2 of 2

How soft we in the West have become. How could we possibly tell a fellow Christian hanging from a cross in Sudan that the American Civil Liberties Union is "persecuting" us? How would the story of our church's zoning woes sound to a Christian sister in Pakistan who has been raped and forcibly married to a Muslim neighbor?

Incidents of torture and bloodletting are too common in the non-Western portion of Christ's church, which constitutes 70 percent of global Christianity. According to the World Evangelical Alliance's Religious Liberty Commission, 200 million Christians today live with serious persecution—threatened with prison, violence, and other actions—for their faith. Another 400 million face "non-trivial restrictions on their freedom and the loss of many basic human rights, simply because they choose to love and follow Jesus Christ."

Secular tyrants such as Mao, Stalin, and Hitler ordered the worst examples of the 20th century's shameful persecutions. Much of today's persecution flows from non-Christian religious elites in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and elsewhere.

Thankfully, awareness of persecution continues to spread. Every November since 1996, hundreds of thousands of churches worldwide have participated in the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. In 1998, President Clinton signed into law the International Religious Freedom Act. Under the act, the independent United States Commission on International Religious Freedom monitors religious liberty worldwide.

The legal and cultural cases Limbaugh examines in his book can be called many things: injustice, liberalism run amok, or discrimination. But as long as we can redress these grievances in the courts of law and public opinion, for the sake of Zewar Mohammed Ismael's widow and five children, let's not label our grievances persecution. It demeans their sacrifice.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Persecution is available from Amazon.com and other book retailers.

The publisher offers more information about the book.

CTI's corporate website has a special page for the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, including a chat room for prayer. The official website for the IDOP is here.

CT's persecution page is a compilation of stories from all over the world.

The website of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has more information on religious persecution.

first page |  2 of 2

share this page

December 2003, Vol. 47, No. 12