Religious Hatred
I’ve been to a meeting today to hear about the proposed new law on Religious Hatred, listening to my local MP, and to a barrister form the Lawyers Christian Fellowship. I am not sure what I think about this bill, but most others there seemed to be ‘Christians’ who were dead set against it because they thought it would be used - or abused - to stop us from preaching the gospel or stating we believe that Jesus is the only way to God, or being critical of other religions.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I suspect that this is an ill-thought through piece of legislation and that there are actually enough laws on the statute books to prevent the kind of things the government says it wants to stop. I also know that the big virtue of the liberal society we are meant to live in is ‘tolerance’ and that that actually seems to mean, at times, tolerance of everything except biblical Christianity! I know that. But is it just me but do some Christians seems to have permanent persecution complex, to the point of paranoia? I heard constant scare stories of how this legislation might be used and once again the doom-mongers were in full flow, with the whole of society going to the dogs and the Christians were asleep and not letting their voices be heard. Well there were some voices I heard there which I certainly hope are not heard!! I’m not asleep; I just want to choose my battles carefully. And I’m not afraid to speak up, I just want to be sure of what I am saying and not just jump on the most recent Christian bandwagon. It’s not enough to raise your voice; you’ve got to think about what it’s actually saying.
Now I may well come out against the bill (though I suspect it will get through) and I believe we should resist the attempts to use the courts and the mis-use of the concept of tolerance to silence Christians. But do Christians always have to be against everything?! Do we always have to be the doom-mongers? Do we always have to be negative, painting the worst possible scenarios? Isaiah said, ‘Do not fear what they fear and do not call conspiracy what they call conspiracy.’ I once heard a preacher say that we should focus on being seed sowers not weed pullers. Amen!
September 16th, 2005 @ 11:27 pm
I agree, why worry about such things so much? It is good to be aware of these things but we should remember that the Kingdom of God will prosper no matter what laws may be passed. Whether they are used to try and stop Christians preaching the gospel doesn’t matter because God reigns and His Kingdom is far greater than any human government.
September 17th, 2005 @ 6:45 pm
I’m with you on that, Dan.
September 18th, 2005 @ 5:43 pm
According to the Christian info that I have read on this bill I have found two very different camps. The first say that it will hinder all of our evangelism because we can’t say ‘Jesus is the way’ and that it puts all the power into the hands of groups such as ‘muslims’, ‘homosexuals’ and any other group who would be offended by the Christian gospel.
The other camp (which, through reading the bill I tend to lean towards) are those who say that it won’t make a difference at all. Its not as if we are going to stand up in church on Sunday and encourage our people to kill or attack all the muslims, hindus etc. in our towns and cities.
Joe…
September 21st, 2005 @ 10:10 am
Likewise I believe that this bill should not worry us: the Kingdom of God will win on a level playing field and when the odds are stacked against it.
It does raise again the question of what kind of a state is most favourable to the gospel? I think a good impirical case can be made to say the more state persecution the more effective the gospel, though obviously the less comfortable the life of believers. The church in China increased 100 fold under Mao!
September 21st, 2005 @ 2:36 pm
A couple of months ago a friend lent me the CDs of Brother Andrew speaking at this years Spring Harvest, his topic was persecution and the church. He mentioned about how strong and thriving the Christian church is in Russia and that a lot of that was due to the persecution it suffered under the communist regime – he even went as far as saying “Thank God for communism!”.
The basic message I got from the 4 hours worth of talks was that persecution makes the church stronger – the more persecution there is, the more Christians need each other and are forced to work together. It almost has a purifying effect on the church as they become more reliant on God for the rights that we take for granted. As much as I enjoy and appreciate a comfortable environment in which to practice my faith I wonder how long it will last in this present climate – but change wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
September 21st, 2005 @ 10:34 pm
Whilst I agree that the Kingdom will flourish under persecution, I’m not ready to welcome it with open arms just yet!
We certainly shouldn’t worry that God’s plan will be hindered, and I personally think this bill is a storm in a teacup too. But that doesn’t mean we should just disengage and wait for the persecution to roll in (we haven’t become pre-millennialists have we?!). As Trevor says, it’s not that we don’t fight: we choose our battles. Not that we don’t speak up, but that we make sure we are informed first.
There is still a place and a need for the valiant souls like Justin Martyr who are not afraid to stand up for the Christian way against a hostile ruling power, and better them with their own arguments.