When I interviewed Dave and Tracey
Roake for my essay I gathered so much interesting information that I couldn’t
use because it would mean the introduction of yet another topic in my already
over-crammed 1200 words. This may seem
ignorant and you may think I live under a rock, but I really knew nothing at
all about the persecution of Christians. Dave is currently writing a book about
underground churches as a result of this savage, unfounded persecutory
behaviour. He has attempt to answer difficult, confronting questions: Why are
Christians persecuted? How can they prepare to stand strong in times of
persecution? What does the future hold for Christians? Will the violence
continue?
In many parts of the world, the
persecution has advanced to brutal proportions:
Literally hundreds of
thousands of people today are being killed, brutalized, sold as slaves,
imprisoned, tortured, threatened, discriminated against and arrested solely
because they are Christians. They are being subjected to persecution and
suffering, the extent of which we can hardly begin to comprehend, because of
their faith. (Esper, 2004)
Dave spoke of the impending doom for Christians all over the world. He believes it’s only going to get worse for Christians; that what is happening in places like India, Sudan and Ethiopia will eventually become the reality for contemporary Western societies, and that the violence and persecution will continue to advance through its stages of development. An article in published in The Bible league of Canada on March 2011 said that Christian persecution in Ethiopia had reached crisis point:
The attacks on the
Christians lasted a week, during which time the Muslims had burned down the
homes of 30 Christian leaders, they had killed one Christian, wounded several
others and burned down 69 churches, a Bible school and an orphanage.
Research suggests
that there are varying expert opinions about the stages of persecution. Some
document that there are three stages, some five, some seven. Dave has written
about what he believes are the five main stages of persecution. The various
stages that have been documented are all quite similar – either collapsed or
expanded based on the number of stages.
The first stage is
people being criticised or mocked for their faith.
The second stage extends
closely from the first, as disinformation is spread throughout society.
‘Disinformation begins more often than not in the media’ (Esper, 2004); Dave is
explicit about the media as the primary tool used by evil forces to
perpetuate the circulation of negative images and information. Most Western
countries are in this second phase, where lies are represented as the truth and
cultural beliefs about Christians and their faith begin to change.
The third phase is a shift in
status of these people as they are deemed as a lower social class – inferior
and unworthy of the same, fair treatment that others may receive. This is what
is happening in India at the moment.
The fourth phase is when this
inferiority shifts to a sub-human level, where they will be viewed as low lives
or animals.
The fifth stage is torture,
imprisonment, and ultimately genocide. This is what German Jews experienced,
and Dave believes this will eventually be the reality for the Christian faith
in contemporary society.
I didn’t even know
that this was happening. Why isn’t there more of an outcry? Why aren’t we
signing petitions and making posters? Kony got posters. I know what Beyonce and
Jay Z named their daughter and that Tom Cruise’s daughter has millions of
dollars worth of shoes but I didn’t know that Christians were being locked up
with murderers for attending Church. I blame the media.
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Source: http://unfriendlyatheist.tumblr.com/post/10140544160/christian-persecution-in-america
References:
Esper, J.M. 2004. ‘Anti-Christian bias: the five stages of
religious persecution.’ Homiletic and Pastoral
Review. Retrieved from:
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