Lately we are being warned not to heed news coming through social media and to give credence only to trustworthy news agencies. Unfortunately, even though these tend to be factual, what they hand over to us is still selective, because it is the agencies themselves that choose what they consider to be news value and what not.
One item that is not a media favourite and is only fleetingly communicated to us is the worldwide persecution of Christians. We were told about the killing of around 150 Christians in Sri Lanka on Easter, 2019; about the attacks and killings by Boko Haram in Nigeria; and about more than 100 Coptic Christians who died in Egypt in 2016 at the hands of Islamist terrorists.
But this is only the tip of an iceberg. The persecution of Christians is much more widespread and lethal. According to research by the Pew Research Centre in 2017, 300 million Christians suffer persecution in 143 countries. Undoubtedly, this issue deserves more attention than it is given.
Our secularised culture shies away from anything religious but religious persecution is a breach of human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human rights refers to freedom of religion in articles 13, 55, and 76. Media silence on this issue is even more anomalous when front-page coverage is given to activists claiming that abortion is a human right.
In liberal democracies, persecution is more subtle. It is moral, not physical. Christians are often portrayed as living in an unreal world. Their contribution to public debate is dismissed. The weight of their arguments is ignored as ‘imposition’ of religious authority. This too is persecution.
While most Christians live without danger to life, the indifference towards persecuted Christians living in freedom is more puzzling. Pope Francis expressed concern about this, saying that conditions for Christians are worse now than they were in the days of the early Church, but we are hardly bothered about this situation.
Yet the faith of persecuted Christians is so strong they are suffering and dying for it. Possibly this is why their churches are flourishing. It is an adage that the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christianity. The comfort in which we live our faith does not seem to be producing much seed.
One reason for indifference and sterility could be because we associate faith too much with religious practice. Being a good Christian is synonymous with attending Sunday Mass. Consequently, our main concern is whether Mass should be celebrated in the vernacular or in Latin. Is this not missing the forest for the trees?
The unacknowledged suffering of our Christian brethren challenges the way in which we live our faith. Sometimes we live it too easily, forgetting that the Resurrection of our Lord was preceded by his Passion and death.
Fr Alfred Micallef, member of the Society of Jesus