{"id":12271,"date":"2013-10-07T02:41:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T06:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/?p=12271"},"modified":"2013-10-07T10:13:32","modified_gmt":"2013-10-07T14:13:32","slug":"are-all-these-christians-complaints-of-persecution-just-so-much-empty-whining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2013\/10\/are-all-these-christians-complaints-of-persecution-just-so-much-empty-whining","title":{"rendered":"Are All These Christians’ Complaints of Persecution Just So Much Empty Whining?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The headlines are alarming: \u201cCatholic-Owned Company Wins Religious Freedom Court Decision,\u201d \u201cDeath Toll Rises to 65 in Boko Haram Attack on Students,\u201d \u201cLittle Sisters Catholic Charity Victimized By Obamacare,\u201d \u201cChristians Sought Out, Murdered in the Kenyan Mall Massacre,\u201d \u201cJudicial Watch Seeks Reason Why \u2018So Help Me God\u2019 Removed From U.S. Air Force Oath.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"10\"<\/a>
An Egyptian church burns<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the media\u00a0seems to yawn in disinterest. Why? Are all these claims of growing discrimination against Christians just so much whining?<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians in the Middle East and Africa are being slaughtered, tortured, raped, kidnapped, beheaded, and forced to flee the birthplace of Christianity. One would think this horror might be consuming the pulpits and pews of American churches. Not so. The silence has been nearly deafening,\u201d writes Kirsten Powers on the liberal internet news site the Daily Beast<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Deployed<\/a>
Deployed U.S. servicemen pause in prayer before a mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the United States,\u201cIt is clear,” claim the editors of the arch-conservative Religious Freedom Coalition<\/a>, that the Obama Administration is\u00a0allowing\u00a0an “all-out war to be waged against religious liberty within the U.S. armed forces.”\u00a0Christians are being \u201cthreatened with the loss of their careers if they dare speak out\u201d\u00a0against policies such as\u00a0the recent removal of the words \u201cso help me God\u201d from the official Air Force oath.<\/p>\n

Lt. General William Boykin was forced to retire from his post as Deputy Undersecretary of Defense after a Los Angeles Times<\/em> reporter recorded him testifying of his Christian faith in churches in Oklahoma and Texas. Navy chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt was forced to resign after he refused to quit praying in the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n

\"General<\/a>
General Boykin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to stop banning prayer and forbidding the use of the word “God” at America’s national cemeteries, according to Houston TV station KHOU<\/a>. “The legal battle started in Houston when Arleen Ocashio, director of the Houston National Cemetery, told Pastor Scott Rainey that he could no longer pray “in Jesus\u2019 name” at Memorial Day ceremonies. The Christian advocacy group Liberty Institute obtained an emergency restraining order from Judge Lynn Hughes allowing Pastor Rainey to pray. However, the legal battle continues — with American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars volunteers being ordered to drop all references to God in their graveside services.<\/p>\n

“Walter Reed National Military Medical Center\u00a0 is backpedalling after issuing an order banning family members from bringing\u00a0 Bibles and other religious items to injured soldiers,” reports the British newspaper the Daily Mail.<\/em> <\/a><\/p>\n

“In a memo on visitor and patient policy, one section said: “No religious items (i.e. Bibles,\u00a0 reading material, and\/or artifacts) are allowed to be given away or used during\u00a0 a visit.” It was issued by Colonel Norvell Coots, the\u00a0 commander at Walter Reed, who told the press that the directive was meant to “preserve\u00a0 people’s religious rights.” After being confronted by members of Congress, Coots rescinded the order, saying it was “incorrectly\u00a0 written.”<\/p>\n

Has the Air Force oath, indeed, been altered to not mention God? The liberal\u00a0Huntington Post<\/em> <\/a>says the Air Force is bowing to atheist demands — by making the words “so help me God” optional.\u00a0Judicial<\/a> Watch<\/a> has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit demanding Obama administration records \u201cregarding the decision.”<\/p>\n

Is there really an attack on faith in America’s military?<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/a>
Former Navy Chaplain Gordon Klingenschmitt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Klingenschmitt <\/a>says chaplains have been told they “will be charged with sedition and treason for opposing the Obama administration” by preaching against homosexuality, mandated birth control coverage or the sanctity of life. “Can you believe this?” asks Klingenschmitt. “They are actually\u00a0 threatening chaplains with court-martial if they dare to preach.”In Egypt, Coptic Christians are facing\u00a0the worst attacks on the Christian minority since the 14th century and\u00a0“the bad news for Christians in the region keeps coming,\u201d reports Powers. <\/i><\/p>\n

