What is Persecution, Lord Williams?

on August 21, 2013

In a recent speech, the former Archbishop of Canterbury said that Western Christians need to “grow up” when it comes to discourse about their status in society. He declared that Christians in the U.S. and the U.K. who claim they are being persecuted are overreacting, and that society merely making someone uncomfortable cannot compare to real persecution.

He continued:

Persecution is not being made to feel mildly uncomfortable… I am always very uneasy when people sometimes in this country or the United States talk about persecution of Christians or rather believers… I think we are made to feel uncomfortable at times. We’re made to feel as if we’re idiots – perish the thought! But that kind of level of not being taken very seriously or being made fun of; I mean for goodness sake, grow up. You have to earn respect if you want to be taken seriously in society. But don’t confuse it with the systematic brutality and often murderous hostility which means that every morning you get up wondering if you and your children are going to make it through the day. That is different, it’s real. It’s not quite what we’re facing in Western society.

Secular media outlets approvingly picked up on William’s statement, and excerpts were published in the Huffington Post, The Telegraph, and The Guardian, amongst others.

Williams’ comments raise a perplexing question. To say that Christians in the U.S. and the U.K have been made to “feel uncomfortable” is a bit of understatement. In the U.S., Catholic institutions have closed their doors rather than comply with legislation that intrudes on their private affairs, and the numerous actions taken by the Obama administration are in no way respectful of religious freedom. Similarly, in the U.K. it was only a matter of weeks ago that lawyers from the Conservative Government were arguing that a woman had no right to wear a crucifix while at work.

However, William’s point is provocative in light of recent events. Due to recent unrest in the Middle East, many Christians, especially in Syria and Egypt, are daily living in fear of their lives. Last week, reports came in that Islamist protestors attacked Churches in Egypt with Molotov Cocktails, burned to multiple Churches, and murdered several priests.

Comparatively speaking, it seems Williams does have a point. Western Christians have much to be grateful for, and the tragic persecution of Christians in the Middle East cannot compare to the issues we face. Christians in the Middle East are dying for their beliefs, and this is something to which most Western Christians simply cannot relate.

The former Archbishop went on to say, “I think there’s also a general cultural habit of making light of religion which is reinforced by a lot of the press and by our entertainment. I don’t lose a lot of sleep over it.” If that were the end of the matter, his statement would be quite true. Unfortunately, it fails to adequately account for posture of governments against traditional Christian beliefs. The governments and secularists of the West have done far more than merely make light of religion. They have declared the religious worldview to either be flat wrong, or something that should be confined to the private life of individuals.

The official purging of religion from the public square is undoubtedly some form of persecution. The argument by Williams feeds into the narrative that since Christians are free in their private lives and safe from material or bodily harm then they have no reason to complain.

However, such an argument has strong materialistic underpinnings as it makes no reference to the wellbeing of the Soul. For the Christian, material deprivation and bodily harm should be the least of concerns. That fact itself is what makes the martyrs and those who have suffered persecution so noble, and without it, their suffering would be pointless. The act of enduring suffering because of one’s beliefs is to acknowledge that spiritual wellbeing is greater than the material. To say that we are not persecuted because we are stable materially is declare the opposite.

Lord Williams and others think it offensive to consider government restriction and derision to be persecution when people are dying. Perhaps he has a point. But what would be an even greater insult would be to say that unlike our persecuted brothers and sisters, we our indebted to the flesh, and that the material is greater than the spiritual. To say that society’s war on truth is not serious because we have not spilt blood is materialistic, and it is a slap in the face to all who have spilt their blood for recognizing they are indebted to the Spirit.

