New persecution of Christians: They’re coming for us.

There is the very credible threat of a massive, organized, systematic persecution against Christians some time in the next generation; perhaps within a few years. I mean for all Christians; us in the rich, relatively peacful (since World War II!) West. A great persecution has been going on against Christians since the Armenian Genocide in World War I.

Hitchens and Dawson are bad enough, along with books like “The Da Vinci Code.” The widespread abandonment of real Christian faith and morals is bad enough. It is looking to get worse before it gets better. The strong movements of renewal in Christianity are wonderful and very encouraging, but as yet they encompass only a small minority of the entire population, and they do not include more than a tiny minority of the most influential classes: Politicians, educators, and especially the larger, “informal” education system—the news and entertainment media.

But it’s not just the amount but the kind of movement away from Christianity recently which is really alarming. The difference is the extent and virulence of direct attacks.

By “direct attack” I mean more than simply promoting values and beliefs at odds with Christianity. That has been going on at a steadily increasing rate since the Black Death. I am specifically referring to hostility to Christianity, especially taking the ominous new form of demonizing it; building an false image of it as a source and even the main source of history’s ills and of everything wrong today.

How many modern atheists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Fifty-one. One to put in the new light bulb and fifty to write books and make movies blaming Christianity for the fact that light bulbs burn out.

Ahem. Getting serious again: It’s easy to dismiss, say, Hitchens’ wild claims blaming Christianity for so many things, he is so transparantly irrational and prejudiced. He’s so far gone that when someone brought up Communism, especially the Soviet Union, he countered that they had in fact never eliminated Christianity—the never got rid of all Christians nor dissuaded them away from the faith. And that, apparantly, is the source of all the evils perpetrated by Communism!

This is as irrational, as silly, as some of the wild claims by anti-Semitism in the nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries.

Which is why we should worry. Setting aside our natural amusement at the utter silliness of so much of what is being said, we must remember that its very silliness is an alarming development. That people otherwise not obviously demented believe these things so easily is a sign that too many people are so frightened at certain things going on in the world that they then yield to fear so great that it overpowers their reason, and they are ripe for any fantasy of an easily isolated and attacked scapegoat.

And we’re “it”.

Don’t kid yourselves. It could happen here. Serious social and/or economic and/or military reverses could easily open the way for extremists to get in power.

Some of them already are.

Just the other day, Leftist activists in Mexico City stormed a service in the great cathedral, causing so much damage and fear the Catholic authorities have suspended all services there until the civil authorities can guarantee safety. Disagreeing with Christian social and political activities is nothing new. Systematically targeting any available Catholics to pressure the whole Church is an ominous development. As is the conspicuous silence of the mainstream media, who make so much of Americans disrespecting Muslims in Iraq.

Recently a Christian student at a university set up a card table outside a hall where a musical was being performed on his campus that portrayed the Last Supper as a homosexual orgy between Jesus and the Apostles. He was being totally peacful; simply protesting and offering an alternative view. As a result, he was forcibly committed for several days of “psychiatric evaluation”, on the basis that his position was so flagrantly homophobic that he had to be considered mentally ill.

There are many other examples I could give. One friend of mine, a very well educated and completely orthodox Jesuit, has remarked that he believes there is little chance of his dying of old age. He believes he is more likely to be martyred for his faith.

The threat is of persecution of the most bloody and totalitarian kind, replete with terror, coerced apostasy, Christians systematically pressured to betray one another, torture, “reeducation”.

Our top priority?

Not that we defend ourselves and the Faith, which of course we must.

Our top priority is not to become like the persecutors.

We must oppose this persecution if it comes. We must be prepared to die, if necessary, for our faith. (This must be done with discerning judgment, of course; pretending compliance to continue the work underground, or, especially, to protect the innocent, especially children, can be acceptable.) We must try to fight as best we can; setting the best example we possibly can of Christian faith and morality.

But this is the Forest and Mote blog, and I, the LogEyed Roman, am committed to make self correction always the highest priority.

Yielding to this persecution would be bad. Joining it willingly would be worse. But the worst thing we could do is to fight back with the same evil means; yielding to the temptation to suppress our enemies with ruthless force; silencing our enemies with terror. This would be all to easy, and it is all to common in history, including religious history; most particularly including Christian history.

Christ was never a doormat. He conspicuously does not let sinners, especially hypocrites, get away with it. But he always did it with the ultimate goal of their redemption, not their “suppression” or “defeat”.

I fear that a really bloody and terrible persecution is coming. The terror and violence has begun already. I hope all Catholics, and other Christians; any men of good will, who read this, also share a healthy fear of this danger. But what I need to really fear, and probably don’t fear enough, is for us to become like our enemies. During one terrible episode of public terror and destruction a few years ago, a friend was raging inside at the perpetrators. But his pastor said, “If you can’t see Christ in them, you are worse than they are."

Let us be careful. The persecution will continue and will get worse before it gets better. It could be very extreme. But our greatest danger is not even being martyred. That is death of the body. Our worst danger is returning hate for hate, persecution for persecution; becoming worse than our persecutors. That way lies death for eternity.

May God preserve us.

Very truly yours,

LogEyed Roman