Global Overview
This article is a reprint from the International Day of Prayer (IDOP) web site. http://www.idop.org/index.html
religious liberty as world trends. As space does not permit an exhaustive study,
only the most strategic or critical cases are discussed here.
Virtually all nations where Christians are persecuted
can be likened to one of the situations described.
OPENNESS AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY TODAY
Religious liberty enables underground churches to surface to be agents of blessing in their communities and agents of Kingdom-growth beyond. Ideological and political resistance to religious liberty is Satan's bulwark against the growth of the Kingdom of God and the primary cause of persecution of the Church.
In dictatorial religious and political systems, repression – the rejection of liberty – is the linchpin of power. Religious and political dictators strip away their subjects' universal, fundamental human rights to secure their empire. These dictators and their ideologies systematically reject religious liberty to protect themselves from critical analysis and from losing adherents.
Those who reject liberty repress openness to remove choices. But these days information is increasingly difficult to suppress. Once there is any degree of openness, people demand liberty to formulate their own opinions and determine their responses based on the information at hand.
The whole world is now moving towards openness.Globalisation and advances in technology, especially information and communication technologies – Internet, radio, satellite and mobile phone – are making this transition to openness unavoidable. Resistance against this trend is causing persecution to escalate.
Many peoples and nations are now seeing openness and liberty as essential to modernisation, global engagement and prosperity. In some nations there is a willing population but a resistant leadership, while in other nations there is a willing leadership but resistant elements in the population.
The global trend towards openness is being fiercely resisted by those it threatens:the power-hungry political dictators who rule over virtually-failed states, and the power-hungry religious dictators whose ideologies cannot survive critical analysis or the presence of alternatives in a free society. The rapid opening up of the world through information and communication technology has triggered a fierce earthly and spiritual battle that may climax in the coming decades.
These are critical years for the Church to be alert and praying for the nations and for the persecuted Church. It must be really serious about its responsibility to be an agent of blessing to the world.
In Bhutan (Buddhist majority)an enlightened leadership, keen to bring progress, prosperity, openness and liberty to the people, has introduced a new and positive constitution to this formerly isolated Buddhist Kingdom. The king is devolving his powers from absolute monarch to Head of State in a constitutional democracy. Buddhist nationalists will doubtless resist the changes, and the nation's leaders will need great conviction, strength and wisdom. This transition will not be without a struggle.
In Nepal (Hindu majority), a population hungry for peace, openness, equality and liberty has deposed a repressive dictatorial king and turned this Hindu kingdom into a free state. Displeased Hindu nationalists in both Nepal and India are seeking to incite religious unrest and the rise of Hindu political parties. The Nepalese and their new government will not have a smooth road to peace, justice, equality, openness and religious liberty. This transition will not be without a struggle.
In Morocco (Muslim majority)a courageous, liberal-minded leadership is moving the nation towards openness and equality. Religious security and rights have improved, if not religious liberty as such. Islamists however are resistant, viewing the reforms as un-Islamic. The transition will of necessity be slow and not without a struggle.
In India (Hindu majority)the present federal government supports openness and upholds religious liberty as a fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed human right. Conversely, Hindu nationalists are highly resistant and aggressively opposed as they use religion for their own personal and political gain. In Indian states ruled by Hindu nationalists, Hindu militants severely persecute Christians with impunity. Hindu nationalists are working to effect large-scale political conversions with the aim of making significant gains at – if not winning – the 2009 federal elections. If the Hindu nationalists are returned to federal power, India will regress into a Hindu state. Religious openness and liberty are at great risk and could be undermined or even shattered by the schemes of Hindu nationalist forces. India is in the midst of a critical struggle.
In the free Western world (formerly 'Christendom')historic fought-for, believed-in freedoms are being undermined by both religious and anti-religious hostile forces. Those seeking to exploit or remove Western freedoms for their own seditious ends find little resistance from a society that is busy willingly demolishing the foundations of liberal society. With the foundations being demolished, the roots of our institutions of liberty have nothing to grasp. The seditious underminers then simply blow the liberties away. Openness and religious freedom are more under threat in Western society than most Westerners care to believe – not because hostile forces can steal these rights, but because the West is largely surrendering them.
In China (ruled by the Chinese Communist Party)increasingly large elements of the population are educated, exposed to the outside world, and demanding more openness and liberty. Meanwhile those in authority are struggling to balance economic, social, religious and political elements so that the power of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) remains secure while the economy advances. The CCP feels threatened by growing agitation for reform. The Maoists are now a minority. Even significant former Maoists are calling for openness and liberty for prosperity's sake. The CCP controls social forces and trends by repressing intellectual, political and religious openness and liberty. A great struggle is under way and Communist repression is greatly at risk!
In Iran (Shia' Muslim majority)university students and women are increasingly risking their lives to call for reforms in equality, openness and liberty. Their courageous protests are crushed with brute force by armed Revolutionary Guards and Islamic militias. Despair is causing suicide and substance abuse to sky-rocket. Glorious Persian culture, rich in creative arts and intellectual pursuits, has been suppressed by a suffocating and brutal Islam since the 1979 Islamic revolution. A struggle for openness and liberty is just emerging. It is a David versus Goliath struggle, which is fine when God is in it.
In North Korea ('Stalinist' Juche State)the very notions of openness and liberty have been beaten and brainwashed out of existence. But after more than half a century of isolation there are cracks appearing in the fortifications through which the outside world can be glimpsed. The greatest difficulty is the tough human skin created by 50 years of lies and propaganda. But God created man for relationship with him and with a longing for spiritual truth. A struggle for openness and liberty is inevitable.
As the nations of the worldopen up, willingly or unwillingly, the issue at the heart of so much agitation and conflict is religious liberty: that people should have the right to choose Christ, and then to worship, study the Bible, pray with other believers and serve the Lord through mission and ministry according to their gifts and calling. Jesus calls, 'Come and freely receive.' The Church stands at the front line of this earthly and spiritual battle for liberty.
Christians should get into the habit of watching or reading the news with their minds questioning, 'How does this affect the Church,' and with their hearts praying, 'Lord, how does this make you feel?' This will help us understand the times (Luke 12:54-56) so that our prayers can be intelligent, strategic and valuable. There is nothing worse than the Church not showing up for spiritual battle simply because it doesn't know where the front line is!