  1. Comment by Tim Vernon on August 21, 2013 at 7:30 pm

    Here’s a little bit of history for “Lord Williams”: Although it’s true that the Roman empire periodically persecuted Christians brutally, most of the years between Paul and Constantine were free from official persecution, meaning that, on a practical level, Christians were free to worship and evangelize without government interference. Put another way, pagan Rome with its multitude of religions was in some ways more tolerant than modern England, maybe because modern England assumes that no god exists, and the Romans were pretty sure that gods existed and that it was generally the wiser course to leave those gods’ worshippers in peace. In periods of persecution, Christians were often forced to give up (for burning) copies of the Scriptures, but those periods were rare. In modern America, heaven help the public school teacher who reads his Bible in view of the students.

    Williams is hardly the right person to discuss persecution. He lives a life of luxury and will die peacefully of old age, getting nowhere near to martyrdom. Don’t count on his successors having it so easy – unless they go the path of cultural conformity, as Williams did.

  2. Comment by Jacob on August 22, 2013 at 10:02 am

    What about the hundreds of millions of babies his leftist friends have murdered? That’s not “real persecution” either? (I hope Lord Williams’ friends don’t decide next that murdering me isn’t “real persecution” either..)

  3. Comment by Stephen on August 26, 2013 at 3:16 am

    None of those “babies” were Christian. You aren’t a Christian until you’re born and baptized.

    You, on the other hand, presumably are Christian. So murdering you because of your faith would indeed be anti-Christian persecution.

    But if you’re alive and reading this, how have you been persecuted? By not being allowed to impose your religion and your morality on other people? That’s not persecution. Being required to allow other people to live their own lives according to their own beliefs is basic civic respect, which something conservative Christians seem to know little about.

    A spoiled child throwing a tantrum because he’s no longer allowed to bully his entire playgroup has more credibility than most conservative Christians. At least the child is honest enough to admit that what he’s interested in is power, self-interest and domination…

  4. Comment by Carys Moseley on August 26, 2013 at 10:40 am

    Rowan Williams is wrong as so often again.
    What nobody says in these public non-debates is what does Jesus Himself teach about persecution?
    In the Sermon on the Mount, he says this:
    ‘Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you because of me’, saying that the prophets were persecuted in the same way.

    In other words, verbal insult, false allegations, slander and defamation are put by Jesus right up there alongside persecution.

    Later on in Matthew 10, Jesus warns the disciples that for their missionary work they will be hauled before local councils, brought before governors and kings, and arrested.

    ALL of these sorts of things have happened in Britain and other western countries in recent years.

    Let’s face it, persecution starts verbally and with persecutory thoughts, and only then carries on into violence. This is how all abuse and bullying start.

    How dare Rowan Williams, and indeed any other public figure representing the Christian churches, deny that this is persecution as Jesus Christ defined it. Who is their first and last authority in Christian moral reasoning, Jesus or someone else?

  5. Comment by Nicholas on August 26, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    As a Chrisitian and an Anglican (just about), I am finding the “support” of Lord Williams, and other senior Anglicans more of a hinderance than a help.

    While it is true Christians in this country are not under threat of physical murder, the agressive materialsim and anti-theism in this country is a daily challenge, and sometime the cause of much grief. As to the plight of of our brothers and sisters in the Middle East for example, Chrisitians here need to be able to speak on their behalf, and that requires us to be taken seriously.

    Perhaps we have had it a bit easy though, in the sense we (Christians) have been able to take our religious rights for granted through having an established Church. Now that establishment is weakening, we are having to learn to live more through belief and less through tradition : to be more God-sufficient. We are also having to learn resilience in the face of an anti-theistic onslaught, which is aided and abetted by the state, and often fuelled by ignorance and misconception about Christian beliefs. Provided we stand firm, we are not going to be wiped out as many secularists hope.

    We are persecuted, not by threat of physical harm, but by threat of spiritual death, as the pressure to conform to a politically correct view intensifies. Sadly, many will yield to this pressure. Of course, no atheist is going to persuade any true believer into disbelief. But such a view of Chrisitianity should strengthen a Christians determination not to give ground to secularist ideology. Not yielding to secularism is a victory in itself.

    In a recent conversation, somebody said something that I found helpful: God doesn’t call on us to be successful, He calls on us to be faithful. He will do the rest.

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