‘A well founded fear of persecution’
‘We never really realise what it is we have until it’s gone.’ No truer words were ever spoken. You could apply this to anything from a warm place to sleep at night to the freedom to think. The latter is what I want to talk about now.
In the paper today I found an article which shocked me….yet I’ve heard such news before. It was about a group of Christians living in the Punjab region of Pakistan who were recently warned by authorities not to call Jesus ‘the Son of God’. The reasoning behind such an order was that the claim offends Muslims. Not only can they not proclaim it from street corners but this order prohibits them from saying these words in their own homes or even in a Catholic Church. This means that Christians in the area can either deny their faith or live in fear of attack from extremist Muslims.
I’m not writing this to encourage islamaphobia. God know there’s already enough of that around. The reason I write this is to suggest that while we don’t appreciate our religious freedoms or take advantage of them we should. We shouldn’t take it for granted that we can attend Mass or simply discuss our beliefs with friends.
I was talking to someone yesterday who lived in Saudi Arabia and her memories of the place included hiding rosary beads under the matress and attending underground services. Not too long ago Pope Benedict sent a letter to the Catholics of China who are forced to live in hiding for their faith. The Church is struggling to encourage Christians to remain in the Holy Land after much of the same there. What strikes me is that all these people obviously value their faith enough to fight for it. How many of us would do the same?
As a side note it has been said many times that a true Christian will often be at odds with the society in which they live. From pro-lifers in North America to those in Poland fighting the EU ‘Treaty’ because it includes the rights of homosexuals such a statement could never be so valid. Remember that these are examples from ‘Christian’ countries. The point is that those true Christians who put their faith above their nationality or backround will often disagree with secular laws such as the EU ‘Treaty’.
In recent years traditionaly ‘Catholic’ or ‘Christian’ countries have worked tirelessly to seperate Church from state. The general assumption is that this is a healthy trend but in a democracy should the views and beliefs of the majority not be mirrored in the laws of the state? If an overwhelming majority claim to be Catholics then what’s wrong with the Church having a say? Coming from Ireland I can see where this can lead to abuses of power and the suppression of such freedoms as those mentioned above. But if this were to work according to plan I don’t really see a problem. Should I go into hiding?
Thursday, July 5th, 2007 and is filed under Love Thy Neighbour.
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