Are Western Christians Facing Persecution? Let’s Be Careful How We Use That Word

Plenty of ink has been spilled over the decay of cultural Christianity and the possibility of Christian persecution in Australia.

Christianity is still rated at 52 percent of the population, whether nominal or active. Christians can worship openly here. You may receive ridicule for your views, but you can still publish an open letter in a national newspaper and no one wants your head.

But undeniably, there is a growing undercurrent of hostility toward Christians. In isolated cases, some religious educators in schools have been discouraged from telling children to evangelise. We’ve seen “Crucify No Voters” spray-painted on churches. There are also claims that Australia could join the World Watch List one day, though bizarrely with no data to back this up.

In countries like Australia and the US, there is an increasing emphasis on this persecution mentality. Everything from The Handmaid’s Tale to a lack of prayer room in a hospital have been framed as symptoms of persecution.

But while we need to be vigilant to ensure our freedoms, it’s so important to keep perspective.

Disagreement isn’t persecution

Issues like same-sex marriage, transgenderism, euthanasia and abortion tend to pit Christians against much of culture. For many Christians, it’s a shock to the system to be consistently on the losing side of a debate. But we can’t conflate disagreement with persecution.

As Rachel Held Evans said,

… public opinion has shifted on same-sex marriage (particularly within the Church), and this means [conservative Christians] are more likely to encounter pushback when they insist same-sex marriage ought to be illegal. Facebook friends may argue with them. Comedians may satirize them. Bloggers may write posts like these disagreeing with them. But to conflate such disagreement with the sort of persecution Jesus warned his disciples about is not only myopic, but also a slap in the face to those Christians who face very real persecution around the world.

When we see disagreement as fundamental opposition, we end up withdrawing and only seeing our point of view. This is fatal.

Though it’s difficult, it’s a moment to think about the words of Paul, who said to do nothing out of vain ambition, but to look to the interests of others (Philippans 2).

Being held accountable isn’t persecution.

Heartbreaking stories emerged during the plebiscite about how Christians have harmed people in the LGBTIQ community. Many have been driven from the church and faced spiritual abuse.

The response? Instead of compassion, many Christians claimed that LGBTIQ people were attacking traditional values. It seemed like we were so concerned about our own values that we didn’t care to hear anyone else’s.

As Rachel Held Evans said,

What the persecution complex suggests is that conservative Christians only care about bullying, oppression, and discrimination when it happens to them.

We need humility to see where we’ve been wrong. When we jump to be offended when we discover Christians can sin like everyone else, it’s self-defeating.

We can easily romanticise persecution.

Persecution has a strong link to the Christian identity.

Any youth kid worth their salt in the 90s would know about Jesus Freaks, the DC Talk song and a book about Christian martyrs – both of which encouraged kids to embrace their outsider status.

The Columbine massacre lionised teenagers who gave their lives for their faith, even if some of the facts around this martyrdom were off. More recently, films like God’s Not Dead and Left Behind riff on this similar vein of persecution as a noble fight.

How much is this background playing into our response? I have to wonder. It concerns me when any micro-aggression is seen through this persecution lens. We end up with a bunker mentality, trying to defend ourselves against “them”. A “them” that still needs us to tell them the gospel.

It’s right to call out discrimination and anti-Christian sentiment. It matters, and it’s happening. But we can’t reduce persecution to a hysterical, reactionary response. We can’t afford to.

We are no longer the “referee” of society.

Persecution is also not the same as having your dominant position decline. John Dickson said in a recent interview,

When many Christians speak [in a public forum], they sound like you’re meant to listen to them because they are the referee.

Christians may once have been the conscience of society, the “referees of the game”. Both church and society reinforced this. But times have changed, and most of our country doesn’t see the church that way anymore. Christians are now players in the game, equal to everyone else.

As the old saying goes,

When you’re used to privilege, equality feels like oppression.

Christians have enjoyed a place of honour for a long time. It’s little wonder, then, that many people see the fuss around persecution as baffling. Even offensive.

Do we have a right and responsibility to speak out? Sure. But it’s not through demanding control of debates or scolding non-Christians for not living in a Christian way. As John Dickson says, we can’t think of Australia as a “backsliding Christian that we need to call back”. Most Australians won’t have been Christians to begin with.

Why does it matter?

Recognising true discrimination will be important, because persecution can and will happen.

But we need to approach this wisely and with nuance. Remember the old tale of “the boy who cried wolf”. If we continually cry “persecution” because our influence is less potent in a pluralistic society, we’re unlikely to be heard when we really need to be.

And that’s what’s terrifying to me. As one writer put it,

Too much is at stake for evangelicals to waste our resources and credibility on frivolous and occasionally self-provoked “injustices.” Imagined offenses drummed up by sensationalists and fear-mongers should be exposed and denied. At times, even legitimate offenses should be overlooked, when they are petty. By focusing attention on real and substantial incidences of persecution, evangelicals will be much more effective at educating their neighbors and fighting for truly important matters of religious liberty.

We are in an enviable position in Australia in many ways. In some countries, Christians can be killed or sent to a labour camp for their faith. Missionaries in places like North Korea, Afghanistan and Pakistan often can’t even be identified due to security concerns.

We don’t know what the future will bring in Australia. This is why it’s even more important to learn discernment now.

We’ll need to learn how to overlook offences where appropriate; respond where appropriate; and step back where appropriate. We need to pursue a healthy theology of suffering and persecution, resisting “us” vs “them” thinking.

We also need to cultivate a healthy self-awareness. With this, we can focus on our ability to engage, understand and speak up with grace. If we don’t, I’m afraid “we don’t deserve a hearing – and [won’t] get one”.