Every day has its list of holidays — and most of them are pretty silly. For example, today, Oct. 27, is National Black Cat Day, Cranky Co-workers Day, and National Mother-in-Law Day. It’s also a Filipino holiday called the MassKara Festival as well as National American Beer Day.
More importantly, it’s International Religious Freedom Day. President Bill Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act on this day 26 years ago, but today is also the anniversary of some stirring acts and some heartbreaking acts that relate to religious freedom.
“On this day in AD 312, Constantine the Great had his vision of the Cross while on a march to battle, which led to his conversion to Christianity and, eventually, the Edict of Milan, which legalized Christianity in the empire,” John Stonestreet explained on the Breakpoint podcast last week. “It was also on this day, in 1553, Michael Servetus was burned at the stake outside of Geneva for heresy. And, on October 27, 2018, a gunman opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing eleven and injuring six.”
Yet we live in a time when religious freedom is under attack more than ever. Over the past decade, Yazidis, Rohingya Muslims, and Uyghur Muslims have been under attack. China has cracked down on religious people who dare go against the Communist Party. A missionary friend of mine dealt with serious, trumped-up criminal charges that militant Hindus filed against him because he dares to preach the Gospel. Let’s not forget the rise of ugly antisemitism following Hamas’ attack on Israel a year ago this month.
“More than 365 million (one in seven) Christians face high levels of persecution for their faith – and persecution is becoming dangerously violent in countries on the World Watch List,” according to Open Doors USA. “Attacks on churches and Christian properties sky-rocketed in 2023, as more Christians than ever recorded faced violent attacks.”
Related: Scottish Leftists Disparage a Rising Political Star Because of Her Christian Faith
When we hear about persecution, we think of Christians in places like Nigeria, North Korea, or China, but religious freedom is under attack in the West as well. Christian business owners like Jack Phillips are constantly under attack for not bowing to the whims of culture against the timeless truth of Christianity. In the UK, faithful believers face prosecution for praying silently near abortion clinics — and could face penalties for praying against abortion at home — while abortion activists have vandalized over 300 churches in the U.S. since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The outcome of the 2024 election could determine how much more pressure people of faith will be under in the U.S. My friend and colleague Catherine Salgado wrote last week about how Kamala Harris believes that abortion rights should supersede religious liberty protection. During the 2020 campaign, someone (I don’t remember who) referred to Harris as the candidate most hostile to religion in history. I believe that if she wins the election, she will constantly sacrifice our constitutionally protected rights for unconstitutional woke initiatives.
How can we remember our delicate freedoms and think of the persecution of others on a day like today?
“In an era where this freedom is being eroded globally, American believers are in a unique position to argue for religious freedom and to support believers in places where it is most in jeopardy,” Stonestreet said. “A great way to celebrate this freedom is to tell someone why it is so important. And take a minute to pray for the persecuted, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.”
Let’s keep standing up for our religious liberty and pray for those who don’t have the blessings of freedom that we have. If our faith is important to us, let’s use it!
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