Thursday, June 23, 2011

Legalized Persecution

Last Friday, the U.N. Human Rights Council passed its first-ever resolution on the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered persons, the supporters of the resolution giving credit to the Obama administration’s push for gay rights at home and abroad.

Upon reading about the “gay rights” ruling, I wondered if the U. N. had ever endorsed a similar resolution to protect the rights of persecuted Christians. To my surprise, the U.N. has actually done the opposite. In 2009, they passed the Defamation of Religions Resolution which sanctions punishment of anyone who blasphemes or criticizes a country’s national religion. Many times in the last year, I have read stories of Christian converts in Muslim countries who were killed for committing blasphemy against Islam—simply by virtue of their confession of faith in Christ alone.

Even after the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime, still more than half of Iraq’s Christian population has been forced to flee their homes due to violence against Christians. And in Afghanistan, where Islam is the only recognized religion, Christian converts are still being killed by family members, who by law, must defend the family’s reputation against blasphemy by one of its members. Jesus spoke of a time when “brother will betray his brother to death, a father will betray his own child, and children will rebel against their parents and cause them to be killed.” (Mark 13:12). Fratricide and patricide now appear to be under the legal protection of the U.N.

No comments:

Post a Comment