NeoZine

It’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in most education systems today, but largely unpublished: teachers risk censure and losing their jobs if they mention their faith.

But only Christian teachers are censured, losing jobs, and afraid to share their faith, not atheists and other faiths. Yet the U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits censorship or restrictions on religious freedoms.

Recent events in Northeast Ohio brought home the escalation of Christian persecution in our country. A mere phone call–even placed anonymously–can be enough to throw city or school officials into an anti-Christian tizzy. (Read about it here.)

But does harassment in this country really merit the title persecution? Considering the real persecution endured by the New Testament Church or Chinese Christians–or other countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, and India–it seems almost ludicrous to call our trials “persecution.”

Frankly, when Christians cry “persecution” in the U.S.A. we look like whiners. Research on the Web, and numerous instances will appear. When Christians are not being imprisoned or killed here, how can we say we are “persecuted” in any significant manner? Are we merely guilty of demanding our entitlements? Do we sound like the typical spoiled American who considers privileges to be axiomatic?

Marginalized Christianity

On the other hand, let us not be naive: the marginalizing of Christians and their voice is in full-swing in this country. Our freedoms as Christians are shrinking. Examples are plentiful, particularly on high school and college campuses.

At Southeast Louisiana University, a Christian speaker was denied the right to hand out tracts, display banners, and share the gospel in an area reserved for outside speakers. The police claimed he needed a permit. However, other outside speakers were allowed to speak and hand out literature with out a permit.¹

In Philadelphia, a school district denied Child Evangelism Fellowship access to a flier distribution program. In this program, organizations are permitted to send fliers home with children from school. While other organizations were permitted this right, Child Evangelism Fellowship was not permitted to participate due to the religious nature of the literature and “separation of church and state.”²

Christian students are also censored, even though other special-interest groups are not:

“Ryan Dozier, for instance, is a student at Yuba College in Marysville, California. He is also a Christian who has a strong desire to share the love of Christ with his fellow students. One day, earlier this year, this outspoken young man arrived on campus for class and began sharing his faith with others in a common area. Ryan held a sign that read, “Repent and Believe the Gospel” on one side and “Peace With God Only In Jesus Christ” on the other. He stood in one spot, handed tracts to people who passed by, and if anyone stopped to talk, Ryan calmly answered their questions and told them about the love of Christ.

A campus police officer was one of those who stopped to chat with Ryan, but he was not interested in hearing about the Gospel. The officer told Ryan he needed a permit for such activity. He explained that Ryan would be arrested and face expulsion if he continued. Ryan learned that the college policy only allowed “free speech” on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 12 and 1 p.m. – and then only with permission obtained at least two weeks in advance.

Less than three weeks after his conversation with that campus police officer, Ryan received a certified letter from the college accusing him of assembling without a permit and violating school policy. The letter informed Ryan that his activity was the subject of a district police department crime report and that further violation would incur more discipline, including expulsion from college.”³

Sun Prairie Area School District in Madison, Wisconsin charges Christian organizations and churches a fee to use their facilities while allowing all other groups free access.⁴

A fifth grade student in Handley School District in Saginaw, Michigan was not allowed to attach a religious message to one of his school projects.⁵

At Shippensburg University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the student organization Christian Fellowship was stripped of its rights and privileges because “it required members to honor a statement of faith and because it selected its leaders according to its interpretation of Biblical teaching.”⁶

Universities are now instituting “speech codes” which define what kind of speech is permitted on campus. These speech codes identify anything that is “annoying to others” as harassment and an abuse of free speech. Students can be dismissed from a university merely because they are “annoying.” Christian students are now being charged with violating these codes.

Persecution is not limited to public schools and universities. City governments across the country are denying free speech and the freedom to assemble to many Christian groups, according to the Alliance Defense Fund. Often these Christians are threatened with arrest, and frequently they are arrested.

It is particularly disturbing that much of this persecution is occurring within the education system where children’s minds and opinions are shaped. It makes perfect sense that enemies of Christ would concentrate here. To capture the minds of developing children while marginalizing Christians with arrest and other threats, whole generations of kids may grow alienated from Jesus Christ.

The Christian Response

How should Christians respond?  To get intimidated by the persecution and say little about the Gospel Message is hardly an option for a thriving Christian faith. But lashing-out in anger is far more discrediting.

The worse response is to demand our rights. Christian temper tantrums, whining, and foot-stamping only increases the alienation.

But we can use our constitutional rights to get our message out, and this is a redemptive outcome. Our attitude should be, “Bring it on! I can’t wait to tell you about Christ!”

Jesus, Peter, John, Paul, and others were not interested in changing the laws of their particular empire. Their interest was in getting the good news of Christ delivered to the lost of their culture. Their goal was to see the hearts of the individuals changed. This is what Paul said.

“And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5 (NASB)

Paul did invoke his Roman citizenship credentials when called before Festus after he was arrested in Jerusalem for inciting a riot. (He was not the one to incite the riot, but was arrested anyway.) But his goal was to remain alive along enough to present the Gospel to more and more people. He did not set it as his goal to change the existing laws. He knew the power of the Holy Spirit would actually use his persecutions and the persecution of other believers as a way to get the message out.

This has big implications for Christians in the workplace:

1. When denied our rights, use the constitution for the purpose of getting the Gospel out.
2. When denied our rights, speak out by telling them what the message is.
3. We should not expend our energy on political solutions.

When school officials accused teachers or prevent them from speaking freely, use our constitutional rights to explain the Christian faith. If police get involved, we should engage them by telling them, “Here’s the message we are telling people. Here’s what God has done for those of us in our church. Here is how Jesus saved us.”

But Christians should never respond in anger to those who oppose. Rather, by telling the truth, sharing the gospel, and taking what comes with grace, we can experience the joy of persecution that Jesus found:

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose…

In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you…

…Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.

If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler; but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.

…Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.
1 Peter 4:1-19 (NASB)

Footnotes:

1. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4739 [↩]
2. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4718 [↩]
3. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/issues/religiousfreedom/default.aspx?cid=4707 [↩]
4. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4674 [↩]
5. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4642 [↩]
6. http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/pressrelease.aspx?cid=4720 [↩]

---

Related posts:

1. Spontaneous Power