A local government official in central Bangladesh backed by a mob of 1,000 Muslims recently halted the construction of a church building,\u00a0herded the small Christian congregation to city hall and threatened them with exile from their\u00a0homes unless they renounced Jesus, according to World Watch Monitor.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Construction at “the Tangail Evangelical Holiness Church in Bilbathuagani village was started by a group of about 25 Christians who had been meeting secretly for three years.” However, local Muslim clerics spread\u00a0word that the Christians\u00a0had begun work\u00a0on their\u00a0church building. Local council chairman Rafiqul Islam Faruk\u00a0escorted the Christians to his office. More than 1,000 Muslims waited outside, following an announcement at all local mosques to gather at the chairman\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chairman and the imams of the mosques interrogated me for accepting Christianity,” Mokrom Ali, 32, told World Watch Monitor<\/em>. “They asked me why I had become a Christian. It is a great sin to become a Christian from Islam. If I did not accept Islam, they would beat me, burn my house, and evict me from the society. Their threats chilled me to the bone. That is why I pretended to accept Islam, but faith in Christ is the wellspring of my life. Now I am no longer a Muslim; I am a Christian.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the city of Peshawar, Pakistan, Taliban suicide bombers recently killed at least 85 worshippers at All Saints\u2019 Church, which has\u00a0been a local landmark\u00a0since 1883.<\/p>\n

Although the news media downplayed any religious angle, Christians were the target of\u00a0the vicious\u00a0attack on a shopping center in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed more than 70 people. The Associated Press reported the Somali Islamic militant group al-Shabab \u201cconfirmed witness accounts that gunmen separated\u201d Christians from other shoppers \u2013 and tortured them by gouging out eyes and slicing off fingers before killing them.<\/p>\n

\"Victims<\/a>
Victims of a recent attack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In war-torn Syria, \u201cChristians are under attack by Islamist rebels and fear extinction,\u201d reports Agence France Presse. \u201cThis month, rebels overran the historic Christian town of Maalula, where many of its inhabitants speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus,\u201d writes Powers. \u201cThe AFP reported that a resident of Maalula called her fianc\u00e9\u2019s cell and was told by member of the Free Syrian Army that they gave him a chance to convert to Islam and he refused. So they slit his throat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of Iraq’s Christians have vanished from the country, reports Nina Shea, an international human-rights lawyer, in testimony before Congress regarding the fate of Iraqi Christians after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Thousands \u201chave either been murdered or fled in fear for their lives,\u201d Shea told Congress.<\/p>\n

