Post 58--Islamophobia and Christophobia

                                                   
Islamophobia and Christophobia or "Christianophobia." I prefer the former simply because it is easier to write or pronounce. However, "Christophobia" and "Christianophobia" are, strictly speaking, not the same.  The one means "fear of Christ;" the other, "fear of Christianity" or "fear of Christians." That's all strictly speaking. I prefer and use "Christophobia" except when quoting.

They seem to be opposites, but that's not always the case.  There are adherents of other religions, including secularism, who either practice both of these phobias or eschew both even when they disagree with both Christianity and Islam. And then there are Christians who reject Islamophobia and Muslims who reject Christophobia. It's a mixed up world we live in.

There is this British organization called "BarnabasAid" that supports and helps defend Christians who are being persecuted, whether that persecution is by Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists or Secularists. Though British in origin and location of its international headquarters, it has branches in a number of other countries. If you've been reading this occasional blog, you may remember that I have referred to them before. Their website is < https://barnabasaid.org/ >.  They publish daily prayers for the persecuted church as well as a monthly that provides the background to many of the prayers.

It must be admitted that "Barnabas," as I will call them here, writes more about persecution perpetrated by Muslims than by anyone else. As a result, one might expect them to practice Islamophobia, but that is not the case.  At the end of this November they posted an article under the title "We need to tackle BOTH Muslimophobia AND Christianophobia." The article deals with the British situation. Please read and ponder:

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Today the media is awash with stories about the extremist organisation Britain First, whose videos were retweeted by President Trump. Barnabas Aid wishes to put on record that we totally reject the ideology of this organisation and explain why it is so wrong.

Although the organisation “claims” to stand up for Britain’s Christian heritage, it is racist – having split off from the BNP not because it rejected the BNP’s racism, but because of corruption within the BNP. Any form of racism is completely contrary to the Bible. Britain First also engages in “street patrols” to try to enforce its ideology, a tactic similar to that used by some Islamists. Far from standing up for Britain’s heritage as it claims, in fact Britain First significantly undermines it.

Then the article goes on to quote one Elizabeth Ellis:

The UK was the first country in the world to begin to establish human rights such as freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of the press. There are seven important aspects of freedom of religion that have developed in the UK over the last five centuries:

Freedom	Year achieved
to read the Bible in public	1547
to interpret the Bible without government interference	1559
of worship	1689
to choose or change your faith or belief	1689
to preach and try to convince others of the truth of your beliefs	1812
to build churches, synagogues, mosques etc.	1812
from being required to affirm a particular worldview or set of beliefs in order to hold a public sector job or stand for election	various “Test Acts” requiring this were abolished between 1719 and 1888

This heritage of freedom of religion spread out from Britain to countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand and many others around the world. It is one of the most important parts of Britain’s heritage. However, Britain First have policies which significantly undermine this heritage of freedom. For example, they state that they wish to:

• “Disbar followers of the Islamic ideology from holding public office” i.e. introduce a new “Test Act” (issue 7 in our list above).
• “Introduce a comprehensive ban on the religion of ‘Islam’ within the United Kingdom. This ban will include the prohibition of…religious publications (such as the Quran, Hadiths), the operation of mosques, madrasas and ‘cultural centres’ and the public preaching and / or teaching of Islamic scriptures and doctrines” (issues 3,4,5,6 above).
• “Anyone found to be promoting the ideology of Islam will be subject to deportation or imprisonment” (issue 5 above).

However, we also need to say that it is NOT just Britain First who are undermining the UK’s heritage of freedom of religion. There is increasing Christianophobia in the UK, coming from a variety of sources.  In the last few years we have seen a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer claim in court that, in the context of modern Britain, quoting from the King James Bible in public “must be considered to be abusive and is a criminal matter;” we have seen attempts to enforce government registration and Ofsted inspection of Sunday schools; and in the last general election we saw several major media outlets, including the BBC, Buzz Feed, The Daily Mirror, The Independent and The Spectator, either asking Christian candidates overtly theological questions or claiming that, because they held Biblical Christian beliefs such as believing in miracles or Christian marriage, they were “unfit” to hold public office. We need to tackle BOTH Muslimophobia AND Christianophobia.

