The other day, my Christian neighbor and I had an “across the fence” discussion that turned to theology. When I mildly disagreed with him, he responded, “You are persecuting me!” and walked away. Just what constitutes “persecution for righteousness sake”? I think my neighbor is acting self-righteously.
When Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount about persecution, it is unlikely he was thinking about the minor disagreements, slights and insults we experience in America today. John the Baptist was beheaded, and Jesus was nailed to a cross “for righteousness sake.” Many in today's world face equally harsh persecution for their faith. Perhaps what constitutes real persecution is better illustrated than defined. Consider a few of the more serious reports of persecution of Baptists brothers and sisters reported to the Baptist World Alliance in 2007.
On Feb. 25, radical Muslims attacked a Baptist church in Bandung, Indonesia, destroying most of the church's property and its contents and seriously traumatizing 200 children in Sunday school — many of whom had to be hospitalized.
On Sept. 27, a Baptist church in Sudan was attacked by a suicide bomber in full army uniform. Six children were killed, and church leaders asserted the attack was to suppress the church.
On Oct. 7, Rami Ayyad, 29, a member of Gaza Baptist Church in Palestine and manager of the Gaza Bible Society Bookstore, was found murdered, leaving his pregnant wife, Pauline, and two young sons. The Bible Society building has been attacked on numerous occasions.
Consider our forebearers, as well. Early in American history, Christians faced serious persecution. The Virginia Baptist Historical Society owns the rusty iron lock and key from the Culpeper jail where more than a dozen Virginia Baptist ministers and laypeople were imprisoned for their faith between 1769 and 1774.
In 1771, Virginia Baptist John Waller was jerked off the preaching platform, had his head beaten against the ground and then received 20 lashes with a horsewhip. David Burrow and Edward Mintz were nearly drowned by an angry mob that interrupted their preaching to “baptize” them. And Baptist preacher Elijah Brown was kidnapped and placed aboard a ship with the instructions that he was to be gotten rid of.
So, perhaps we do an injustice to our forebearers in the faith and those Christians in more than 40 nations today who face imprisonment, violent persecution and even death by casually using the word “persecution” to describe the minor slights and insults we face.
Alan Stanford, General Secretary
North American Baptist Fellowship
Director of Mission Advancement
Baptist World Alliance, Falls Church
Right or Wrong? is sponsored by the T.B. Maston Chair of Christian Ethics at Hardin-Simmons University's Logsdon School of Theology. Contributors include Baptists in Virginia, Texas and other states. Send your questions about how to apply your faith to btillman@hsutx.edu.