REFORMADVOCATE.COM NEWS/VIEWS
Toronto, Canada Jeffrey S. Ram, Editor February 15, 2023
According to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, the oppression of Christ’s flock is increasing in at least 18 countries, especially in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Efforts of International governments and human rights agencies have been ineffective.
No action against the guilty nations encourages other groups to use religious terrorism as a political weapon. Christ’s followers should take practical steps to stop the persecution of fellow believers by vicious uncivilized groups and prevent religious wars.
ESSENTIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF A MODERN CIVILIZED SOCIETY
The basic features of a civilized nation are:
· Government’s goal is good governance, the well-being of all citizens, and the rule of law.
· Government is democratically elected.
· Justice system treats everyone fairly and equally.
· A robust opposition exists.
· Freedom of the press allows a vibrant media to criticize the government.
· Everyone has freedoms like freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of living safely anywhere.
· Quality education and healthcare are free.
· Women and men are treated as equals. Girls and boys are raised as equals. They have equal educational and career opportunities.
· All religions, including those of minority groups, are respected and protected.
· Slavery is unlawful.
These qualities are absent in the evil and backward nations and groups that hound the witnesses of Jesus Christ.
SOME EXAMPLES OF BACKWARD ROGUE NATIONS THAT INFLICT VIOLENCE ON CHRISTIAN MINORITIES AND ENJOY CIVILIZED NATIONS’ FRIENDSHIP
According to the global persecution watchdog organization Open Doors, last year over 360 million Christians were victims of high levels of persecution and discrimination across the globe. Sadly, the civilized international community has cordial relations with brutal persecutors. Some examples are as follows:
INDIA: After the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2014, the government has vigorously promoted violence against Muslim and Christian minorities.
The goal of the BJP is to transform India from a secular to a Hindu Rashtra or a nation where Hindus dominate. M.S. Golwalkar explained the Hindu Rashtra theory in these words:
Muslims and Christians are not foreign races because their families have been on Indian soil for thousands of years. Many of their ancestors were already there when the Aryan invaders arrived.
Two thousand years ago, Christ’s disciple Apostle Thomas established seven churches on the Indian subcontinent. Christianity has been in India since then.
President Trump presented Prime Minister Modi with the highest degree Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit award, on December 21, 2020.
St Thomas established St Thomas Church, Palayoor, Kerala, India in 52 AD.
ISRAEL AND PALESTINE (HOLY LAND): Jesus Christ’s flock faces violence from Islamic jihadists in the Palestinian-ruled areas and from Jewish extremist anti-Christian groups, like Yad L’Achim, in Israel.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III, along with the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem, has launched a campaign to halt “the decline of Christian communities in the Holy Land.” The official website PROTECTING HOLY LAND CHRISTIANS states:
“The ancient, indigenous Christian communities in the Holy Land are vanishing. Fast.
“Together we can protect them and help to rebuild diverse, flourishing communities in the cradle of Christianity.”
Many evangelical Christians all over the world support the Israeli government unconditionally.
NIGERIA: Christians are kidnapped, murdered, and sometimes even made sex slaves. The slaughter continues, but neither the government nor the international community acts to stop these atrocities by Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), and Fulani Militants. According to International Christian Concern (ICC), 50,000 to 70,000 Christians have been killed in Nigeria since 2000.
Bishop Jude Arogundade of Ondo, Nigeria is frustrated at the world’s indifference. He asked, "How many corpses are required to get the world's attention?"
The U.S. State Department removed Nigeria from the Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) watch list in November 2021.
PAKISTAN: Christians in Pakistan are treated as second-class citizens. Attacks on churches are not frequent, but individual Christians are regularly targeted. False allegations of blasphemy are often made against Christians after an unrelated dispute.
Pakistan's government, police, and judiciary condone and support violence against Christians and other minorities. Christian girls and women are victims of sexual assault, kidnapping, forced conversion, and forced marriages.
The Pakistani-American author Farahnaz Ispahani has called the treatment of Christians in Pakistan a "drip-drip genocide."
Western governments have provided generous military aid to Pakistan to maintain military equality with India. However, they have failed to use their influence to make Pakistan stop the persecution of Christians and other minorities.
TURKEY: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member Turkey has a record of promoting Islamic extremism and persecuting Christians. In the Syrian civil war, Islamic State plundered Christians, slaughtered males, and made females sex slaves with military and other assistance from Turkey.
In the wars between Azerbaijan and Armenia and between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray region’s Christian forces, Turkey provided military aid to Azerbaijan and Ethiopian governments.
Hagia Sophia, an ancient Christian cathedral, from 360 AD until the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, was changed into a museum from a mosque in 1934. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan changed it back to a mosque in July 2020.
It is shameful that such a ruthless anti-Christian nation is a military alliance partner of civilized western nations.
Harmony between civilized international communities and uncivilized religious terrorists is a puzzle.
CHRISTIANS SHOULD STOP RELIGIOUS TERRORISM AND PREVENT INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS
The efforts of international governments and non-government human rights agencies have been fruitless. Sooner or later, majoritarian Christian extremist and nationalist groups might rise leading to religious wars.
All 192 members of the United Nations have ratified and signed the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The faith family members should save the civilized world by lobbying and advocating for action against the uncivilized nations that violate the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Such culprit nations should be expelled from the United Nations and all international organizations. International trade with them should also be banned and goods and services produced there should be boycotted.
Stopping religious terrorism will not only protect Christian minorities, but it will also keep the civilized world safe from the barbaric atrocities of savage nations and groups.
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