Violence Against Christians in Africa and Elsewhere


Christian sites pump out a steady stream of articles about Christians being killed, moved around or cut off from supporters. Often the demand is made for the U.S. government to "do something" about it.

A most logical question, to me at least, is why there are Christians in those areas being attacked? The only answer I know is Christians are there because U.S. and European Christians paid for missionaries to go there and establish Christian churches. This has been going on for generations and continues today. The question that must follow is, if there had been no missionaries would there be any Christians to kill and persecute? 

There is no way to know absolutely for certain the answer to that question. There must be parts of the world where there is no Christianity and one assumes has not been visited by missionaries. If the latter is true then one has to conclude the most important reason Christian are being killed in Africa is because missionaries back a few generations started the faith there. It seems presumptuous to me Christian groups would demand all taxpayers fund the protection of Christian when the faith itself is responsible for the problem. 

Certainly all of us agree Christians should not be persecuted anywhere. No people of any religion or cultural origin should be persecuted. It is also true that religions, like Christianity, should not discriminate against those who do not believe what they believe. Some branches of the faith now advocate the right to not perform abortions and deny rental property to gay and mixed marriage couples. The latter is not killing but the principle is the same. It is to "correct" other groups.

If there is one group uniformly persecuted in countries where religion dominates it is atheists. Their circumstances are different than those of Christians, no one was paid to travel to those countries to convert locals to atheism. They are always, so far as I know, indigenous.  

Watching our leaders decide where and when to intervein in other countries over my long life has led me to decide it is a complex question usually without a perfect answer. Our government often takes a pass at getting involved. I hope they take a pass on sending our military to protect Christians in the places now in the spotlight. 


Comments

  1. GrandmaFebruary 3, 2021 at 5:19 PM

    Applause!

    ReplyDelete
  2. little helperFebruary 3, 2021 at 8:57 PM

    Just a thought; There were " Christians in Africa and elsewhere" ( Your words), six hundred years before Islam. As the link provides, virtually all anti Christian activity is preformed by radical Islamists. Then there are Islamists against other members of the Islamic faith, including genocide of non-Christians. Then there are many instances of destruction of the antiquities of other faiths that were present hundreds of years BC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. little helperFebruary 4, 2021 at 12:08 PM

      re. @ 8;57; Oops, forgot the curse of death for all homosexuals and apostates with some of those who came six hundred years later.

      Delete
    2. Ardy BFebruary 4, 2021 at 3:10 PM

      little helper Feb 3, 2021 at 8:57 PM

      “The most violent religion on Earth is any that have people in them.” You’ll fair no better in the absence of religion. People kill. Nature kills. Gods kill.

      Some creatures die before they’re born, some are born dead, all will perish postpartum.

      Cheers.

      Delete
    3. little helperFebruary 4, 2021 at 3:52 PM

      Ardy @ 3;10; re. "The most violent" yada yada. Source of quote please.
      Yes, there is death all around us. Before, during and after. Your point please.
      I'm glad you recognize "born dead", indicating presence of life before death.

      "You'll fair no better in the absence of religion". Good point. I'm glad you recognize that too.

      Delete
  3. HenryFebruary 4, 2021 at 6:47 AM

    "The question that must follow is, if there had been no missionaries would there be any Christians to kill and persecute?"

    Applause! Then it also must follow that the young lass who singly ventures downtown late at night and gets mugged/raped had just stayed home, there would be no young lass to be mugged or raped. Applause! Let's blame the victim, their family, their beliefs, their action of their beliefs, and their acquaintances. Applause! These rationalizations just get better every day.

    One consideration though, how does this explain super duper atheists like Mao killing other atheists? Was it really about Christianity? In some cases, undoubtedly.

    P.S. The good news is that now on executive order #42 or so, the Office of the President* actually intentionally takes a very visible pause to read the executive order for several seconds prior to signing it instead of asking his handlers in the earpiece what he is signing. They are improving on the optics and actually reacting to the criticisms. He also has his pen handling down. It must have been a good day. There can be good days and bad days as I have been told.

    ReplyDelete
  4. tsmFebruary 4, 2021 at 1:43 PM

    how about my remark re the persecution of atheists?

    ReplyDelete

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