If one were to look at the American Christian church, one would be hard-pressed to say that it is being persecuted. In fact, actual Christian persecution is something many in American churches are uncomfortable with acknowledging, let alone discussing.
I used to volunteer for an organization that advocated for persecuted Christians. Despite repeated attempts to book speaking engagements, churches usually ignored my outreach efforts. On the rare occasions that someone took me up on my offer, most of the people in the congregations looked bored or annoyed that my presentation was taking up their time and wanted to get back to vapid worship songs. Years ago, a fellow congregant in the church we attended at the time told me he was persecuted because he had to put up with "them Mormons." Well, "them Mormons" didn't kidnap his family, shoot him in the head, or burn down his house.
Previously on these pages, I have told the story of Sara Liu, a Chinese woman who was arrested in the middle of the night, tortured for a day (including having live wires shoved in her mouth), and sentenced to seven years in a labor camp where she made Christmas lights. Her crime was publishing an underground Christian magazine. I have also met a family whose father was a pastor in Iran, where the government arrested and murdered him.
There is story after story of Christians in other countries being kidnapped, raped, enslaved, burned alive, scalped, shot, crippled, mutilated and more because of their faith. I highly recommend Richard Wurmbrand's book "Tortured for Christ" if you want to read a firsthand account of what persecution looks like.
It is true that Americans do not experience persecution, especially compared to the rest of the world. But one survivor of persecution once remarked to me that the seeds of it are being sown in the West, including America.
Persecution, after all, has to start somewhere. It can start with closing churches down under the banner of COVID-19 while letting bars, strip clubs, and liquor stores remain open and allowing rioters to rampage in the streets. It can start with yet another lawsuit against a coach or teacher who crosses what someone determines to be the line between church and state. It can start by forcing a baker or florist to provide services for an activity that goes against their faith. It can start with someone objecting to "transing the kids." It can start by closing down faith-based crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion. It doesn't always start with churches being demolished and members being hauled off to prison.
David French is an interesting figure to me. We are both former evangelicals, albeit for different reasons. Whereas I quit the Left to become a conservative, he departed the Right to become progressive. In his latest essay in the New York Times, French takes aim at Christians in the U.S. who claim to be persecuted while engaging in the same practice against their opponents.
But when you’re pushed outside evangelicalism, the world starts to look very different. You see conservative Christians attacking the fundamental freedoms of their opponents. Red-state legislatures pass laws restricting the free speech of progressives and L.G.B.T.Q. Americans. Christian school board members attempt to restrict access to books in the name of their own moral norms. Other conservatives want to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, to bring legal recognition of same-sex marriages to an end.
He concludes with, "Christians who bemoan cultural hostility to their faith should be humbled by a sad reality. When it comes to inflicting pain on their political adversaries, conservative Christians often give worse than they get."
When it comes to the issue of "book banning" and "free speech," French ignores the fact that, by and large, most conservatives are past the point of worrying about what consenting adults do to one another. They are, however, rightfully concerned about the practice of sexualizing children, no matter the passionate language in which such things are couched. That agenda will do untold damage before the dust settles. For a personal testimony, I direct the reader's attention here. Will progressive evangelicals dare criticize the pain inflicted by this agenda, and how do they propose to ameliorate it?
Are we to ignore the fact that DEI and CRT initiatives have forced children to believe that they are either incapable of succeeding because of the color of their skin or, conversely, the perpetrators of the worst crimes in history because of the same reasons? What sort of person forces that kind of emotional baggage on a child?
If those who call themselves Christians have made death threats, that is inexcusable. However, the Left is quick to label any resistance to its various agendas, no matter how slight, as catastrophic. On more than one occasion, claims of racism and other offenses have proven false. Hyperbole is one of the most-used tools in the progressive kit. We've heard little, if anything, from the Left over the Nashville shootings or the threats made by trans people over social media. French, who has claimed to be pro-life, endorses Kamala Harris and a party for whom wholesale abortion is the most prominent plank in its platform. When shall he call his party to task?
Faith is dangerous.
When the action begins to get underway in "The Fellowship of the Ring" and Frodo, Pippin, and Sam are on their way out of the Shire, Frodo recalls one of his Uncle Bilbo's favorite comments:
It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door,” he used to say. “You step into the Road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to. Do you realize that this is the very path that goes through Mirkwood, and that if you let it, it might take you to the Lonely Mountain or even further and to worse places?
Faith, when properly exercised, will lead us to uncomfortable places. If we ask God to show us what we need to see and tell us what we need to know, we may not like the results. Faith is dangerous in that we may have to re-examine ourselves and our worldview in a fairly harsh light.
Walking in faith does not always result in affirmation and, more often than not, results in conviction. We prefer a faith that validates what we want to believe about the world. In the same vein, misplaced and misunderstood faith can lead to Mirkwood without us ever knowing we are in increasing danger. We can travel all sorts of perilous paths while claiming to walk with the lamp of faith.
Just as the Christians above are remiss in ignoring the reality of Christian persecution in other countries, French similarly misses the mark by ignoring the sins of the Left to decry the sins of the Right. If he considers himself a Christian thought leader, he must grapple with the issues that beset his friends with the same vehemence that he does those of his enemies. Ideally, a Christian should be in the uncomfortable place of examining every issue in the world and being troubled by them.
In their ardor to support their quasi-newfound party, progressive evangelicals have set aside the discernment that Christianity demands. While they are in good company with Christians of all stripes, they fail to recognize that they have joined the ranks of the world for a few pieces of silver or social credit. And they had better hope that Harris does not win this election, lest the Democrats realize that they have no further use for such people. Progressive evangelicals may pick whatever horse they wish. Whether that horse will bear them to the finish line is an entirely different matter.