\"17\"<\/a>\u201cOn a single day in July 2009, seven churches were bombed in Baghdad. The archbishop of Mosul was kidnapped and killed. A bus convoy of Christian students was violently assaulted.\u201d Christians \u201chave been raped, tortured, kidnapped, beheaded, and evicted from their homes.\u201d \u201ctwo-thirds of whom have vanished from the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s not just Christians, either. Over 850,000 Jews have been expelled from Muslim countries over the last 50 years, writes Lela Gilbert, author of the book Saturday People, Sunday People<\/i>. The title of her book comes from an Islamist slogan, \u201cFirst the Saturday People, then the Sunday People,\u201d which means \u201cfirst we kill the Jews, then we kill the Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mourning<\/a>
Mourning the victims of a recent attack<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gilbert wrote recently that her Jewish friends and neighbors in Israel \u201care shocked but not entirely surprised\u201d by the attacks on Christians in the Middle East. \u201cThey are rather puzzled, however, by what appears to be a lack of anxiety, action, or advocacy on the part of Western Christians\u201d and the\u00a0disinterest of the media.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no surprise that Jews seem to understand the gravity of the situation the best,\u201d notes Powers in the Daily Beast<\/i><\/a>.<\/i> \u201cIn December 2011, Britain\u2019s chief rabbi, Lord Jonathan Sacks, addressed Parliament saying, \u2018I have followed the fate of Christians in the Middle East for years, appalled at what is happening, surprised and distressed that it is not more widely known.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018It was Martin Luther King who said, In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends,\u2019\u201d<\/i> said Sacks. \u201cThat is why I felt I could not be silent today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"pakistan_church_bombing_234_E1\"<\/a>\u201cThe majority of Americans are Christians,\u201d but when they are discriminated in America\u2019s government-funded public schools or by the nation\u2019s politicians, writes John Hawkins on the conservative site Townhall, Christians seldom fight back. That\u2019s a big mistake, he says, because what is happening elsewhere is headed here \u2013 unless American Christians push back, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe habitual wimpiness of so many Christians is particularly grating because when Christians shine a spotlight on these attacks and say, \u2018That’s enough,\u2019 more often than not we win.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, if Christians across the country were consistently willing to speak out and take action, you’d be surprised at how quickly our culture would begin to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Food<\/a>
Food bank told to choose between Jesus and government help<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For example, he tells how over the past 31 years, a Christian ministry has been providing food to the hungry in Lake City, Florida. \u201cBut all that changed when they said a state government worker showed up to negotiate a new contract.\u201d \u00a0A state agriculture department official \u201ctold them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read ‘Jesus is Lord’ and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the government tells the Christian Service Center it has to give up on Christ or quit using USDA food to help the poor, that\u2019s religious discrimination. But that\u2019s just an isolated instance, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Franklin<\/a>
Franklin Graham<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not according to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. Franklin Graham told the liberal magazine Politico<\/i><\/a> that the IRS targeted them \u2013 not auditing their books or tax returns \u2013 instead, conducting a \u201creview\u201d of their activities. \u201cWith the IRS admitting it gave extra scrutiny to conservative political organizations, Graham says he now believes that the review was part of an Obama administration effort of \u201ctargeting and attempting to intimidate us,\u201d writes Politico<\/i><\/a>\u2019s Reed J. Epstein. The IRS review came after Graham urged voters to back \u201ccandidates who base their decisions on biblical principles and support the nation of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile these audits not only wasted taxpayer money, they wasted money contributed by donors for ministry purposes as we had to spend precious resources servicing the IRS agents in our offices,\u201d Franklin Graham told Politico<\/i><\/a>. <\/i>\u201cThis is morally wrong and unethical \u2013 indeed some would call it \u2018un-American.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Coronado<\/a>
Coronado being arrested<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Meanwhile in California, two Christian street preachers had to fight in court for two years to be allowed to read the Bible aloud outside the Department of Motor Vehicles in Hemet, California.<\/p>\n

Mark Mackey and Bret Coronado were arrested and charged with misdemeanor offenses for reading the Bible, but recently Superior Court Judge Timothy Freer found the men \u201cnot guilty\u201d of any offenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cInterestingly,\u201d writes Hawkins, \u201cthe judge also pointed out that the law prosecutors tried to invoke was likely unconstitutional as it gave law enforcement overbroad powers to quash public gatherings in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there were actually Americans arrested for reading the Bible on public property.\u201d<\/p>\n

But they fought back \u2013 and won.<\/p>\n

Is discrimination against Christians in the U.S. a real issue? \u201cMore than 25 percent of American workers say that discrimination against Christians has become as big a problem as discrimination against religious minorities,\u201d reports Joyce Dubensky in the Daily Caller<\/a><\/i>, writing about a new survey of over 2,000 American employees.<\/p>\n

According to What American Workers Really Think About Religion<\/i> from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. <\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my work combating religious prejudice,\u201d writes Dubensky, \u201cI\u2019ve heard many stories of how companies struggle with these issues. For example, in 2004, a Christian employee was fired for refusing to sign his company\u2019s diversity policy. The policy required him to respect and value everyone\u2019s differences. He explained to his managers that he would respect all of his colleagues regardless of their differences, but that he could not agree to value homosexuality or any religious belief other than Christianity. A judge sided with the fired employee, noting that the company had every right to expect him to behave respectfully at work \u2013 but it had no right to tell him what to value.<\/p>\n

\u201cEradicating discrimination should be our vision,\u201d says Dubensky.<\/p>\n

\"From<\/a>
From the shop’s website<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But how? In Colorado, reports Hawkins, a husband and wife who own Masterpiece Cake Shop declined to make a cake for a gay wedding because it conflicted with their Christian beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey learned that’s now illegal\u201d in Colorado, writes Hawkins. \u201cAccording to attorney Nicolle Martin, the owners could face a year in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, \u201cwe would close down the bakery before we compromised our beliefs,\u201d one of the owners told the press.<\/p>\n

\"Master<\/a>
Master Sergeant Monk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taking such a stand may have ended the military career of Air Force Senior Master Sergeant Phillip Monk.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe found himself at odds with his Lackland Air Force Base commander after he objected to her plans to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality. During the conversation, his commander ordered him to share his personal views on homosexuality.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018I was relieved of my position because I don\u2019t agree with my commander\u2019s position on gay marriage,\u2019 Sgt. Monk told Hawkins. \u201cWe\u2019ve been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

