Our Perspective

My daughter sent me an article regarding the increasing EEOC complaints about religious freedom in the workplace (full article here). I never asked for Sunday off as a Christian because I never had to work every Sunday and I was also thankful that I had a job and there were places that I could worship after work hours if I chose to do so. I did have some Christian employees who would not work on Sunday due to their religious preference. I also had a number of Muslims who requested and received time during the day to say their daily prayers. Management stepped very carefully around religious freedom and any restriction of it. The article gives a few examples of some of the complaints.

On the other extreme National Review published an interview with John L. Allen, Jr. who has recently published a book entitled The Global War on Christians. The interview can be read here. Suffice it to say that the barbarity toward Christians is increasing globally and Americans in general know little about it. The daily murders of Christians in Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, and other countries that the United States supports through financial aid rarely make headlines in our news media.

Why don’t we American Christians rise up in anger about the atrocities committed against our fellow Christians? Even though the mainstream media make only passing references to this slaughter the information is still available. There are any number of web sites that specialize on the plight of Christians worldwide yet generally speaking, we do very little to curb it. I am probably a good example of the reason. I could work my way around some inconvenience, success on my job was paramount to the lifestyle I wanted, and in the United States, the type of religious persecution Christians face is the snide comment or the exclusion from affiliated secular events. Americans want to be liked by other people. It is a national trait and therefore becomes a soft whip to keep us in line. And of course the other reason is that as Christians we are supposed to behave, as Jesus Christ would want us to behave. If there is a silver lining to this increasing problem, history has proven that Christianity prospers under persecution. Remain in prayer for our country’s leaders to speak and act for persecuted Christians and for your brothers and sisters that are plagued by more than snide comments and exclusion.