EDITORIAL

Christian persecution is ever-present, and not just a thing of the past

Posted

There seems to be a certain bias against reporting Christian persecution throughout the world in the public media. The public media have no problems writing stories about the personal failures of clerics and laity in the Church, but not much is ever mentioned about the faithful who try to live their lives peacefully, but are attacked for just being followers of Christ.

Most of the persecution of Christians in the West comes through the government, Hollywood, universities and the news media. A lot of the criticism and persecution of the Catholic Church in the West has to do with its stance and beliefs on sexual moral issues such as abortion, contraception and same-sex marriage. There are even some states, such as California, that would try to force priests to reveal what they heard in confession — break the seal — if someone confesses to having committed certain crimes. The Church is not to be changed by the culture or fad of the day, rather, the Church is here to influence the culture to follow sound reasoning, natural law and to remind society that we live in a moral universe where a person has to take responsibility for his or her own actions

In the eastern part of the world, Christianity is also persecuted by atheistic governments, military regimes and by other religions such as radical Islam. In the small West African nation of Burkina Faso, as many as 30 armed Islamic terrorists recently stormed a Catholic church, slaughtered at least six Christian worshippers — including the officiating priest — then burned the church to the ground. This was the third Catholic Church attack in five weeks. As with other African Islamic terror groups, the motivating ideology fueling the terrorists of Burkina Faso is distinctly Islamic and jihadi in nature. Many people at this point have been staying at home for fear of their lives. There was barely one mention of this harassment of Christians in the public media. As Catholics we must continue to pray for those who are persecuted as well as defend our faith against false representations of our beliefs.