the
nearly-deified Kim family. A recent UN
report states:
The State [of North Korea] considers the spread
of Christianity to be a particularly serious threat, since it challenges
ideologically the official personality cult and provides a platform for social
and political organization and interaction outside the realm of the state.
Groups like The
Voice of the Martyrs believe there may be thousands of North Korean Christians
locked away in prison camps. In prison,
Christians are treated as if they were the worst of criminals.
A defector reported how his two sisters were
imprisoned for practicing Christianity.
One nearly starved before he could pay a bribe to free her; the other
disappeared into the system and was never heard from again.
Of course,
devotion to Jesus is seen as a threat to most totalitarian regimes.
After the death of
Mao, the Chinese government began to be more open to the west. In order to do this, the government had to
modify some of its policy toward religion.
That modification may have been largely superficial and temporary; for
the government discovered if you give religion a little freedom, it can get
away from you. Repression has returned. In other words, Beijing hasn’t thrown open its doors to Evangelicals
to come in and set up Bible bookstores on Tiananmen Square.
Across China,
Christians continue to face trial and imprisonment for acting out their
faith.
In 2012, Wenxi Li
was sentenced to two years in prison for attempting to set up a Christian
bookstore in Shanxi province. His wife
and children were left without any provision.
Local believers quietly help them.
A week ago 100
Christians were arrested when police raided a house church in Foshan city in
China's Guangdong Province. Though
authorities claimed the church was illegal, the church had been meeting for
some twenty years. At the same time,
several licensed churches have recently been closed. Chinese Christians believe this is further
evidence of the government’s increased suppression of the church.
Journalist Daniel
Wiser reports:
Public security officials in recent
days forcibly
removed crosses from two churches in the southeastern coastal
province of Zhejiang, the New York Times reported. Authorities have now issued
orders to demolish more than 100 churches in the province—most of them state-approved,
as opposed to the illegal underground communities suppressed by officials.[3]
So, even official recognition
is no protection from a fearful government.
But remember. Closed doors don’t always stop the
gospel.
Some researchers
estimate there are over a million new Christian converts in China every year. China may be the epicenter of church growth.
Myths and Opportunities
I want to end by
talking about some myths and opportunities.
First, the myths.
1. The first myth states that persecution is a
thing of the past. You already know
that’s not true. Not everyone you meet
will.
2. The second myth
states that persecution is “good” for the church. While Tertullian may have said, “The blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the church,” that observation can be
misunderstood. Yes, the early church did
continue to grow despite persecution but the persecution of the church was
never unrelenting. The persecution came
in waves, sometimes with decades between the times of trouble.
There were once
hundreds of churches in Persia—modern Iran—and the eastern portion of the
Arabian Peninsula. Most of those
churches have disappeared. Philip
Jenkins believes this was the result of the unrelenting pressure on the area’s
Christians following the Muslim conquests after the 7th century.
I’ve heard some
foreign speakers say their churches occasionally pray for American churches to
face persecution. They believe it will
benefit our churches. They forget that
Paul urged his churches to pray for peace, so they might be unhindered in
sharing the gospel.
This brings me to
our greatest opportunity.
We can pray for
our persecuted brothers and sisters. We
need to remember they are our brothers and sister living under pressure. Pray they might know peace.
We need to pray
for their faithfulness, for their opportunities to ground new believers in the
truth of the gospel, for leaders who will nurture the churches.
We need to pray
that our national leaders and other national leaders will step up and speak out
on behalf of persecuted Christians. This
is no time to allow politics to govern their responses.
Our church has
recently created a Mission Education Committee.
Part of its purpose is to help our church in Ohio be informed about the
church in other places, especially those places where being a Christian is
difficult.
Above all, we need
to pray that we will use the rare opportunities we have to share the gospel
openly and fearlessly live our faith with quiet integrity.
[1] Once settled in Utah, Young began speaking about building
an army that could stand up to the US Cavalry.
Their only encounter with the cavalry was a bloodless draw.
Menendez,
who has a few axes to grind when it comes to religion, is even offended because
the Mormons had to give up polygamy in order to win statehood for Utah. But, again, this was not persecution as
Christians face persecution in much of the world. The Saints apparently could have gone on
“marrying and giving in marriage” had they chosen to pass on statehood.