After\u00a0Monk was relieved of his duties, the Liberty Institute filed a religious discrimination complaint on his behalf.<\/p>\n

The accusations against Monk are a court-martial offense in the Air Force \u2013 and it\u2019s quite possible that the 19-year veteran with a spotless record could be booted out of the military because of his Christian beliefs. However, he\u2019s fighting back.<\/p>\n

\"Angela<\/a>
Angela McCaskill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That\u2019s what a Gallaudet University official did when she was suspended from her job for signing a petition at church. Angela McCaskill was placed on administrative leave after she signed a petition for a referendum on Maryland\u2019s law that legalized same-sex marriage.<\/p>\n

Now her suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, says the school violated anti-discrimination provisions of the D.C. Human Rights Act.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was basically disciplined on the job and demoted based on something she did at church,\u201d her attorney J. Wyndal Gordon told CitizenLink<\/a>.<\/p>\n

According to her lawsuit, McCaskill was demoted when the school eventually reinstated her. Her complaint alleges she went from Deputy to the President and Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion, to just Chief Diversity Officer. It also says she was ordered to no longer report to the Provost.<\/p>\n

McCaskill was one of 160,000 Maryland residents who signed the petition, spearheaded by the Maryland Marriage Alliance. Located in the District of Columbia, Gallaudet University specializes in educating deaf and hard-of-hearing students. McCaskill was the first African-American woman to earn a doctorate from the university. She has worked at the school for 23 years in various capacities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe university certainly made the right decision to reinstate her,\u201d David J. Hacker, legal counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, told CitizenLink. \u201cBut it\u2019s troubling that a university of this prestige placed her on an administrative leave for participating in constitutionally protected speech.\u201d And, he said, it\u2019s unacceptable that she was demoted.<\/p>\n

\"Craig<\/a>
Craig James<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was that same Constitutionally protected speech that got former ESPN Broadcaster and one-time NFL player for the New England Patriots, Craig James, fired. He told Leonardo Blair at the Christian Post<\/a><\/i> that he was “shocked” after Fox Sports Southwest canned him for publicly declaring his Christian views opposing marriage.<\/p>\n

“I was shocked that my personal religious beliefs were not only the reason for Fox Sports firing me, but I was completely floored when I read stories quoting Fox Sports representatives essentially saying that people of faith are banned from working at Fox Sports,” James told Breitbart News.<\/a><\/i> “That is not right and surely someone made a terrible mistake.”<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an announcement on Aug. 30, 2013, that has since been removed,\u201d Blair reported. \u201cFox Sports Southwest stated that James would be joining its Fox College Saturday studio team rounded out by Erin Hartigan and Ex-NFL quarterback Tony Banks.\u201d<\/p>\n

“We’re excited to add Craig to the FOX Sports Southwest team,” executive producer Mike Anastassiou noted in that announcement. “He’s a talented broadcaster who I’ve admired throughout his career. His knowledge of college football and the experience he brings as an analyst will be a tremendous asset to our coverage.”<\/p>\n

However, \u201ca day after his first appearance on air,\u201d reported Blair, \u201cFox Sports Southwest’s general manager Jon Heidtke who had hired him, told James he had been fired. Top officials at Fox Sports, he said, were informed about comments James made about same-sex marriage during his failed bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate in 2012 and were uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a televised debate, James answered that be believes homosexuality is a choice and those who violate biblical principles will have to answer to God.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s a choice, I do,” said James in response to a question during the debate. “I think that you have to make that choice. But in that case right there, they are going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

James’ legal counsel from the Liberty Institute has demanded that he be reinstated or Fox will face legal action.<\/p>\n

James is fighting back \u2013 as did a church when told it needed a permit to hold baptisms in a national park. Alarmed members contacted Congressman Jason Smith (R-Missouri), who confronted the National Park Service asking what was going on.<\/p>\n

It seems that under the Obama administration, \u201cthe Park Service recently began a new policy requiring churches that wished to hold baptisms in public waters to apply for a special permit at least 48 hours in advance of the baptism, reports Hawkins. \u201cThe Park Service justified this recent demand by saying that the permits were necessary to \u2018maintain park natural\/cultural resources and quality visitor experiences, specific terms and conditions have been established.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>
Ryan Rotela<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBetween citizen outrage and Rep. Smith\u2019s threat to bring the matter before the full Congress, the Park Service quickly reversed its new policy,\u201d reports Hawkins. Bureaucrats in the National Park Service wrote to the Congressman that, \u2018As of today, the park\u2019s policy has been clarified to state that no permit will be required for baptisms.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fighting back also worked when Florida Atlantic University student Ryan Rotela was told by a professor to write Jesus Christ\u2019s name on a piece of paper and stomp on it.<\/p>\n