Post 56--The Most Persecuted

Are Christians the most persecuted faith on earth? Though you will find the occasional report on persecution of Christians in the press now and then, the general situation is grossly under-reported. That is the main thrust of the following article from Jim Denison's Forum.  Once in a while I wish you a happy read, but this time I can't do that. If anything, a tearful weep is more appropriate--and serious prayer, not just after reading this post, but continuously, day after day. And turn to the websites he mentions to get daily updates on this continuing barbaric scene of horror, intolerance, blood shed and all the other terms you can think of.  And do remember that this Sunday, November 5 2017, is the annual International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.  This is a day of prayer, not a day of revenge. The appropriate response is not to persecute the persecutors, but to pray for them. Continue to be a good neighbour to the Muslim in your life and reflect the image of Christ in you.   At the same time, keep your eyes and ears open and resist any attempt in your own country to impose various elements of Islam upon the population. The line between legitimate Islamic missionary efforts and attempts to impose elements of Islam does not exist any more than the line between exercising legitimate Liberal influence upon the people and imposing Liberal elements by stealth. The one is a continuation of the other. So, here goes Dr. Jim:

Dr. Jim Denison | November 3, 2017  Denison Forum

Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Why do we need such a day?Sunday is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Why do we need such a day? In The Global War on Christians, John Allen calls the worldwide persecution of Christians "the most dramatic religion story of the early twenty-first century, yet one that most people in the West have little idea is even happening." The respected journalist describes this persecution as "the most compelling Christian narrative of the early twenty-first century." According to him, "Christians today indisputably are the most persecuted religious body on the planet." What evidence does Allen offer for his claim? The scope of persecution According to the evangelical group Open Doors, one hundred million Christians face interrogation, arrest, torture, and/or death because of their religious convictions. Todd Johnson of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary documents that one hundred thousand Christians, eleven per hour, have been killed on average every year of the past decade. The Catholic humanitarian group Aid to the Church in Need describes this global assault on believers as "a human rights disaster of epic proportions." While 30 percent of the world's population identifies as Christian, 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination around the world are directed at Christians. One scholar estimates that 90 percent of all people killed on the basis of their religious beliefs are Christians. Terrorist attacks against Christians escalated 309 percent between 2003 and 2010. There have been seventy million martyrs since the time of Christ, forty-five million of them in the twentieth century. In other words, more Christians died for their faith in the last century than in the previous nineteen centuries combined. Persecution and Islam Persecution against Christians is especially prevalent in the Muslim world. According to Newsweek, "In recent years the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries." What about the allegation that the West, post-9/11, has become Islamophobic? Newsweek notes: "A fair-minded assessment of recent events and trends leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the bloody Christophobia currently coursing through Muslim-majority nations from one end of the globe to the other. The conspiracy of silence surrounding this violent expression of religious intolerance has to stop. Nothing less than the fate of Christianity—and ultimately of all religious minorities—in the Islamic world is at stake." Types of persecution John Allen cites the Barnabas Fund, a UK-based international body formed to support persecuted Christians. The Fund lists ten forms of aggression against Christians, in ascending order of ferocity: 1. Social discrimination, such as pressure on a Christian woman to convert to Islam if she marries a Muslim. 2. Institutional discrimination, such as difficulties obtaining building permits to construct or repair Christian churches. 3. Employment discrimination, such as bias against Copts in the Egyptian military and public sectors. 4. Legal discrimination: denying Christians and other religious groups access to the courts, legal representation, or action by police when they are attacked. 5. Suppression of Christian missionary activity, as in Iran, where missionaries are routinely arrested and deported or incarcerated. 6. Suppression of conversion to Christianity, usually through "blasphemy" or "apostasy" laws. Nearly half the countries in the world have laws that criminalize apostasy, blasphemy, or defamation of religion. 7. Forced conversion from Christianity, sometimes involving "reconversion" ceremonies where Christians are made to embrace the religion they left for Christ. 8. Suppression of corporate worship, as when authorities in China or Saudi Arabia raid house churches. 9. Violence against individuals, the most common and most lethal form of the global war on Christians. 10. Community oppression, when entire churches or faith groups are attacked. What can we do? If a member of your family was under attack today, what would you do? Apply your answer to your global Christian family as you consider three imperatives. First, we must pray. Intercede for your persecuted sisters and brothers, "making supplication for all the saints" (Ephesians 6:18). Pray for their oppressors as well: "Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you" (Matthew 5:44). Second, we must tell their story. For resources that will help you and your church stand with persecuted Christians, click here and here. For resources focused on Texas churches, I recommend the "Speak Freedom Texas" initiative. Third, we must follow their example. Knowing that our sisters and brothers are facing torture and death for our Lord, what price will we pay for our faith? When last did it cost you something significant to follow Jesus? NOTE: For more on the importance of defending those in need, see Ryan Denison's Why people are more likely to defend their hamburger than another person.