The Blood of the Faithful
Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash
Christians in the U.S. are not persecuted. Perhaps someday we will be, but we aren’t today. It is true that large segments of the culture regard us with antipathy, perhaps even hostility. At times this hostility expresses itself through acts of vandalism and violence, such as the recent attacks on Roman Catholic statues. Yet we are still free to go to church. We are still free to express our faith in public. Martyrdom within our own borders is exceedingly unlikely.
Many Christians around the world, however, face persecution as a daily reality. A 2017 Roman Catholic report on Christian persecution puts the matter starkly: “In terms of the numbers of people involved, the gravity of the crimes committed and their impact, it is clear that the persecution of Christians is today worse than at any time in history. Not only are Christians more persecuted than any other faith group, but ever-increasing numbers are experiencing the very worst forms of persecution” (emphasis original). A joint report from World Relief and Open Doors USA reports that around 260 million Christians face high levels of persecution. The sources of persecution are diverse. They include, but are not limited to, Islamist militias, communist governments, and Hindu nationalists. The persecution of Christians in both China and Nigeria has recently increased in intensity. (China’s religious persecution is not limited to Christians. Recent video footage shows Chinese Muslim Uighurs, blindfolded and with shaved heads, being loaded into trains.)
Open Doors USA lists 25 nations with the greatest levels of Christian persecution as follows:
North Korea
Afghanistan
Somalia
Libya
Pakistan
Eritrea
Sudan
Yemen
Iran
India
Syria
Nigeria
Saudi Arabia
Maldives
Iraq
Egypt
Algeria
Uzbekistan
Myanmar
Laos
Vietnam
Turkmenistan
China
Mauritania
Central African Republic
Numbers 1-11 are classified as engaging in “extreme persecution,” while 12-25 are classified as “very high.”
What is the U.S. doing about Christian persecution?
The United States has long been an advocate for religious freedom, both within and outside of its borders. Since 1998 the United States has appointed an Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom. The current Ambassador is Sam Brownback. The Trump administration’s record of helping persecuted religious minorities, and Christians in particular, is in some ways commendable and in other ways problematic. You can read a Vatican statement describing the administration’s efforts here. According to the World Relief and Open Doors report,
Historically – at least at our noblest moments – the U.S. has stood as a beacon of safety and freedom for those persecuted for their faith, including many persecuted Christians. The current administration has recently made unprecedented levels of assistance available to religious minorities worldwide. In addition, a new category established in the fiscal year 2020 refugee resettlement program prioritizes religious minorities to be resettled to the United States.
We do, then, have some good news with regard to assistance for persecuted Christians.
In the past, however, we have taken a two-pronged approach: advocating for religious freedom abroad and receiving considerable numbers of refugees within our borders. Recently this has changed. The number refugees admitted into the United States has decreased markedly every year for the last three years. As the Pew Research Forum reported in 2019, the U.S. plans to receive only 18,000 refugees in fiscal year 2020, “the lowest number of refugees resettled by the U.S. in a single year since 1980, when Congress created the nation’s refugee resettlement program.”
According to the same report, the Trump administration set the refugee ceiling in fiscal 2018 (Oct. 1, 2017, to Sept. 30, 2018) at 45,000, down from 53,700 the previous year. In fiscal 2019 the ceiling was 30,000. Now with a ceiling of 18,000, the situation for refugees who wish to enter the U.S.--including persecuted Christians--is ever more difficult.
A Washington Post article from July 10, 2020, highlights specifically the plight of Christians in consequence of these policies: “So far in 2020, fewer than 950 Christians have been resettled from the 50 countries where discrimination against Christians is particularly acute. If the pace continues, the report [by World Relief and Open Doors USA] said, this year’s level will be almost 90 percent below the 18,000 Christian refugees admitted five years ago.” The article continues, “For people fleeing some countries, the decline has been even more precipitous. In the first six months of 2020, 336 Christians from Myanmar were allowed to come, down from more than 11,000 settled in 2015. Only 43 Iraqi Christians were settled in the first half of the year, compared with 1,500 in 2015 and 2,000 in 2016.”
In summary, under President Trump the U.S. has continued its work of promoting religious freedom globally, but has severely curtailed the number of persecuted Christians we allow to find refuge within our borders. Christians are not specifically targeted by the new refugee policies, but they are affected by them.