Rotela defiantly refused and in retaliation, a formal disciplinary action was started against him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, before the system could roll over Rotela, a funny thing happened,\u201d writes Hawkins. \u201cThe word about what was happening to him got out, Christians became outraged, and suddenly the university\u2019s tune quickly changed. FAU\u2019s Senior Vice President for Student Affairs, Dr. Charles Brown, has since issued a groveling formal apology. Next thing you know, the disciplinary action was waved off following a withering public response that included complaints from the Governor of Florida, Rick Scott.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of these instances demonstrate that Christians have to push back, says Hawkins.<\/p>\n

\u201cHad Christians not risen up, the student who refused to stomp on Jesus would have been the one punished while the professor would have paid no price at all. If there’s a lesson here, it’s that when Christians refuse to back down, we usually win. What that means is if enough Christians stand up for our faith, you’ll be surprised how fast the people in power lose their nerve about going after us.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Nigeria — an African nation that is officially 50 percent Christian, 50 percent Muslim,\u00a0violence against Christians has resulted in the declaration of a state of emergency in three northern states. An extremist group called Boko Haram has killed least 10 Christians, including a youth leader in Maiduguri and a medical student, a pastor and his son in Yobe. Their church was burned to the ground. One eye witness of Sunday\u2019s attack in Yobe told Reuters, \u201cThey started gathering students into groups outside, and then they opened fire and killed one group and then moved onto the next group and killed them. It was so terrible.”<\/p>\n

In South America, Father Bernardo Echeverry, 62, and Father Hector Fabio Cabrera, 35, who ministered in San Sebastian Roman Catholic parish, Roldanillo village, Valle department, Colombia, were found murdered after confronting drug cartel leaders. Neighbors reported to police two men running from the parish shortly before the priests\u2019 bodies were found in the church rectory.\u00a0In Medell\u00edn, disabled priest Luis Javier Sarr\u00e1zola \u00dasuga was found dead, stabbed in the chest more than 30 times. He had operated a charity called Educational Foundation for Peace and Social Freedom, which served the poor in Medell\u00edn\u2019s Carambolas neighborhood. Open Doors says that in the last year eight priests have been killed.<\/p>\n

\"Praying<\/a>
Praying for God’s protection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So, why doesn’t this make the CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, NBC’s Today Show or even the Fox News 24-hour news cycle?Americans\u2019 silence about the worldwide persecuted church \u201cis inexplicable,\u201d writes Powers in Politico<\/i><\/a>.<\/i> \u201cAmerican Christians are quite able to organize around issues that concern them. Yet religious persecution appears not to have grabbed their attention.<\/p>\n

The recent bloody attack by terrorists on a mall in Nairobi, Kenya is only a glimpse at the worldwide problem, reports the Religious Freedom Coalition<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the four-day hostage stand-off by Somali al-Shabaab terrorists, these monsters raped, tortured, beheaded, dismembered, castrated, gouged out eyes, amputated fingers and hung hostages on hooks from the roof\u201d after finding out that they were Christians.<\/p>\n

So, \u201cwhy aren\u2019t Western Jesus-followers more aware or engaged on this issue?\u201d asks Jonathan Merritt,<\/a> author of A Faith of Our Own: Following Jesus Beyond the Culture Wars.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Seekiing<\/a>
Seekiing the Lord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One reason, he says is that \u201cChristian persecution is under-reported by the media. Paul Marshall of the Hudson Institute<\/a> says that persecution, if you include discrimination, is affecting approximately 600 to 700 million Christians globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to a 2011 Pew Forum study, Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world with followers of the faith being actively harassed in 130 countries.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"13\"<\/a>
Crying out to the Lord<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cIf a population of half a billion people\u00a0is so blatantly oppressed,\u201d asks Merritt.<\/a> \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to understand why it isn\u2019t making much news. The answer, in my opinion, is the location where much of the persecution occurs: the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany journalists I speak with seem timid to delve too deeply into the topic or to report on it too often for fear of being perceived as Islamaphobes or outright racists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree with The Atlantic\u2019s <\/i>Jeffrey Goldberg,\u201d writes Merritt, \u201cwho remarked in USA Today<\/i><\/a> that the persecution of Christians in the Middle East is \u2018one of the most undercovered stories in international news.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople can\u2019t advocate for issues they aren\u2019t aware of,\u201d notes Merritt, \u201cand to borrow from the Apostle Paul in Romans 10:14, \u201chow will they hear if no one tells them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Rioters<\/a>
Rioters target a Coptic church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But the media is not alone in the guilt of silence. American church leaders seem to want to look the other way, too, says Merritt.<\/p>\n

