That Christians have persecuted each other and other for centuries is historic fact. However, that does not give any other group the right to persecute modern Christians…or any other group.
John
This should be qualified. Christians who persecute anybody are people who fail to live up to the profession of their faith. In other words, they’re not being very good Christians.
This is vastly different than, say, Muslims persecuting infidels, who in doing so live up to the example and teaching of their revered sage, Mohammed, who is the perfect Muslim.
Or of moral relativists, who, in persecuting anyone, may or may not be living up to their own personal moral code, depending on their individual moral rationale (such as might makes right, for example).
Or of political socialists, who, in persecuting those who are disobedient to the state programme, are living up to their expressed ideology.
In the provided examples, the religious, moral and ideological codes held endorse persecutions, and as such those who persecute those deserving of persecution (in their views) are acting properly. This is an entirely different situation than Christians persecuting other Christians, who, in doing so act contrarily, and therefore hypocritically, to their professed belief.
This is a distinct difference, and an important qualification to make, because those Christians who are not guilty of persecuting because they live up to their beliefs and creeds, and at the same time condemn persecution of Christians, are proper in making such a condemnation and should not receive the kind of rhetorical backlash that commentators on sites like Huffington Post dish out.
Moreover, the fact that such commentators actually appear to condone such persecutions actually demonstrates the premise of this post; that some ideologies, worldviews, religious positions, moral codes, etc. actually endorse various levels and kinds of persecutions against select groups.
So make the qualification. Yes, Christians have historically persecuted both non-Christians and Christians alike, but those that have done so, have done so contrary to their profession of Faith, and the Christian teachings on Faith and Morals. Thus, such instances of Christian oppressiveness cannot necessarily properly be compared to the persecutions rendered by other groups, and referencing such becomes something of a null point.
