True, American Christians are in no way experiencing the persecution happening abroad. I agree. (Although, we would likely differ on our understanding of religious freedom infringements taking place on Christian florists, bakers, and civil servants.) These same Christian Left bloggers write virtually zero articles decrying the abusers torturing, raping, beating, enslaving, imprisoning, and killing Christians abroad.
Last week on Twitter, I shared a Crux article relating a Nigerian Christian woman’s torturous suffering at the hands of Boko Haram while a captive for two years. The facts of Rebecca Bitrus’s story are uncomfortable. I encourage you to read every word.
For those of you who do read Rebecca’s story, you might feel grief. Perhaps others will stop what they’re doing and pray for Rebecca and the Persecuted Church. But for some frustrating reason, others will take the opportunity to point out that American Christians’ “persecution complex” is a disgrace. But in an attempt to backhand American Christianity, this response only serves to neglect the Persecuted Church’s suffering all the more.
This happened within minutes after I re-tweeted the Crux article, adding my comment “Christian Persecution is real.” An individual responded, “Sure. Just not in the way that most American Christians constantly carry on about.” Now, I realize this is Twitter, and we will go crazy by taking every critic to heart. But this response perfectly illustrates what we see from the Christian Left all the time here at the Institute on Religion and Democracy. (Note, I’ve no idea if this individual is a left-leaning Christian or not.)
By the way, the article contains excruciating details of a Boko Haram fighter who threw Rebecca’s three-year-old son into a river. “You’re not ready to convert to Islam, so I’m going to teach you a lesson,” the fighter carelessly told her. Then Rebecca watched as her baby boy drowned.
So, you can see why my blood was boiling after the Twitter user responded the way he did. Boko Haram killed her baby boy, but yes let’s take this opportunity to talk about the failures of American Christianity.
How can one understand the gravity and urgency of Christian persecution—atrocious human rights violations–happening overseas every day if other Christians consistently take the opportunity to constantly point out America Christianity’s failures instead?
