Perspectives on the Suffering, Global Church

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Modern American culture emphasizes rights, equality and freedom. In a shift from previous times, 21st century Western culture has brought with it a powerful ability to self-criticize for the sake of these hallmark American rights. Christianity, being the dominant religion in the West, has naturally faced the brunt of this internal scrutiny in almost all religious matters. For this reason, little attention has been shown to the global condition of the oppression of Christians. Our inward-focused culture’s scrutiny of Christianity on our own shores has blinded them to the atrocities being committed against Christians overseas.

In a recent article, “The War on Christians,” John L. Allen Jr. points out this same condition. After listing many examples of global violence against Christians, Allen draws attention to the normative negative worldview of Christianity, pointing out that “the global war… runs up against the outdated stereotype of Christianity as the oppressor rather than the oppressed.”

The reality is that Christians continue to be attacked all over the world and little to no attention is being brought to it. Instead of reports of this violence reaching our ears, we hear about how Christians are controversially contributing to whatever pop culture has thrown at the media for this month. Allen calls for an answer to why we are paying so little attention to this global war on Christians.

  • How does the current state of the public’s perception of Christianity play into your understanding of the Mission of God?
  • What can you do as a part of God’s mission to help the global condition of persecuted Christianity?
  • What should the response of the American church be?

Raymond Bradley, from Australia, is a seminary student at Columbia International University.