Christians and Persecution
Slactivist examines the odious habit of American Christians claiming persecution and victimhood:
When protected, privileged and pampered American Christians claim to be facing persecution they spit on the wounds of their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world and in history who have known firsthand what religious persecution really is. They mock not only their fellow Christians in this great cloud of witnesses, but also those of other faiths who have suffered or are, now, today, suffering genuine persecution.
More in this vein from Shakespear's Sister.
When protected, privileged and pampered American Christians claim to be facing persecution they spit on the wounds of their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world and in history who have known firsthand what religious persecution really is. They mock not only their fellow Christians in this great cloud of witnesses, but also those of other faiths who have suffered or are, now, today, suffering genuine persecution.
More in this vein from Shakespear's Sister.
posted by Management at 2:15 AM
3 Comments:
May 02, 2005
Persecution
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
-- Matthew 5:10-12
In many times and in many places, Christians have faced persecution because of their faith.
The United States in the early 21st century is not such a time and place. Right now, as you read this, people are suffering imprisonment, disenfranchisement and physical harm because they are Christians. None of these people live in the United States.
The United States is a liberal democracy with a Constitution that guarantees freedom of conscience. This makes it a haven against religious persecution for people of all faiths and of no faith. Christians in America enjoy rights and legal protections that Christians in other parts of the world -- China, North Korea, the Sudan -- can only dream of.
The United States is also a country whose culture is shaped by the mores and conventions of its overwhelmingly Christian majority. This culture makes it not only acceptable, but often popular and advantageous for Christians to be outspoken and public with their professions of faith. By culture and convention, Christians in America enjoy privileges and power that their coreligionists in other countries could never dream of. When or where in history was it ever easier to profess Christianity in whatever form you might choose?
And yet scarcely a day goes by, regardless of whether or not it is "Justice Sunday," in which some group of American Christians does not claim that they are facing "persecution."
They dare to use that word.
This is delusional, pathological. These people are insane. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ -- and the brothers and sisters of those Christians facing actual persecution in the world's forgotten corners -- but they are insane.
When protected, privileged and pampered American Christians claim to be facing persecution they spit on the wounds of their brothers and sisters elsewhere in the world and in history who have known firsthand what religious persecution really is. They mock not only their fellow Christians in this great cloud of witnesses, but also those of other faiths who have suffered or are, now, today, suffering genuine persecution.
Such a person was recently interviewed on the PBS program "Now." He described both the real, physical suffering he experienced and how his faith in God gave him the strength to endure it:
... Nightmares come, because I stayed five days without food or water, with torture. I always have this feeling, like conscious dreams. Sometimes these scenes appear in front of my eyes, even while I am not asleep.
I put my faith in God. Our strength and our resistance come from our faith in God, especially a person who considers himself not guilty and he is the object of abuse and punishment. There were others who couldn't resist [the torture], and they gave up names of innocent people to trade for their release from prison. But God gave us the strength, and we believe in God. For a truly faithful man, God gives the person the great strength to be patient to endure the pain, abuse and insults that we were subjected to.
The man who described this persecution is named Haj Ali.
You may not recognize his name, but you've seen his picture.
On Friday, April 29, 2005 at 9 p.m. on PBS (check local listings), in " Few Bad Men?" NOW broadcasts the first in-depth American television interview with Haj Ali, a former prisoner who says he was the man under the black hood in the infamous photo from Abu Ghraib. "Abu Ghraib is a breeding ground for insurgents," says Ali, who describes his experience in detail. "99% of the people brought in are innocent, but with all the insults and torture, it makes them ready to do just about anything." Read more about Ali and his experiences below.
Before the Iraq war Haj Ali was the mayor of the Al Madifai district, near Baghdad. After the U.S. took control of the area he was removed from his position. As an official, he was required to join the ruling Baath Party. Haj Ali then worked as an administrator for a mosque, until he was picked up off the street one day in October 2003. Today Haj Ali works for a prisoner's association. He says he has no part in the insurgency.
IN HIS OWN WORDS: THE MAN IN THE PHOTO
Q: How confident are you that you are the man in that photo?
HAJ ALI: Actually the hood covered my head, and they took almost a hundred photos. Because all those who were present-as those who speak English were telling me- that whenever a soldier is visited by a friend of his, they would pull a prisoner and take a photograph with him. They would put the prisoners in some abnormal positions and take photos with them. I experienced this situation. I am 100% sure of that.
I remember the American bean box, even the pipes behind me which were used to conduct electricity, they used two wires. I'm telling you what I remember from when they took the hood off my head, I saw the electric wires, one of them was black and the other was red. The end of the electric wires were hook shaped.
