In a recent article for the Christian Post, Chelsen Vicari points out a group of people who are often the object of gross injustice and even more often overlooked–Christians. Reading that sentence might make you cringe, because even if you agree with it, you know that most people don’t. There’s an unspoken rule in the world of social injustice: don’t make much of suffering Christians. But the reality is, people all over the world are the object of egregious hate crimes and violence because they are Christians.
Vicari pointed this out in light of the recent #BringBackOurGirls social media outcry over Boko Haram kidnapping almost 300 Nigerian school girls. “And so the problem,” Vicari points out, “is not that young evangelicals focus heavily on injustices like human trafficking. The problem is that too many only focus on issues like human trafficking, because they are deemed politically correct.”
Simply put, everyone is willing to fight against human slavery and sex trafficking (both of which are feared to be possible for the girls kidnapped by Boko Haram). Doing so will even make you look good. But to go to bat for marginalized or mistreated Christians… well that’s just not too trendy. In the words of Vicari, “Unfortunately, young evangelicals (and the broader world) did not take notice of this tragedy because the girls were Christians, but because their captors intend to sell them into human trafficking. Something is very wrong with this ‘social justice’ scenario.”
Here is an extended excerpt from her article:
Among Millennials, the term “persecution” is a dirty word when applied to Christians. Society continues to paint Christians as “clamoring and crying” over nothing when we decry discrimination targeted our way.
Let’s face it, if media outlets were calling the Boko Haram travesty what it is, a matter of severe Christian persecution by Islamists terrorists, then many of us Millennial would shy away from voicing our outcry, all for fear of being called Islamophobic. Why do I suspect this? Because kidnapping Christian girls is not the first attack by Boko Haram. Far from it. Yet the evangelical world has remained largely silent.
Hanging on her office wall, Faith McDonnell, the Institute on Religion and Democracy’s Director of Religious Liberty programs, has a calendar documenting all of Boko Haram’s attacks on Nigerian Christians during 2012. It was put together by the Nigeria Working Group Washington, Justice for Jos+ Project, and Jubilee Campaign. To list just a few of a myriad of Christian-targeted assaults, the calendar included:
- January 20, 2012 -Boko Haram attacked and killed more than 200, including Christians
- March 11, 2012 -a Boko Haram suicide bomber attacked a Catholic Church, killing 13
- July 7-9, 2012 – 50 Christians were killed, 187 homes were burned and 200 families were displaced. Boko Haram took responsibility.
This is what injustice looks like.
Millennial evangelicals have big hearts. We know that social justice is an important facet of Christianity. So why are we ignoring the voices of our brothers and sisters in Christ who are being harassed, kidnapped, arrested, beaten, beheaded, and burned alive for their faith?
Read Chelsen Vicari’s entire article here.
