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Verse:We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed —always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. —2 Corinthians 4:8–10
Discrimination is a word easily pronounced but an experience very difficult to endure. It can simply mean your being left out or unwanted, making it evident that your absence is more desirable than your presence. In some cases, it may be that your death is preferred over your life. Whatever the case, discrimination always destroys human dignity. The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) is a secular organization originally founded on April 8, 1972, in Frankfurt, Germany, as the Society for Human Rights (Gesellschaft für Menschenrechte). Nine years later, in 1981, it reached international status,11 and now some areas of focus include freedom of religion and freedom of press issues.12 In 2009, the ISHR estimated that 80 percent of all acts of religious discrimination in the world are against Christians. A quite low estimate indicates that twenty Christians are being killed for their faith each day. Massimo Introvigne, the founder of the Center for Studies on New Religions, pointed out that whereas atheistic communist regimes were the greatest persecutors of Christians in the twentieth century, Islamic ultrafundamentalists have taken their place in the twenty-first century.
An anonymous Iraqi Christian revealed, “The attacks on Christians continue, and the world remains totally silent. It’s as if we’ve been swallowed up by the night.” John L. Allen Jr., the author of The Global War on Christians (published in 2016), regards the global persecution of churchgoers as “the unreported catastrophe of our time.” After reading such reports, our tendency is to hate and discriminate against the discriminators and persecutors. But discrimination cannot overcome discrimination, for it increases the evil; only love can overcome it. Even so, we should pray for all those who are suffering for their faith around the world and do our best to suppress discrimination in all its forms, starting with ourselves. Love all, and do not consider others less human because they do not profess the same faith.