\u201cA 2010 LifeWay Research survey reported that 79 percent of churches said the flailing economy had negatively impacted their congregation,\u201d writes Merritt.<\/a> \u201cDuring recessions, churches often turn inward, not outward. When this happens, congregations disconnect from international communities where they previously maintained partnerships and subsequently grow less aware of the problems facing the global church.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not that they don\u2019t care, but rather that they don\u2019t know or perhaps they do<\/i> know but are so focused on \u2018more important\u2019 initiatives that they can\u2019t muster the energy to address them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy isn\u2019t the mammoth Christian community of the world\u2019s most influential nation in a tizzy over the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and around the world?\u201d asks Merritt.<\/a> \u201cThe answer, it seems, is that many of their attentions have been focused elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A Christian child weeps for his slain family<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Merritt says it\u2019s no excuse for inaction. \u201cIsn\u2019t it time that American Christians reinvest their energies in addressing the actual persecution of their brothers and sisters happening outside their borders?\u201d<\/p>\n

While the American church looks the other way, the five countries that make up Central Asia \u2013 Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan\u2014 \u201call have recent reports of repressing religious freedom. They do not allow any religious activity unless it has government approval and persecute anyone who violates their laws. Their most popular method is fining people sums that are very difficult to pay and torture victims to prove their power,\u201d reports International Christian Concern<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristians in Columbia are facing heavy and violent persecution for their beliefs, regardless of the country’s official position on religious freedom,\u201d reports Open Doors USA.<\/a> \u201cThe National Liberation Army persecutes Christians because their beliefs are not compatible with the rebel cause. Christians are being demanded to leave their homes, and even killed. Many of the attacks involve causing trauma to Christian children, such as kidnapping and murdering parents in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross rural areas of Laos reports are coming in of Christian communities being pressured to give up their new found faith in Christ,\u201d reports Asia Watch. \u201cThose who refuse are threatened with forced eviction from their homes. Animism, or the worship of the natural world, is a traditional belief system for many villages in Laos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why is none of this mentioned in American pulpits? Why is the news media silent?<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine if correspondents in late 1944 had reported the Battle of the Bulge, but without explaining that it was a turning point in the second world war,\u201d writes John L. Allen in the Spectator<\/i><\/a> <\/i>magazine. \u201cOr what if finance reporters had told the story of the AIG meltdown in 2008 without adding that it raised questions about derivatives and sub-prime mortgages that could augur a vast financial implosion?<\/p>\n

\"Outside<\/a>
Outside a torched Christian-owned business<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMost people would say that journalists had failed to provide the proper context to understand the news. Yet that\u2019s routinely what media outlets do when it comes to outbreaks of anti-Christian persecution around the world, which is why the global war on Christians remains the greatest story never told of the early 21st century.”<\/p>\n

In 2011, the Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Fouad Twal, who leads a church with more than its fair share of new martyrs, phrased the same questions more plaintively during a conference in London. He bluntly asked: \u2018Does anybody hear our cry? How many atrocities must we endure before somebody, somewhere, comes to our aid?\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The headlines are alarming: \u201cCatholic-Owned Company Wins Religious Freedom Court Decision,\u201d \u201cDeath Toll Rises to 65 in Boko Haram Attack on Students,\u201d \u201cLittle Sisters Catholic Charity Victimized By Obamacare,\u201d \u201cChristians Sought Out, Murdered in the Kenyan Mall Massacre,\u201d \u201cJudicial Watch Seeks Reason Why \u2018So Help Me God\u2019 Removed From U.S. Air Force Oath.\u201d But the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[48,32,601,971,970,984,55,41,978,62,1120,966,969,354],"tags":[645,1110,2242],"class_list":["post-12271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic","category-christian","category-egypt","category-gay-marriage","category-homosexual-marriage","category-inspiration","category-islam","category-judaism","category-muslims","category-pakistan","category-persecuted-christians","category-persecution","category-political-correctness","category-prayer","tag-discrimination","tag-freedom-of-religion","tag-persecution"],"yoast_head":"\nAre All These Christians' Complaints of Persecution Just So Much Empty Whining?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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