Christians Hunted & Murdered in Egypt

Relatives of Christians killed near Luxor, where Muslim mobs invaded Christian homes and set them alight while besieging other Christians in their homes.

This sort of thing, sadly, happens rather regularly in certain parts of the world, though rarely do we in the West hear about it. This time, perhaps due to all the coverage already in Egypt regarding the ousting of it's former Muslim Brotherhood elected President, even The New York Times reported the violence that extremist Muslims perpetuate against their peaceable Christian neighbors.

According to Times reporter Sarah Mousa,

Since Mr. Morsi’s ouster on July 3, the activists say, a priest has been shot dead in the street, Islamists have painted black X’s on Christian shops to mark them for arson and angry mobs have attacked churches and besieged Christians in their homes. Four Christians were reported slaughtered with knives and machetes in one village last week.

You can read the whole report here.

That this kind of violent persecution happens everyday in various places around the world is something I would hope concerns everybody, not just other Christians. In the West, we view Christianity as the metanarrative---something to rage against and be incredulous toward. But these Christians in Egypt and elsewhere are the marginalized minority. We should be as concerned for them as we are for any marginalized and oppressed people groups.

Photo source: International Business Times

Was a Bible Study Recently Persecuted in San Diego?

You've already heard most of this. The evening began as a simple Bible Study hosted by a local pastor. As cars lined the street a guest managed to scratch a neighbor's car which led to someone complaining to the police. After realizing a religious meeting was in progress the police actually told the pastor that the Bible study was in violation of county law.

The pastor happily paid for the damage done to the neighbor's car. Meanwhile, the internet and local media outlets were quickly filled with stories about the persecuted church in San Diego - and the thought that your church could be next. (Cue scary music.)

As usual, the news outlets were a little slow to finish off the story. The CAO of the San Diego police issued a statement that included the following:

...I want to say in the most direct terms:
the county has never tried to stifle religious expression and never will... ...I deeply regret that a routine code enforcement issue has transformed into a debate over religious freedom in San Diego county. No one respects the right to free religious expression more than I do and no one would find the infringement of such rights more abhorrent.

Something went wrong in San Diego that night - but we are not facing a persecution in the United States in this way. Unfortunately, some Christian bloggers were too quick to jump to the wrong conclusion. Blogs like this one tell us that the persecution against Christianity found in other countries has come to America. This one claims that Obama is responsible and that the President has an agenda to stop Christianity. It's no secret that I didn't vote for President Obama but I certainly wouldn't discuss him so foolishly even though I disagree with him.

This is persecution - pray this is as close as we get to it.

Far from being government persecution, the letter from the San Diego Police Department (which you can read in its entirety here) actually encourages the Bible study to continue meeting while all parties involved work to reach a solution.

Instead of living in a fantasy world where the apocalypse is upon us let us thank God for the religious freedom we have and exercise that freedom by working in our churches and our communities to be the light of the world.

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