Christendom has only itself as an ally in a world of woke | Sam Hall
In Easter 2017, Daesh bombed Coptic churches in Egypt, killing dozens and injuring more than one hundred. This was not an isolated instance. Over the past century, North Africa and the Middle East have seen a sharp drop in their Christian population. The area that gave birth to Christianity, the land of the bible, used to have a 20% Christian population. Now? Just 4%. In addition, attacks against churches have risen an astonishing 500%. The oppression of Christians is having a tangible effect. Like Islam and Judaism, Christianity originated in the non-West. Yet despite this, Christianity in the Middle East is rapidly disappearing. In 2003 there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. By 2016 there were just 300,000.
If this surprises you, don’t worry. The persecution of Christians in the Western media is often overlooked. In the historically church-going United States of America, for example, people identifying as having no religion now make up almost a quarter of the population, overtaking Catholics and most Protestant denominations. Mainstream media these days doesn’t want to focus on important topics like this. Their main concern is seeking to conform to neo-liberal ideals about social norms rather than raising awareness of issues like this. Writing about a transgender person who gave birth and insists they are the father- that will generate more interest than Christian persecution.
Yet it happens, and the perpetrators face minimal consequences. In Turkey, Erdogan has used the failed 2016 coup as an excuse to turn his country into a Sunni Muslim state. As a result, converts to Christianity are seen as betraying their Turkish identity, thus bringing shame upon the family. Divorce or loss of inheritance can be threatened. To compound things, religious affiliation is recorded on ID cards so it is easy for employers to discriminate against Christian applicants. Erdogan himself has rejected the idea of ‘moderate’ Islam, claiming that he prefers to say ‘We are Muslims who have found a middle road.’ Even as Christianity shrinks in the West, in other parts of the world, where religious nationalism is strong, Christianity and Western identity are still strongly linked and Christians are often perceived as Western sympathisers, disloyal to the state. India also has a complicated relationship with religious nationalism. Here too, it is coming at the expense of religious minorities who are increasingly attacked without the intervention from the authorities:
In India Christian pastor Jai Singh, who was assaulted by a mob of some 200 Hindus chanting anti-Christian slogans in the village of Bitchpuri. The mob, instigated by members of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an all-male paramilitary youth wing of Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), beat the pastor along with his 15-year-old son and dragged him to the village square. As Christianity shrinks in adherents in the West, in other parts of the world, where religious nationalism is strong, Christianity and Western identity are strongly linked, such that Christians are often perceived as Western sympathisers, disloyal to the state. In the context of rising religious nationalism, this can have deadly consequences.
This is exactly the kind of struggle the woke brigade should love, right? Raising awareness to a thus far overlooked and unjust persecuted group, fast becoming a minority in the very place where the movement was born? The Liberal Democrats should be all over it. Oh no…wait…
This is a genuine thing. Cllr Ian Manning was so eager to point out his solidarity with Muslims that he and a few other Lib Dems decided they’d participate in a Ramadan fast. It’s a shame in this particular instance that his camera moved faster than his common sense. Cllr Manning can’t even be integrally woke! It gets worse. Their acting leader, Ed Davey, said the following.
“I want to send my best wishes to Muslims across Britain and the world in this holy month of Ramadan,” he said. “With mosques remaining closed and with people unable to come together to worship, this holy month will be particularly difficult.
“Liberal Democrats are determined to stand in solidarity with Britain’s Muslim communities and believe that together we can defeat this awful virus.”
The Liberal Democrats are exactly why persecuted Christians should not rely on neoliberals to help them out. They are so concerned with not being perceived as racist or Islamophobic that they will fall over their own feet in the name of diversity and multiculturalism. So, the woke brigade can’t help us.
Make no mistake either, Christian persecution is not just a foreign problem. It’s happening right on our doorstep. Gay rights activist Gareth Lee visited Belfast-based Ashers Baking Company asking for a cake with a message in favour of gay marriage. The Christian bakers refused and what resulted was a ruling in 2018 from Supreme Court president Lady Hale; ‘Their objection was to the message on the cake, not to the personal characteristics of Mr Lee or anyone else with whom he was associated.’ In other words the bakers would have refused to make such a cake for a straight person, ergo; not discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Of course, the innocent Christians will always be the villains in the eyes of some (they can broadly be described as those who support #LibDemIftar) for daring to stand up for their individual religious liberty. It is chilling that there are some people so trapped within their own woke bubble that the very idea that someone might object to their neoliberalism is worthy of a court case.
To be clear; I am in no way conflating the legal proceeding incurred by Ashers Baking Company with the physical violence Pastor Jai Singh. The two are at extreme ends of the discrimination suffered by Christians in the world today. Yet the cake case was far more widely reported on. Why? In my opinion this is because Christians in Britain are a far softer target. After all the Queen is Head of the Church of England and Twenty-six Anglican Bishops currently sit in the House of Lords. To attack Christians in this country is very anti-establishment and very woke. Telling some Hindu Nationalists in a former British colony that they are bigoted, ignorant thugs for attacking someone on the grounds of religious belief? Not so much. Ironically no-one in the woke brigade wants to be accused of being a colonial sympathising racist bigot in the process, do they? That kind of anti-Christian bigotry is far easier to get away with as a result.
Christian brothers and sisters of the world take heed. The woke brigade cannot hear your cries of pain unless it’s politically convenient for them. Politically correct culture is literally killing Christians; it’s time to speak up.
