Religious Freedom

A REFLEXION ON THE CONVERSION OF PERSECUTOR: SAINT PAUL
Acts 22:3-16
If salvation came to us through the cross, then the latter becomes clearly a way through which the expiation of our sins, the cleansing of our stained mind and heart, is carried out before we are actually restored to our primeval image, that which God gave us at the creation of the universe, as narrated in the two first chapters of the Book of Genesis. In this context of the way of the cross, any moment of persecutions and tribulations is seen in the light of our faith to the crucified Christ, not as moments of disgrace but of grace.
The conversion of Paul is one of the amazing manifestations of God’s grace, forgiveness and power to empower what human eyes may judge as unworthy disgrace. It’s clear that Paul was out there on a specific mission: “to persecute the newly growing Christian Church by arresting and eventually killing its followers.” It’s exactly there that the Light of the Lord shone in his darkness. That’s where I remember the English saying that “every cloud has a silver lining.” Obviously bad situations may bear some glittering lights in them if at all we are able to sail beyond the large and “cast the net into the deep.”
The occasion of Paul, the converted persecutor, prompts me to rethink about the current Christian persecutions by other religions such as Islam (in several parts of the world, recently in Egypt) and Buddhism (in some parts of India), all of them brothers of ours, sharing the same gift of human life from the same God that we do call with different names as the late South-African Reggae Star Lucky Dube put it in his song “Jah live”: “Some call him Jah, some Allah, some God… but He cares for everyone…”
As the persecution of the Christian Church is reawakening, it appears to me that our reading and interpretation of the situation is widely biased and blinded by the “Americanized or the Westernized vision of Islam.” And this unilateral narrowed vision impedes us from grasping the situation in a more eclectic approach that would bring together history, faith, reason and our commitment and witness as Christians in the world. The Americanized/Westernized vision of Islam associates the latter with “terrorism”, a widely shared vision in the West. I am equally amazed that the counter position comes from the same America and through a lay leader in the person of President Barrack Obama whose moderate approach seems to balance this unilaterally minded vision (Cf. his positive statement when Muslims wanted to build a Mosque on Ground zero where the two Towers of the World Trade Center were blown off). His speech was very conciliating and urging the American people, and all of us by extension, to forego any form of “hate speech” and use in our language “the words that heal” instead of “words that wound” (Cf. his latest speech in Tucson/Arizona when he visited a recovering Gabrielle Giffords in her hospital bed after being shot in the head).
First of all, I want to state clearly that I’ve no intention whatsoever to provide any form of apology to terrorism. As a Christian believer, a priest, a free thinker and a student in Communication and Mass Media, I fundamentally subscribe for a peaceful world with religious, political, ideological and social tolerance. No one has the right to take people’s life as this pertains to God alone, the Creator of life. I simply find absurd and narrow minded this association of some Religions to “terrorism.” This is, to my humble opinion, a real easy short cut, a cheap way of pointing quickly a finger at someone else without looking deep inside on our own side. So I wonder as I ponder on the grace of Saint Paul, “the converted persecutor”, isn’t there any other way of reading history, using different lenses than the most popular current one viewing only the surface? Beyond the gruesome events of terrorism here and there, isn’t there any meaning that God is trying to communicate to us as Christians in the nightmare of modern liberalism and terrorism? If in the past, God did use pagan Kings like Nebuchadnezzar to make his glory be known by his chosen people Israel, what impedes Him today to use some other historical circumstances to make us re-question our own journey in the world as far as our Christian commitment or witness is concerned? My suggestion is therefore a wider and eclectic reading of the reality that brings us back to ourselves, inside our own home in order to see if we are not in some ways responsible for letting other alternatives thrive, looking better than our Christian faith; or giving an opportunity to others to express their emotional outburst at the extreme.
Are you responsible? “Yes, I am!” is my answer after a number of considerations that I would like to share in this short reflection. If you find yourself challenged, then let us look together for words that heal and restore peace with our different brothers in dialogue. If you hold a different opinion than mine, then let me know so that we may grow together in our reading of reality as it unfolds itself.
History taught me that somewhere along the line, crusades were organized around the 15th-17th Centuries to establish Christianity in the West and fight against all the infidels. I do not remember if that was called “terrorism”, maybe the word did not yet exist, or at least was not yet on the limelight like today. What do I think in my mind and feel in my heart when others are using methods I did use in the past to repress their freedom of religion? They probably felt the same way I feel right now. The fact that I was not physically there to witness the crusades does not alter my historical link to this dark past (Just as the West does with the story of slavery in Africa). Without ratifying the concept of “holy wars,” I simply wonder if this is not somehow part of the process of religious development in human history, taking in account the fact that a religion such as Islam for instance, takes its roots in the year 622 of our era, 7 centuries after Christianity. Such an argument would not apply for Buddhism or some other religions older than Christianity.
History taught me that from independence in 1960 until now, most if not all leaders of my country, D.R. Congo were and are Christians, even former students in Seminaries, as these were the best learning Institutions in our African countries during colonization and at the dawn of our independence. I did not hear any Muslim name in our governments, maybe one or two. All my presidents, from “Joseph” Kasa-vubu to “Joseph” Kabila, passing through “Joseph”-“Désiré” Mobutu and Laurent-“Désiré” Kabila, were and are all Christians, possess Christian names and go to different Christian services, especially on Sundays. The D.R. Congo population is Christian in majority (over 50 %)… Yet we can see the stark contrast! How much all these seeds, not necessarily fruits, of Christianity, except the first Joseph, have wrecked our very rich country with their drunkenness of power, greed and selfishness! Most leaders and people continue mixing both Christian faith and some occult and traditional practices, ranging from animist and fetishist rituals to stark devil worshipping where human blood is used.
