Tuesday, January 23, 2024
Photo: Sallux archive Every year, Open Doors is publishing its well-known World Watch List annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution. This year two points drew specific attention in the Dutch Christian media. The first was the fact the list was presented together with the Humanist Federation, who presented in the same meeting its annual ‘Freedom of Thought Report’. That reports describes the persecution of non-believers in many parts of the world. The second point that drew specific attention was Open Doors sounded the alarm over the fact the persecution against Christians is becoming more violent and more explicit in many areas of the world. Special attention was drawn to the situation of Christians in northern Nigeria in that regard. The problem is that this has become an annual ritual without any change happening in terms of less persecution. Here seems to be the first problem. There seems to be no real strategy and connected tactics to achieve the goal of less persecution. There is a lot of ‘awareness raising,’ but no discernible plan how to reduce the persecution. There is a range of complaints that ‘there’s not enough attention for it’ by the relevant organizations and concerned politicians. In some cases, some politicians will adopt some statements and file questions and then the next issue will be on the agenda. It is as if Christians somehow think that secular officials should in some way make this a priority. Aside from the obvious reality that there is no interest in persecuted Christians among officials in foreign affairs; there is no package communicated what these officials would need to do to decrease persecution. A very unhelpful attitude towards this issue is the somewhat contradictory fatalistic approach. In this approach we simply say ‘we and they should pray that they stand strong in the faith’ and give the victims some aid. In addition we simply hope that ‘someone’ in politics will do ‘something’ about it (basically hoping that they will not be fatalistic). This fatalism is even by some reinforced through a spirituality that says that the persecution is good for the intensity of the faith people have and the victims of persecution are then portrayed as examples for us in the western world. This approach is often very dominant but ultimately very destructive for the communities under attack. The result is namely that we do not strengthen or protect the persecuted but keep them vulnerable with all subsequent consequences. As Sallux we have seen this mechanism in Iraq where European Christian NGO’s refused to repeat the urgent plea from the Syriac-Assyrian communities that their self-defense forces would be treated equally to those of other ethnic groups. Due to that this community is now more on the brink of disappearing from its homeland than before as those who want their land and houses know that nobody will really help their security. Another example was a conversation I had with a young Nigerian Christian who was appalled by the fact that no European Christian NGO raised their security and their need for self-defense as the most important issue for Christians in Northern Nigeria. As their enemies know that nobody will stand up in practice for their physical security, they are increasingly vulnerable and more and more killed and driven away (as confirmed by Open Doors). Obviously it is not possible to increase security in this way in every circumstance. Christians in China and North Korea cannot be helped in that way. The broader point here is that persecuted Christians are in dire need of Christians in Europe inserting a wider and more realistic approach in dealing with this challenge. This approach will not only help the people concerned better but also liberate many Christians in Europe from the feeling of powerlessness over the situation of persecuted Christians. The first step is that we focus on this challenge with the goal to reduce the persecution, not simply accept it in a fatalistic way. We have the duty to help persecuted Christians in trying to reduce their suffering. That means that we need to think about this in terms of changing foreign policy. The best angle in that regard is the same that Open Doors The Netherlands showed by presenting their World Watch list together with the Humanist Federation as they noted that those persecuting Christians often also persecute people of any other faith or none (for example Uyghur in China or atheists in Iran). So the approach is that of standing up for equal human dignity and equal fundamental freedoms and freedom of religion and belief for all. The second step is that we no longer accept that relevant top civil servants in Ministries of Foreign Affairs brush the reality aside but that we demand that they treat this as any other human rights issue and not treat persecuted Christians any longer as if they have less value as humans. The third step is to set out a number of clear priorities to change foreign policy. Because if we want to do something real against persecution of Christians, we need to start there. One priority is to demand that an equal amount of time and money is spent on promoting freedom of religion and belief and reducing persecution on that ground as is spent on promoting freedom of LGBTIQ+ in foreign affairs (more on that in a previous intro of our newsletter). This will ensure that real budget and attention will be dedicated to this challenge. Another priority is to demand that in the relation with countries that have significant and threatened Christian minorities, that these minorities will be actively included in the security of their own community while remaining part of the national security apparatus overall. This will not only end the situation that Christians are deliberately kept vulnerable for attacks, it will also avoid the rise of rogue militias born out of desperation. In this regard I also want to point to an important article written by Robert Nicholson who points to the connection between persecuted Christians and vulnerable ethnic minorities and the need to ensure their actual physical security: https://providencemag.com/2019/12/when-religious-freedom-not-enough-copts-egypt/ As final example of potential priorities it is worthwhile to demand an end of the appeasement of extremism and extremist regimes as is usage at the moment in much of Foreign Affairs of the EU and most EU Member States (as explained in the introduction of the previous newsletter). This in turn will also help to reduce forced migration to Europe. We will not end persecution of Christians in this way but we would be able to be more effective in reducing it and at the very least minimize its severity. In the US this change in thinking is already happening among relevant organizations and for once we in Europe should follow their example. The current approach is clearly not working and therefore we have to try a new one. The over-spiritualization of persecution that veers away from actual reality is harming people and therefore has to end. We need to remember that the notion ‘the blood of Martyrs is the seed for the Church’ is not in the bible and has many times in history not materialized. But persecution has destroyed Christianity in many instances and countries throughout history. We need to end the fatalism that we also do not and would not apply for our own freedom and security. The lives of those persecuted are too precious to allow for fatalistic acceptance. If we truly think that their lives are as precious as ours we have to implement real change in how we stand up for persecuted Christians.
