Christians are the most widely targeted religious group in the world

Washington D.C., Apr 23, 2017 / 15:29 pm

When it comes to religious persecution, Christians are the most widely targeted community, said a new report released this week.

But despite oppression and threat of violence, the faithful "should not be afraid," said a Pakistani archbishop.

Pakistan's Christians have made vital contributions to the country's history and must not refrain from professing their faith in the midst of the current persecution, Archbishop Sebastian Shaw, OFM of Lahore, Pakistan.

"Even under discrimination or some violent actions," Christians should take courage, he said, citing the words of Jesus that "people will hate you on account of My name."

"You are not guilty, but because you are Christians and because you are following the Gospel values…being honest, being more responsible, being more dutiful, more charitable," he said of Pakistan's Christians, violence and harassment will follow.

Archbishop Shaw spoke with CNA at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. at the April 20 release of the new report "Under Caesar's Sword." The archbishop leads the largest Catholic diocese in Pakistan, with around 500,000 members.

"Under Caesar's Sword" documents not only the persecution of Christians around the world, but how they choose to respond to persecution. "Christians are the most widely targeted religious community," the report explained, "suffering terrible persecution globally."

There are three common responses of Christian communities to violence or harassment, the report noted: "survival," "strategies of association," and "confrontation," which is "the least common response."

Survival would entail communities choosing to remain where they are in the face of persecution, as minorities have in Iraq and Syria, and either gathering covertly for worship as underground churches do in China, or maintaining a tenuous relationship with regimes in power.

Communities utilizing "association" would develop relationships with other non-governmental organizations or international bodies like the United Nations, or would strengthen their social ties in their country through social services or practicing forgiveness.

Examples of this course of action would be Coptic Christians and Muslims in Egypt, who acted to protect each other's churches and mosques from vandalism and violence in 2011.

Another example was in 1996 when, "anticipating martyrdom, Christian de Chergé, leader of the 'Tibhirine Monks' of Algeria who were martyred in 1996 during the uprising, wrote a letter to his would-be killers, forgiving them and inviting them to a future of living together in freedom."

"Christian responses to persecution are almost always nonviolent and, with very few exceptions, do not involve acts of terrorism," the report stated.

Christians in Pakistan, Archbishop Shaw explained, helped build and unify the country when it was founded in 1947, especially through the health and social sectors and the educational institutions which formed some of the country's present-day leaders, including the prime minister and the speaker of the National Assembly.

However, following the nationalization of the country's schools in 1972, Pakistan became "more Islamized" and Christians were marginalized more and more, the archbishop said. They currently only make up around two percent of the country's population.

Their marginalization includes infringements upon their rights and mob violence. Acts of terror against Christians have also increased, with a suicide bomber killing 72 and injuring 340 last year in an attack on a Christian celebration of Easter Sunday at a park in Lahore.

Additionally, anti-blasphemy laws have resulted in 40 persons on death row or serving life in prison, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The laws, which do not require evidence for an accusation and which carry the harshest of penalties, have been used to harass Christians. Mob violence is utilized to pressure the government and the courts to issue or uphold harsh sentences for Christians for alleged crimes.

Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was convicted in 2010 for alleged blasphemy but the country's Supreme Court suspended her death sentence and her case is still in question, Archbishop Shaw said.

Today, Christians don't count as a full person according to the country's witnessing law, which requires the testimony of two Christian men to equal that of one Muslim man when witnessing to a crime. Women are also considered below men, as four Christian women would have to testify to count as a full witness.

New textbooks in schools have also circulated which contain "hate material," the archbishop said, which prevents a "harmonious society" from growing.

Archbishop Shaw said he tells Christians "you were born in Pakistan, so God has a special purpose for you to be born in Pakistan," saying their presence there is no accident.

Christians should not back away from the public square, he insisted, but should be "assertive enough to profess your faith in a very dignified way."

He exhorted them "not to fight," in response to violence, "but that does not mean that you let people kill you. You have to be courageous to approach people in a very assertive way to share your values in being human and being a Christian."

Christians should seek to grow in knowledge of their faith and their "religious traditions," he said, and should share their faith with others through interreligious dialogue. This last part is key, he said, because if Christians and Muslims can have a "roundtable" to learn each other's religious values, then they can find common ground.

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Some of the worst persecution of Christians occurs in countries where they are isolated and which are largely closed off to outside research, the report said, countries like North Korea, Eritrea, Somalia, and Yemen.

Christians worldwide should seek to implement these practices of dialogue, bridge-building with other members of society, and non-violence, the report said.

"The benefits of these strategies may seem short-term and modest, but from the standpoint of those persecuted, the strategies reflect a kind of divine logic, one rooted not only in hope for reward and fulfillment in the life to come but also in the conviction that should these communities remain true to their faith, there will come a day when the persecuting regime or militant group may pass away and the church spring up and branch out with vigor, as it has done so often in history before," the report stated, citing the early Christians' faith amidst the persecutions by the Roman Empire.

"Those who wish to act in solidarity with persecuted Christians can imitate their creative and faithful pragmatism," the report concluded.