History taught me that the West has become extremely democratic that it is terminally ailing from a thorough and stubborn amnesia of its Christian roots of development that brought it to the peak of its medieval and early modern glory. In the name of democracy and human freedom, the West has trampled down several values and removed all Christian symbols, namely the cross of Christ, from their schools so that children may have no reference to any form of religion. The West has forbidden prayers to avoid any form of discrimination and allow religious freedom in Christian schools; the other religions did not do that, they are still maintaining their non negotiable traditions in schools. In the name of the same democracy, the West has let children become stronger and fight their own parents, those from whom God gave them life, accusing them to the police and having them jailed for not fulfilling their rights; the other religions did not do that! While the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality, some Christian Churches tolerate the ordination of homosexual pastors and nurture paedophiles in the name of freedom as if the Word of God has changed for modern Christianity… and with no one protest, homosexuality has been simply cancelled from the list of psychological deviations to become a natural, free and fulfilling sexual orientation! This mentality is in the process of its exportation across the globe! Oh! Even our fellow non-rational creatures, our cows and goats, cocks and hens, domesticated in our animal husbandries know the difference between male and female; ask them, they also know the right and natural sexual orientation better than the so-called human animal!
History taught me that my people back home were practicing agriculture before we missionaries – I’m one of them – brought them salt and sweets, shirts and shoes and began dishing out money to serve their needs under the beautiful evangelical intention of “helping the poor”. We infantilized them instead of making them mature persons with the development of their hard working skills. And we still continue doing so, stripping them from any human self worth and dignity while we should rather empower them and raise them up from the ash heap by the products of their sweat, to be faithful to the God’s given mandate in the book of Genesis. From hard workers and tough survivors against natural disasters, we turned our people into lazy expectants settled in the disastrous belief that “they got nothing and their salvation has to come from elsewhere.” And in the world global context, “if you’ve got nothing, you are nothing!”
History taught me that not so long ago, a Christian Western president called “Gushing War Blades” (I’m still expecting the Ocampo sword to fall upon him! Unfortunately it won’t!). GWB stubbornly waged a war in some Middle-East country, home for thousand of Muslims, because their hung leader, Salaam Hell, was suspected to have weapons of mass destruction. Nothing of the kind was found but the so called “World saviors” are still present there and no peace is found yet. Wonder! No one raised a voice to term that “terrorism”! In my own country, D.R. Congo, 6.000.000 people have lost their lives, thousands of women raped, mutilated of their lips and body parts with devilish cruelty… and recently, one nun, the former General Superior of the Augustinian Sisters of Dungu was coldly riddled with bullets by the LRA rebels… Aren’t some of Christian Super powers behind all these gruesome sceneries… letting African puppet leaders serve faithfully their interests at the expenses of our beloved people, the very people of God… still nobody calls that “terrorism”!
Then I wonder if the term “terrorism” is only applicable when the killing is initiated by others, different from us? Does it have a discriminatory meaning depending on denominations and geographical situations; or does it have a universal meaning applicable to all similar situations around the world? Or is it used only when it’s linked with suicide bombers and saved for planes bombing and other weapon and missile strikes? Isn’t the fight against “terrorism”, within the so called “Axis of evil”, as referred to by the World Salvation Legion, another way of perpetuating this “terrorism” and justifying their exorbitant military expenses and their economic invasions of poor countries rich in petrol and minerals? Have we thoroughly investigated the reasons why this terrorism begun and still goes on? Is it the right method to deal with consequences while causes are neither solved nor even addressed?
I think, in my humble perspective, that there is a tremendous inconsistency between professed values and the real commitment to the witness of faith. Somewhere, deep down in their confused minds and hearts, our people are hoping for some better alternatives even though they are still hanging around with the known status quo already offered. Maybe that is why others find it relatively easy to fish in our Christian ponds.
My heartfelt acknowledgement goes to all great Christian leaders whose struggles and witness brought a palpable social impact felt beyond their geographical boundaries. I particularly think of Reverend Pastor Martin Luther King in the USA (Martyr of the fight against discrimination of the black people), Bishop Desmond Tutu in South-Africa (living icon of the fall of Apartheid), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (Blessed woman having given herself totally for the dignity of the poor), Bishop Oscar Romero in Peru (Martyr for the defense of the poor natives)… and all world Christian disciples who have dedicated or sacrificed their lives for the incarnation of the liberating message of Christ’s Gospel without bending low or keeping a compromising silence in the face of peoples’ oppression. Such witness is needed to reaffirm our faith in Christ within a world seemingly loosing the compass. We ought to follow such steady examples in our search for and restoration of human dignity in its divinely anthropological roots of “beings created in God’s image.” I do believe that if we’re walking towards such a witnessing direction “to become light and salt of the earth”, then persecution, part of the ongoing process of Christ’s cross in the fight between light and darkness, will have some sparkling light on “some new Paul’s” of our time, falling from their domineering horses and responding to some peculiar questions leading them to “some conversion”, not necessarily Christian but “Godly grounded.”
Fr. Nhessy, NKULU ILAND, imc.