CREEDE HINSHAW: Religious persecution is not about one-upmanship

“What about the recent slaughter of Christians? Did the media cover their plight?”

This is what it’s come down to these days. When I mentioned to a friend my sadness over the recent slaughter of Muslims in New Zealand, I expected him to commiserate with me. Instead he implied by his question that the press doesn’t cover Christian martyrdom like it does Muslim martyrdom.

I asked him what situation he was referencing, but he couldn’t remember. He vaguely remembered that some Christians somewhere were massacred, their story presumably unreported. Trying to be helpful, I suggested maybe it was in Egypt, where the Copts are routinely harassed and murdered because of their faith. But that didn’t ring a bell for him. Nevertheless, he was convinced a slaughter occurred somewhere that wasn’t covered. I wasn’t sure how he knew about it.

When I returned home, I looked on my search engine to see if I could discover any stories that fit the parameters he mentioned. I found many tragic stories of Christian persecution and martyrdom over the last few years, but none took place in the last few weeks or months. If they did, I overlooked it.

There is a deep mistrust on the part of some Christians about how or whether Christian news is reported. When it comes to perceived persecution or prejudice toward Christians, many of these same persons believe there is antipathy in the mainstream press toward reporting it. By contrast, they believe the woes of other minority faiths are often highlighted and over-reported.

I wrote last week about the daily, grinding persecution endured by Muslims in this country. Now, having listened to my friend, I suspect last week’s column confirmed the narrative of those who feel persecuted, often without notice, for practicing their faith – even here in deeply traditional, conservative south Georgia. Even though Christians are in an overwhelming majority in this nation, the sense of being ostracized remains a key component of the faith of a sizable population of Christians.

Without denying that Christians certainly face their share of headwinds, I hasten to add that indignities and insults are borne by all religious people in this country. We children of God are equal opportunity offenders when it comes to slamming somebody else’s faith.

Yes, Christians in the U.S. (and around the world) still receive their share of grief. But so do people of every faith in almost every nation, and most at one time or another have denigrated somebody else’s faith. Equally sad, if not bizarre, is when we play the one-upmanship game of “My experience of persecution, rejection and marginalization is far greater than yours.”

Slamming the faith of another person and/or ignoring the hurt inflicted on the other is simply wrong. Instead of crying “My hurt is greater than your hurt” we ought to be caring for each other and weeping when each other weeps. As we stand together through our mutual sorrow, recognizing that when one person is shunned for his or her faith, every person of faith is diminished, this country becomes a safe place for all faiths.

Email Creede Hinshaw at [email protected].