Citizens, brothers and sisters, a new humanity
For the U.S. to return to a more welcoming refugee policy would help not only Christians around the world, but Christians here as well. It would help Christians around the world by providing the persecuted church greater opportunity for safe haven in a country that values religious freedom. Christians in the U.S. would benefit by receiving into our communities those who have truly suffered for the faith and risked everything for the sake of Christ. Perhaps we might begin to understand more fully what Bonhoeffer called “the cost of discipleship.” Perhaps we would become more appreciative of the great privilege of free public worship.
Christians in the U.S. would also benefit from a more open refugee policy because it is ultimately to our benefit to do what is righteous. Injustice toward people of any religion is wrong, but Christians are particularly beholden to one another. To the extent that we don’t see this, it is because we have become content with underdeveloped sacramentology and ecclesiology. In other words, we lack clarity on (a) what it means to be a baptized Christian, and, correlatively, (b) what it means to be the church. By our baptism, we enter into communion with other baptized Christians through the ages and across the globe. We become fellow citizens of the kingdom of God. To think in this way, however, is not normally our first instinct as American Christians. We are much better at thinking as Americans than as Christians. We most often know what our nation state requires. We’re not always clear what is required by our citizenship in God’s kingdom.
Indeed, dual citizenship is a biblical way of understanding our relationship to Christians around the world. One often hears that the U.S. is a “Christian nation,” but that claim, were it ever true, is today exceedingly difficult to justify. There is, however, a true Christian nation: the church catholic. It knows no geographical boundaries, was established before time, and will exist after the mighty nation states of our day have fallen. It will exist after their successors have fallen and until Christ returns. The Christian nation ultimately serves one Lord, our sovereign King who sits eternally upon the throne and is worshipped forever by the heavenly host. Its citizens live in the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Kenya, China, Australia, Chile, Israel, Iran, and almost any other place you can point to on the globe. The skin color of our citizens is of every hue. Our languages are innumerable. We are, as 1 Peter says, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people” (2:9).
The Revelation to John offers us a vision of what this nation might look like in its fullness:
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:9-10).
That is our nation, our homeland, as constituted by God. Our pledge of allegiance is the Apostles’ Creed—the baptismal creed itself. We have one King, and every other allegiance must give way before him.
Even more compelling than the concept of dual citizenship, however, is the concept of family. Familial metaphors are used throughout the New Testament to describe the Christian community. In Mark 2:34 Jesus describes those who do the will of God as his brothers, sisters, and mother. Paul commonly addresses his readers with the Greek term adelphoi, which literally means “brothers.” In Greek, however, as in many other languages, one uses the masculine form to address a group of both men and women. Thus the NRSV’s translation of adelphoi as “brothers and sisters” is not formally equivalent, but it is accurate in meaning. We are brothers and sisters, with God as our Father. Christ is clear that this kinship supersedes even blood relationships (Matt 10:34-39). God has established it by adopting us through Christ into the divine household. We read in Romans 8:14-17:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
In Ephesians, Paul takes things even a step further, describing the church as “one new humanity” (2:15). God has broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile and brought into being something new and wonderful through the church. This is not just ecclesiology. It is theological anthropology.
We are citizens of God’s kingdom. We are brothers and sisters through Christ. We are one new humanity. The plight of persecuted Christians is our plight as well.
What can we do?
It is likely that Christian persecution will be with us until Christ returns. There are steps we can take, however, to help persecuted Christians:
Pray for the persecuted church. Hebrews 5:7 teaches us, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Likewise, the one who is able to save our brothers and sisters from death will hear our loud cries and tears because of our reverent submission. I encourage all to commit to daily prayer for the persecuted faithful.
Spread the word and shed light on the problem. We have the opportunity today to share information more quickly and broadly than at any other point in history. Share articles and posts that describe the plight of persecuted Christians today.
Give to agencies combating Christian persecution. You might start with Open Doors USA.
Encourage your denominational officials to address global Christian persecution. We can do more through our organizational structures than we can by ourselves.
Let government officials know that you vote, and refugees and global religious freedom are important to you.
The American church must wake up. Our complacency is costly. Our actions, or lack thereof, will have life-and-death consequences for our family of faith around the world.
Dr. David F. Watson serves as Academic Dean and Professor of New Testament at United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. He is also Lead Editor for Firebrand.