I woke up this morning angry which is a rare but not entirely surprising occurrence for me on Sunday mornings. My history with the Church as an institution is complex and dark. Through no fault of my current congregation, I sometimes awaken with the old bitterness towards the Local Church poking through. I have to work through forgiveness again in order to face Sunday mornings from inside the walls of a church, and to not allow the bitterness to root itself into me.
This morning, I was particularly perturbed by some conversations I’ve had with pastors over the years who have belittled and attacked me for my religious beliefs. Although I can recall two instances in which a non-Christian persecuted me for my faith, the bulk of my experiences with religious persecution have come from fellow siblings. I woke up this morning reliving some of these conversations, wishing I had replaced my grace and patience in the moment with quippy one liners and insults that would have done more damage. I felt (and, I suppose, feel) it unfair that I carry the weight of the burden of these conversations while my persecutors live their lives free of guilt and rage. Driving to Church, I found myself wondering at God why our reward has to wait until heaven. Why can’t life be good now?
I introduce with this anecdote for two reasons:
- Christian persecution is something that happens to individuals in the United States, although certainly not at the level seen in other countries whom we prayed for during our annual prayer and fasting against Christian nationalism.
- I struggle with the same knee-jerk reaction to persecution that I’m about to critique. I think it’s important to situate this post in less of a preachy tone and more of sharing from someone who has wrestled (and continues to) against the flesh for this very topic.
In the United States it has been a longstanding tradition (for at least 50 years, although one could certainly argue this mentality has been present for all 250 of our years) to claim shock and outrage at Christian persecution. Last year, a Christian student at the University of Oklahoma claimed religious persecution when she received a 0 grade on an assignment due, from her perspective, to her traditional Christian beliefs on binary genders. More recently, Donald Trump Jr. made waves in Christian circles when he encouraged young conservatives to deny Jesus’ teaching to turn the other cheek in order to gain power through retaliation.
These two instances demonstrate an increasingly common trend in religious circles, largely spearheaded from political conglomerates like Turning Point USA, to meet violence with violence. The playbook response from this angle looks something like this. Step One: Be shocked that the World believes differently than you. Step Two: Turn to the US Constitution (or another document such as a student code of ethics) to justify your rights to believe what you do. Step Three: Retaliate in some way to make the persecutors suffer as you have.
In my experience in Christian spaces, this has been the go-to playbook. When a pastor was told his town was racist by a Black man, this was the response. When a student failed a grade due to her citation of her faith, this was the response that played out in both the private and public spheres. When I was church shopping in North Dakota, a pastor preached that Christians should retaliate against higher education for “suppressing” Christian ideals in the classroom.
In these responses, Christians in the United States often do not handle religious persecution well. As I mentioned in my opening anecdote, though, this is a temptation I have personally struggled against. Our culture, particularly in the United States which was founded as a country strictly committed to independent thought, we have been raised to value, above all us, our autonomy in thought and action. When this feels violated, our hackles are raised and we prepare ourselves for the self-defense counter-attack.
How Should Christians Respond?
Now that we know how many of us respond (myself included), let’s look at how we are instructed to respond.
I’m always incredibly surprised at how incredibly surprised Christians are that their beliefs are not universal. Firstly, Jesus Christ was killed by the church and state for his religious convictions. If your religion is centered around a martyr, I would anticipate you would also experience suffering for your faith. In fact, Jesus himself warns that we will share in the same persecution that he did:
If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.
John 15:20 NRSVue
When we feel the very tangible shock of being mocked, ridiculed, or punished for our beliefs, we need to turn our instincts away from a secular culture that prioritizes autonomy in favor of remembering our cultural heritage as a persecuted people. In this world, we will have trouble (John 16:33), even in a nation that prioritizes freedom of thought and expression. Anyone who tells you that you need to be shocked and appalled that you are being persecuted as a Christian is contradicting Jesus Christ directly.
The second tenant of a United States response tells us we need to form an articulate and logical defense. This is also not Biblical. Again, Jesus himself teaches us:
‘When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you will answer or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say.” ‘
Luke 12:11-12 NRSVue
We do not need to turn to our governmental authorities for permission to believe what we do; we live with God’s power inside of us through the indwelling of the Spirit. We can speak with authority, just as Jesus himself and his followers did when they were persecuted. When we rely on the Spirit’s guidance, we can have assurance that we will be convincing because our argument’s are not our own or human made.
The third point in the Stater* response to persecution is to retaliate. Not only is this not Biblical, it’s antagonistic to the mission of Jesus and his early church. First, Jesus blesses the persecuted and instructs us that persecution is something not only to not fight against but actually to rejoice in as a birthright and prophecy of reward:
Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:11-12
As already alluded to, Jesus instructs us to be pacifists in the face of persecution by turning the other cheek. When someone physically attacks us, we are supposed to let them attack us more, not retaliate back. Paul furthers Jesus’ position by demonstrating a commitment not just to pacificism but also to embracing persecution, even when he has a chance at freedom:
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” The jailer called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.
Acts 16:25-29
Where in the United States Gospel is this kind of commitment to persecution? Not only does Paul rejoice in his imprisonment, he doesn’t take the opportunity to escape it when he can. He chooses to continue to suffer even when he doesn’t have to. This response is so powerful, in fact, that it actually convinces the jailer of the truth of Christ. The story of Paul and Silas staying in prison results in the jailer and his entire family deciding to be baptized.
This is maybe the most important part of engaging with persecution responsibly. I have personally experienced how much better it is for me to forgive and rejoice than to ruminate in anger, but Paul and Silas’ encounter with choosing suffering actually saves souls. When we refuse to turn the other cheek, and instead bite back at our persecutors, we fail to differentiate ourselves from the world. Rather than convince anyone of the veracity of the Gospel, we reaffirm worldly division and debate. I want our jailers to be so transformed by our grace and steadfastness in the midst of their trying of us, that they surrender their life to Jesus Christ.
It matters personally and kingdomly how we respond to our fiercest detractors. May God give us the strength to endure hardship, may Jesus show us his scars to encourage us, and may the Holy Spirit empower us to move and speak as Christ, not the world, would have us.
*In response to valid critiques that the term “American” undermines Canadians, Mexicans, and central and south Americans as also being American, I’m trying to find a term that refers to people in the United States that’s punchier in one word. I’ve landed on the word “Stater” and am trying to get it to catch on.
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Bryce Van Vleet is the #1 selling author of Tired Pages and Before We All Die Let’s Have One Last Chat by the Fireside. He sells poetry art here, published a collection of poems titled Weak Eyes, and masquerades as the spoken word artist Liihey. You can support him by clicking through blog posts or donating (scroll to the bottom of the page).
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