Robert Hancock Speech: Persecution

Robert Hancock
Mr. Logsdon
AP English
13 December 2015

"Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also."
-John 15:20

In the West we take a lot of things for granted, chiefly our right to the practice of Religion unhindered. For many in the world this is not the reality. Persecution due to Religion is not a new concept and certainly not one that will go away any time soon.  But one group has it particularly bad. Christians. Christians across the world are violently oppressed simply for praying to the wrong God, or any God at all for that matter. As of now Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, every 5 minutes a Christian is murdered for their faith, and it is estimated 100,000 every year. I fear many in West are unaware of this horrendous violation of human rights and I seek to rectify this. The only way for things to get better is to first acknowledge that the problem exists in the first place. The word needs to get out, a voice needs to be given to those whom are forbidden to speak. We as fellow human beings need to protest this violation of human rights before it is to late.

The Middle East is a hot bed of issues and violence, much of which Christians are forced to take the brunt of. The Christians of the Middle East are among the oldest of the faith, and they are a dwindling people. The recent mass murder of Christians at the hands of Islamic militants has finally brought some desperately needed light on the horrors inflicted by Islam on Christians. The recent up sweep in Muslim Jihadist activities has hit the Christendom hard and the populations of Christians in the Middle East have dwindled to next to nothing. In Syria the Christian population has decreased by nearly two thirds since the outbreak of the civil war, dropping form nearly 1.1 million to just 250,000. In Iraq Christians made up 8% of the population in 1987, as of now they make up nearly 0.8% of the population while still being Iraq's second largest religion outside of Islam. Crucifixion and beheading of Christians is common place in the Middle East and many live in fear of their own neighbors. The future for Christianity in the Middle East is bleak and it is very possible for the faith to go extinct in the region if the West doesn't step in to aid the Middle Eastern Christians. The terror that Islam brings to Christians is not only contained in the Middle East. In India and Pakistan, those who convert from Islam to Christianity are treated with and incredible amount of hostility and are threatened with violence from their own families. In the Philippines, Catholics are threatened by Islamic violence from neighboring Muslim nations and Muslims who have been reassigned to the Christian areas by population redistribution programs. The threat of death for many who convert to Christianity from Islam is ever prevalent due to the tenants of Islam that promotes death if one is to ever leave the faith.  

The persecution of Christians extends past that of the clutches of Islam and can be found in many other worldly religions. In India there has been a recent string of violent aggression towards Christians by the Hindu nationals. These nationals seek to keep India an all Hindu nation and attacks on Indian Christians are unfortunatley common. The nature of Hinduism prevents any societal mobility, locking in many to their predestined caste. This rigorous hierarchy has made life for Christians exceptionally difficult as many of the converts are from lower casts (such as the untouchables and the Shudra caste). Because of their lower status they are subject to great persecution. Those who convert from the Hindu faith face the worst of the violence and risk severe beatings or death by Hindu radicals. The violence committed by the Hindu radicals have extended to the raping of Nuns and the murder of preachers/pastors to the destruction of churches and burning of bibles. Many who convert risk being run out of their own villages threatened with violence and even death should they return. The most vile part about this rampant violence is that the Indian government turn a blind eye to the violence often claiming that the violence is on the decline or that it never even exist in the first place. 

Despite religious extremists making up the majority of Christian persecutors, many in Eastern Asia see persecution come in the form of State regulated oppression. The Communist regimes of many East Asian nations are largely secular and oppose any and all religions that put a deities authority over that of the State. In China the church has been forced underground in the form of house churches. The State of China forces Christians to register and worship under the tight scrutiny of the State, and must attend Churches registered by the Government and are forbidden from publicly speaking about their faith. Those who practice their faith in unregistered "House Churches" risk being thrown into China's infamous labor camps never to be heard from again.
Just to the East of China, the North Korean government caries out the worst systematic oppression of Christians in the world. North Korea is by far the worst place for Christians to be. The North Korean "Government" is fiercely secular and will not hesitate to execute any found with a Bible or whom identifies as Christian. The North Korean government forces the populace to worship the leader of North Korea in a pseudo "Religion". His word is law and any challenge to his authority is met with deadly oppression. Similarly States in the Indochina region such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia threaten Christians with imprisonment, torture, and executions. Persecution of Christians by secular states is not limited to Asia. The persecution of believers by Communist and secular militants in South America are all to common. In Columbia the Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia- People's Army (FARC-EP) is responsible for numerous attacks on the local Roman Catholic and Evangelical Christians. The FARC-EP prohibits any mass or congregation from meeting without their permission. The militant group is responsible for many assassinations of Evangelical pastors. The group is responsible for 220,000 deaths since their insurrection, while the Colombian Government is attempting to make peace with the group, the religious groups of the region are greatly unrepresented and suffer in silence as their communities and churches are ripped apart by the violent Secular group. 

Christians all across the world are faced with persecution that we here in the West could never imagine. We will never know what it is like to fear for your life simply because you committed your life to Jesus Christ. We are free to worship and discuss our faith with no fear of violent repercussion, a luxury that many are not afforded. The risk that these men and women undertake everyday is a true testament to their faith and their deaths should not be forgotten. We pride our selves here in America of our defense of liberty, but yet we turn a blind eye to those that need their liberties defended the most. Christian persecution is not something we can ignore, it is the biggest breach of human rights in this day and age. The only way to combat these atrocities is to raise the public awareness, we as people need to take a stand and we need to tell the world that we will not stand by as our fellow man is treated as less than human due to ideological differences. Whether you are a believer or not, we as humans can not stand by and allow this violation of fundamental human rights to continue. We have to take a stand and show the world this ugly, ugly truth.

Works Cited

Marshall, Paul A., Lela Gilbert, and Nina Shea. Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2013. Print.

Kuruvilla, Carol. "Christians In India Continue To Live In Fear, Despite Modi's Promises Of Equality." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, May-June 2015. Web. 01 July 2015.


Carvalho, Nirmala. "INDIA Vandals Attack Baptist Church, Damage Cross, in Bhiwani - Asia News." INDIA Vandals Attack Baptist Church, Damage Cross, in Bhiwani - Asia News. N.p., May-June 2015. Web. 01 July 2015.


Life Center Church. "Interview of a Pakistani Man Persecuted for His Faith in Jesus Christ." YouTube. YouTube, 6 Nov. 2012. Web. 01 July 2015.


Love Costs Everything. Dir. M.D. Neely. Christ in Youth, 2012.