No matter how Tuesday’s election turns out, we need to keep things in perspective. One of the fear-mongering tactics frequently used to rally the “christian conservative” base is that liberals want to curtail our rights as Christians to practice our faith. Issues like limited prayer in schools, removal of displays of the Ten Commandments, and (gasp) even gay-marriage are used as evidence that we, as Christians, are on the verge of persecution not seen since Nero. Puh-lease. It’s often noted by political commentators and atheist antagonists that the Religious Right has a persecution complex, and I couldn’t agree more.
I don’t really think that if Sen Obama is elected president on Tuesday that I’ll have to start worshiping in secret for fear of being arrested or killed. To use such hyperbole disrespects Christians across the globe who do face such persecution.
For example, take the current situation in India. What situation, you ask? Exactly. While our media is focused on the political campaigns and the war in Iraq, there are other things going on in the world. And while our religious leaders are urging votes in one direction or another and topics such as gay-marriage and abortion take center stage, few talk about what’s going on in the real persecuted church. In fact, this poll from Voice of Martyrs shows how oblivious we are.
It’s similar to the crisis in Sudan, which didn’t really come to the western world’s attention until celebrities started to speak out about it. Nice that they noticed a couple years after the crisis began when the Muslim government from the north region started singling out and killing Christians in the south.
Of course Christian-aid workers are always at risk, recently making headline when a British aid worker was killed in Afghanistan.
So the next time you’re tempted to think that you’re being persecuted in this country that still holds to the First Amendment, think again. And say a prayer for the persecuted church.