in World News On Christian Persecution and the Christian Walk
by Lincoln Brown
If one were to look at the American Christian church, one would be hard-pressed to say that it is being persecuted. In fact, actual Christian persecution is something many in American churches are uncomfortable with acknowledging, let alone discussing.
I used to volunteer for an organization that advocated for persecuted Christians. Despite repeated attempts to book speaking engagements, churches usually ignored my outreach efforts. On the rare occasions that someone took me up on my offer, most of the people in the congregations looked bored or annoyed that my presentation was taking up their time and wanted to get back to vapid worship songs. Years ago, a fellow congregant in the church we attended at the time told me he was persecuted because he had to put up with “them Mormons.” Well, “them Mormons” didn’t kidnap his family, shoot him in the head, or burn down his house.
Previously on these pages, I have told the story of Sara Liu, a Chinese woman who was arrested in the middle of the night, tortured for a day (including having live wires shoved in her mouth), and sentenced to seven years in a labor camp where she made Christmas lights. Her crime was publishing an underground Christian magazine. I have also met a family whose father was a pastor in Iran, where the government arrested and murdered him.
There is story after story of Christians in other countries being kidnapped, raped, enslaved, burned alive, scalped, shot, crippled, mutilated and more because of their faith. I highly recommend Richard Wurmbrand’s book “Tortured for Christ” if you want to read a firsthand account of what persecution looks like.
It is true that Americans do not experience persecution, especially compared to the rest of the world. But one survivor of persecution once remarked to me that the seeds of it are being sown in the West, including America.
Persecution, after all, has to start somewhere. It can start with closing churches down under the banner of COVID-19 while letting bars, strip clubs, and liquor stores remain open and allowing rioters to rampage in the streets. It can start with yet another lawsuit against a coach or teacher who crosses what someone determines to be the line between church and state. It can start by forcing a baker or florist to provide services for an activity that goes against their faith. It can start with someone objecting to “transing the kids.” It can start by closing down faith-based crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion. It doesn’t always start with churches being demolished and members being hauled off to prison.
David French is an interesting figure to me. We are both former evangelicals, albeit for different reasons. Whereas I quit the Left to become a conservative, he departed the Right to become progressive. In his latest essay in the New York Times, French takes aim at Christians in the U.S. who claim to be persecuted while engaging in the same practice against their opponents.