Why don't Christians care?
John Hinderaker reviews the story of a recent massacre of 500 Christians in Nigeria, and asks a question that I have asked many times on this blog: Why don't Christians care?Do you remember the "massacre" at Jenin? Of course: Palestinians initially claimed that 500 had been killed, but it turned out that there was no massacre after all. In Nigeria, on the other hand, no one disputes that more than 500 Christians were slaughtered by Muslims. So where is the outrage? I don't know what denomination those Nigerian Christians were, but Lutherans are the most numerous Christian denomination in Africa. I'm a Lutheran, but I have never heard a single word from any church source, local or national, about the mass murder of African Christians. No one seems to care.The answer to John's question is quite simple when you add in one more fact: No one cares when Muslims kill Muslims either (see Sudan).
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Why? I can't explain it. Maybe "mainstream" Christianity is dead, except as an appendage of secular liberal opinion. Maybe, as the world's largest religion, Christianity has become so diffused that New World Christians don't much relate to their co-religionists in Africa and Asia. I don't know. What I do know is that it is much more dangerous to publish a cartoon of Mohammed than to slice apart a Christian with a machete.
So when do people care? In Jenin, people cared because the allegation was that Jews were killing Muslims. That will excite the entire world (even if - as in Jenin - it was untrue). And my guess is that people would care if Jews killed Christians, or if Christians killed Muslims, but that has not happened in my memory. But no one is interested in Muslims killing Christians or Muslims killing Muslims. To care would be branded 'Islamophobia.'
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 8:43 PM
5 Comments:
I am a Christian living in the USA and I do not beleive for a minute that Christians don't care about incidents around the world where Christians are attacked and killed. This massacre has been reported in Christian and non-Christian media. Aid and support requires contacts in the affected region (these usually are denominational). There is no doubt that churches across America are trying to discover who best to contact and how they can help. Support in Christiandom is most often generated during Sunday church services and we have yet to have a Sunday after this story broke. I will be shocked to the core if I don't hear prayers for the Chrsitians of Nigeria and an opportunity to contribute in church Sunday.
some of us realy do care.
Heyitsba,
I hope that what happened in Nigeria comes up in your church on Sunday. I really do. And while they're at it, I hope they'll discuss the fact that Christians are being driven out of every country in the Middle East so quickly that in 20 years there won't be any Christians left in the Middle East. Except in Israel. Provided that some Christian denominations stop attacking us long enough to let us save the Christian communities here.
If you think I'm exaggerating, go run a Google search on what has happened to Christians in Gaza. If you're not familiar with it, you'll be shocked.
Thud,
I'm sure you do care, but does your leadership?
I don't know what denomination you are, but I have to tell you that every time I hear the Pope call for a 'Palestinian state' all I can say is "what the hell is he thinking?" Take a look at what's happened to the Christian population of Bethlehem in the last 16 years. Take a look at what happened in the Church of the Nativity in 2002. Why are so many Christians silent about it? Why?
I long ago left the mainline churches, Carl, because of this very thing. What distresses me is the outlay of funds used to build mall-churches with food courts and rec centers, with only cursory mention of our suffering brothers and sisters. Thank you for calling us on it. It is like those very liberal Jews who do everything to care about the suffering Palestinians, but will turn a blind eye to the massacres of their fellow Jews.
What is it with the liberal Jews and Christians that make them do such suicidal things.
Jau Jau,
Because your liberals, like ours, have replaced Christianity (in our case Judaism) with Liberalism. They have literally turned Liberal politics into a religion.
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