AFTERMATH OF THE PHOTO RELEASE
HAJ ALI: We were surprised that that an American [television] station broadcasted these photos. But we have two reasons to explain why the photos were released; the first is not that they admired the human rights, but because of the polarity of the American elections. And the second explanation for doing that is to instill fear in the Iraqi resistance, but it backfired on them to the nth degree.
Before that, a person was able to negotiate with them, but then these photos were published and the facts became clear about what the American Army is doing in Iraq and what the real occupation is.
What is more, is that the people who appeared in the photo and the process of their punishment occurred in such a jeering way. This meant the method insulted all of humanity. These have to be punished according to the Geneva [Conventions] or according to the American law.
AFTERMATH OF ABU GHRAIB
Q: When you were released, did anyone ever apologize to you? To this day, has anyone from the US military ever apologized?
HAJ ALI: No, never, they just said you were arrested by mistake … and they put a hood over my head. Then they put us in a truck with about 30- 40 other people. And they just pushed me off the truck.
Q: How are you faring today?
HAJ ALI: Definitely, nightmares come, because I stayed five days without food or water, with torture. I always have this feeling, like conscious dreams. Sometimes these scenes appear in front of my eyes, even while I am not asleep.
I put my faith in God. Our strength and our resistance come from our faith in God, especially a person who considers himself not guilty and he is the object of abuse and punishment. There were others who couldn't resist [the torture], and they gave up names of innocent people to trade for their release from prison. But God gave us the strength, and we believe in God. For a truly faithful man, God gives the person the great strength to be patient to endure the pain, abuse and insults that we were subjected to. But keep in mind that not all people are equal in their tolerance. As I told you, there were people who judged others.
HAJ ALI TODAY
HAJ ALI: I work full time for the prisoner's association. The association's mission is to follow up on the cases of prisoners who have been accused of resisting the occupation. The group's name is the Victims of the American Occupation Prisoners Association.
The group aims to follow up on prisoner cases, their families, the sick. We make contact with prisoners and try to help them, and try to get treatment for them through doctors who have made efforts to treat them free of charge. And to follow up cases of the prisoners.
Catholic Archbishop Harry Flynn, head of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, has announced that the LGBT community and their supporters who celebrate gay tolerance by wearing rainbow sashes to the Cathedral of St. Paul will no longer be allowed to receive communion as long as their continue to wear their sashes. According to Flynn, the sashes, which have been worn by the group for four years without incident, are symbolic of a protest against Catholic teaching and are unacceptable to the Vatican.
A gay-rights leader said sash-wearers would continue to attempt to receive communion at the cathedral.
The Rainbow Sash movement is an organization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Catholics and their families and friends.
[…]
Last year, a group of Catholic men stationed themselves in the aisles at the Cathedral to disrupt the procession of sash-wearers to receive Communion.
Charming.
After the recent appointment of the new pope, who is a staunch believer in an alleged “intrinsic moral evil” of homosexuality, I wrote:
I reject this pope, I reject his church, and I reject its teachings. I reject the notion that people I love are evil for being gay, or that any expression of love between two consenting adults is somehow sinful. There’s nothing sinful about love, and there isn’t a dime’s worth of difference between the way I love Mr. Shakes, and the way Pam loves Kate, and Mr. Furious loves Mr. Curious; I reject all claims to the contrary. And if that consigns my eternal soul to the fires of hell, then off I go, tra la la. I never fucking liked harps, anyway.
In reply, someone commented, “I'm sure the Church will be so sad. You were the top recruit.” Such a comment exemplifies the problem with modern Christianity, which has largely become (with a few notable exceptions—I’m talking to you, UCC) a place of exclusion, a place of judgment and scorn.
The things is, I should be the church’s top recruit. By the definitions of just about every Christian denomination, I am a sinner, a soul in need of saving. But I am of little interest to most modern Christians, aside from my convenient position as a target of their blame and ire. I am the face of the secular Left—the believer in evolution, the feminist, the queer appeaser—and I am much more useful as an object of their scorn than a lost sheep to be brought into the fold. They’d much rather hate me than save me.
It’s fine with me, as I don’t particularly want or need saving, but that such an attitude is exacted upon those in their midst, who desire participation in the church, who long for a grace they cannot find in earthly things, is truly indicative of how far the church has strayed from the beliefs of the man upon whose words its foundation rests.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
While America’s Christians wail and moan and organize multicasts to stir their adherents with riveting stories about how they are being oppressed, they busily endeavor within their own ranks to oppress those with whom they disagree. If it is as difficult for a rich man to get into heaven as a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, I can only imagine the contortions required of such shocking hypocrites to reach the pearly gates.
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