15th January 2010
Persecution Coming in the UK?
Mark Hanson
Last year in Egypt two Christians were arrested. Their “crime” was never stated, but their arrest came shortly after they had lodged complaints with the police saying that they had been assaulted. Although they were the victims, they were treated as the perpetrators because they professed Christianity. Make no mistake, such stories and worse are common throughout much of today's world. Christians are severely persecuted.
Such could not happen in the UK, it would be pleasant to think. Like an ice-cream milkshake on a hot summer's day, British laws and democracy are comfortable and re-assuring. Yet the illusion that Britain is a safe, Christian country must be shattered before the reality becomes worse.
The illusion is strong. When the coalition forces invaded Iraq, there was a dramatic and tragic increase in attacks on Iraqi Christians. The Christian Iraqis, it was reasoned, were natural collaborators with the “Christian” invaders.
Even the British people are caught in this maze of religious identity. Although the number of people who describe themselves as Christian has declined to only half the population, according to figures obtained by the 2008 British Social Attitudes survey, the number of “whole life devotion” Christians is many times smaller. The majority go to Church once in a while and have a “fuzzy” concept of who they believe God is.
The laws that are being passed, both in the UK and on a European level, are greatly undermining the Christian traditions upon which modern Britain has been built. Last month a couple were cleared of using “threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated” after being charged concerning an altercation with a Muslim guest at their hotel, and although cleared, further, similar cases can be expected to take place. The arrest was an effect of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006, which has also seen a civil servant charged with racial hatred after implying that the Israeli government and military were predominately Jewish, albeit in an offensive manner. Such events would once have been seen as offensive and due a rightful rebuttal by one's peers, yet now it is a matter for the criminal justice system.
There are two equally worrying trends in British law and society that, working in tandem, are threatening to plunge the UK into a situation where “whole-life devotion Christianity” will be scape-goated.
The erosion of civil liberties and the democratic safeguards that Britain enjoyed has seen the unaccountable body of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) keep central databases on “domestic extremists”, the unprovoked violence against protesters at the G20 summit, and the growth of the world's largest surveillance network in the UK. Perhaps it is worth noting that in March 2009 a group of protesters from Christian Aid were filmed and had their details recorded by the police when they went to E.On's head office to demonstrate against pollution.
At the same time, there has been a societal change whereby Christian morals and views are increasingly being regarded as offensive. Christians are hard-pressed to take a stand on issues such as homosexuality and the perceived error of the Islamic faith, for example. If they do take a stand, they may not only face social exclusion, but could lose their jobs and even be hauled before a court.
The reality of persecution is rife in many parts of the world, and it is worthwhile to look at some of the parallels that can be drawn between places and times that persecution has occurred and the current situation in the UK.
Often persecution comes as a result of a deep insecurity. The Depression in Germany gave rise to financial concerns that outweigh what we have today, and people's livelihoods and very existence were seen as being under threat. The result was to blame the Jews and socially inept, and the horrific murder of millions unfolded.
Persecution comes when it is found that one, or a few, groups of people can be singled out as the “one's to blame”. The murders in Orissa province in India during 2007 came when the Hindu extremists could point to the “cow issue”. Christians eat cows, we love cows, we hate Christians. To return to Nazi Germany again, the Jews were easy targets, as it was a simple task to agitate the long held sub-politics of anti-Semitism.
It is rather surprising to find that there is a long standing anti-Christian feeling in the UK. The illusion of a united Christian kingdom is strong, yet even as William Wilberforce converted, there was derision in Parliament, and he gave serious consideration to leaving politics because “Christianity and high society do not mix”. Even many who nowadays would call themselves “Christian” would quickly add, “but not the nutty sort.” When Gordon Brown referred to his beliefs he was careful not to mention God or Christianity, but instead said his “Presbyterian conscience,” hoping that wasn't too well-known a reference.
In the UK, Christians are an easy target: it is they who have been running the country; it is they who keep telling us what to do; it is they who adhere to loathsome beliefs. And, of course, they are weird. Whether these assertions are true or not does not matter. Persecution is not based on a rational proof, but the irrational emotive declarations of damaged people.
As the State increases its control over what is acceptable and what is not, in areas where traditionally the State kept quiet, and as society moves inexorably towards intolerance of Christian beliefs, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that the persecution of Christians shall take a real and horrible grip on the UK.
