Persecution
We
don’t truly know what the first sin was, but the first sin spoken of in the
Bible was the decision made by Eve to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and
Evil. From this point on, the Bible is filled with countless stories of sin
against God. As humans, our depravity grows stronger and more twisted than we
could possibly imagine. Multiple times it becomes so bad that God destroys
entire cities.
Discrimination is not new. It has become popular in modern times because we can look to our recent past. Unfortunately, we don’t learn from our past. People complain about American enslavement of Africans in the late 1800s and atrocities that Africans living in the United States faced before and after the Civil Rights movement. I understand the injustice that was American history. Those people did not deserve to be put through what they were. No one deserves that. But when are we going to stop repeating history?
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual, or group, by another individual or group. I would consider mistreatment an understatement. People being forced to work for nothing. Women raped and children murdered. Humans being sold like livestock. Even after being freed from slavery, being deprived of basic human rights and privileges. The inability to legally defend yourself because the mob finds you guilty because of who you are or what you loo like. This may sound like I am describing what was done to Africans in the United States, but this would describe any period of enslavement throughout history.
Many groups of people have endured slavery and torture at the hands of others. Of course, Africans are part of the list, but most people don’t think about who else might be included on that list. The Japanese, German, and Russian people would be included. The Irish would also be included on that list, and their period of enslavement was more brutal and lasted longer than African enslavement in the United States. We hear very little about it because we are too disconnected from it. For some reason, society only focuses on those that stand out. When you include genocides the list expands even more. The obvious addition is the Jewish people during World War II, but there has been genocide since before Christ walked the earth. There’s still genocide going on.
Of course, it is an atrocity regardless of who is conducting it, but Christians are supposed to be held to a higher moral standard. The German people were Christian. Their leader was raised Christian but was a self-proclaimed Atheist. How could Christian people be drawn into committing such acts? The same way Americans were drawn into committing similar acts against Africans. Yes, they were Christians too, but they were convinced that the people they were torturing weren’t actually human. Now, it’s as if we’re trying to make Muslims appear as less than human. Daily, I hear people demand we eradicate Islam.
All I can think to ask is why? Why would you do such things whether you consider someone human or not? The answer is simple. The anger is built over time. No one just came out and suggested publicly lynching Africans-Americans. People were tricked into having anger against African-Americans and they instilled that anger into their children. Eventually, we had a society of people violently angry against African-Americans.
As idiotic as this sounds, we are always looking for someone to blame for our problems. You lost your job, well it must be the illegal immigrant that came up from Mexico. This happens constantly. Typically, it’s very personal and we blame someone we know directly; however, if enough people go through a difficult time and someone suggests blaming a group of people that are made to be faceless this can have tragic consequences. Take the German people, for example. Germany was struggling after World War I. Their economy never recovered and the government was looking for someone to blame. A young Hitler came along and chose to blame the one group of people he despised most. He blamed them for the loss of his mother and wanted all people to hate them as much as him. He used the plight of the German people to turn them against the Jewish people.
Are we not seeing the same thing today? Most people I speak with are violently angry against Muslims. They’ve never personally been hurt physically, or emotionally, by Muslims, but they see the news and are filled with unnecessary anger toward Muslims. They get fed information that is less than factual and are left to build this illusion in their minds. It’s as if most news outlets would have you believe that all Muslims are out to kill all non-Muslims even at the cost of their own lives. This isn’t the case, but I hear many Christians claiming that we need to kill all Muslims.
We need to stop looking for people to blame. We need to stop using tragedies against nations as an excuse to kill and torture other people. No matter what has been done to us, it is not okay to hurt others. Using death as an excuse to kill only leaves us with more death. Stop repeating history and start helping each other instead of hurting each other. Christian or not, we need to treat each other better.
Discrimination is not new. It has become popular in modern times because we can look to our recent past. Unfortunately, we don’t learn from our past. People complain about American enslavement of Africans in the late 1800s and atrocities that Africans living in the United States faced before and after the Civil Rights movement. I understand the injustice that was American history. Those people did not deserve to be put through what they were. No one deserves that. But when are we going to stop repeating history?
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual, or group, by another individual or group. I would consider mistreatment an understatement. People being forced to work for nothing. Women raped and children murdered. Humans being sold like livestock. Even after being freed from slavery, being deprived of basic human rights and privileges. The inability to legally defend yourself because the mob finds you guilty because of who you are or what you loo like. This may sound like I am describing what was done to Africans in the United States, but this would describe any period of enslavement throughout history.
Many groups of people have endured slavery and torture at the hands of others. Of course, Africans are part of the list, but most people don’t think about who else might be included on that list. The Japanese, German, and Russian people would be included. The Irish would also be included on that list, and their period of enslavement was more brutal and lasted longer than African enslavement in the United States. We hear very little about it because we are too disconnected from it. For some reason, society only focuses on those that stand out. When you include genocides the list expands even more. The obvious addition is the Jewish people during World War II, but there has been genocide since before Christ walked the earth. There’s still genocide going on.
Of course, it is an atrocity regardless of who is conducting it, but Christians are supposed to be held to a higher moral standard. The German people were Christian. Their leader was raised Christian but was a self-proclaimed Atheist. How could Christian people be drawn into committing such acts? The same way Americans were drawn into committing similar acts against Africans. Yes, they were Christians too, but they were convinced that the people they were torturing weren’t actually human. Now, it’s as if we’re trying to make Muslims appear as less than human. Daily, I hear people demand we eradicate Islam.
All I can think to ask is why? Why would you do such things whether you consider someone human or not? The answer is simple. The anger is built over time. No one just came out and suggested publicly lynching Africans-Americans. People were tricked into having anger against African-Americans and they instilled that anger into their children. Eventually, we had a society of people violently angry against African-Americans.
As idiotic as this sounds, we are always looking for someone to blame for our problems. You lost your job, well it must be the illegal immigrant that came up from Mexico. This happens constantly. Typically, it’s very personal and we blame someone we know directly; however, if enough people go through a difficult time and someone suggests blaming a group of people that are made to be faceless this can have tragic consequences. Take the German people, for example. Germany was struggling after World War I. Their economy never recovered and the government was looking for someone to blame. A young Hitler came along and chose to blame the one group of people he despised most. He blamed them for the loss of his mother and wanted all people to hate them as much as him. He used the plight of the German people to turn them against the Jewish people.
Are we not seeing the same thing today? Most people I speak with are violently angry against Muslims. They’ve never personally been hurt physically, or emotionally, by Muslims, but they see the news and are filled with unnecessary anger toward Muslims. They get fed information that is less than factual and are left to build this illusion in their minds. It’s as if most news outlets would have you believe that all Muslims are out to kill all non-Muslims even at the cost of their own lives. This isn’t the case, but I hear many Christians claiming that we need to kill all Muslims.
We need to stop looking for people to blame. We need to stop using tragedies against nations as an excuse to kill and torture other people. No matter what has been done to us, it is not okay to hurt others. Using death as an excuse to kill only leaves us with more death. Stop repeating history and start helping each other instead of hurting each other. Christian or not, we need to treat each other better.
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