Vanishing Christians

For the past few millennia there has been a cycle of violence between Christian/Hebrews and Islam.  This, of course, was predicted in scripture (Genesis 16:12) and has come to pass.  We have come to the point in the cycle where once again a radical minority of this group has adopted the view that anyone not of their faith must either convert to it or die.  The fact that this violent minority is gaining strength is of great concern to Christians (and Hebrews).  But the world has changed.  These violent outbursts aimed at establishing secular states controlled by Islamic law have been seen by most of the non-religious governments of the world as being focused on regime change rather than violent evangelization of whole regions.

Perhaps it is because people of deep faith no longer occupy leadership positions in civil government or perhaps those that do are blinded by the political rather than the faith based issues facing places like Syria, Egypt and Nigeria.  For those of us who hear daily of Christians being murdered, churches being burned, and the general dismissal of the outcry by governments we can see that which is not obvious to those whose only ambition is political.  We see the battle raging between Christians and Islamists and wonder what to do.

At least in the case of the US government, there are a string of mistakes with regard to upsetting the delicate balance in the Middle East (if not on the African contentment as well).  Three glaring examples of missteps include the ouster of Saddam Husain in Iraq and support of those rebelling in Syria and the blind eye turned to Egypt as the Moslem Brotherhood assumed control.  In all three cases no one at the State Department asked the question; what happens to the minority Christian populations if we support a change to the status quo?  In hind sight, if they know or recognize what has happened they will not admit their mistakes.

Here is the dilemma we face.  Should we turn the other cheek and accept persecution as our lot?  Or should we do all in our power to resist?  It is the same question with any evil perpetrated by a person or organization.  Do we pray that the evil goes away or do we act?  There is the guidance from one of the great saints of our Church, Ignatius of Loyola, who famously said; “We must pray as if it were all up to God, but work as if it were all up to us.” 

The question we must ask is; How far does this exhortation extend and, morally, to what extent can one physically protect one’s self or another from physical violence?  Do we advocate sending military forces to protect populations, even though the dictatorial government is not a democracy or do we pray that the slaughter will end? One thing is certain, if we do nothing there will be no Christians left in places were Moslem extremists and Christian communities currently co-exist.   We pray for guidance on this point.

Pax