Tonight i’m attending the second Human Rights Forum in the Baha’i centre and i think it’s a difficult one to just ‘share the event for’. Here’s why.
In a country that is at once very Catholic and at this point, probably equally anti-Catholic or anti-church, it is difficult to imagine caring about the persecution of Christians. “Are they persecuted? Are they not the ones carrying out A LOT of injustices??!”, may be what comes to mind.
The media frequently highlights negative aspects of Christianity, based of course on the most shocking aspects of what we’re told is ‘Christianity’, when what we are actually being presented with is a display of fundamentalism, fanaticism and fear. But it’s not just the media, in day to day life in Ireland and elsewhere, many face prejudice carried out in the name of God/Jesus/Christianity/Catholicism and the church. So why would we look upon Christians favourably and want to make sure they are not imprisoned and tortured based on their beliefs?
I’m sure I’m not the only person who knows plenty of people who call themselves Christian or Catholic, hold their beliefs and still accept and love everyone else for theirs too? The ‘Golden Rule’ of every religion and any pure heart has always been to “Love thy neighbour as thyself.” And no one should be imprisoned for living by that. It is everyone’s right to choose their beliefs and it is no one’s right to persecute.
It might not be trendy to want to “Free the Christians”, but the reality is that they are locked up in horrible conditions all over the world and that’s not ok at all actually. You can find out more by coming along this evening if you wish but i wanted to highlight the organisation either way. I know very little so far, but if it turns out all the people locked up did horrible nasty things and deserve to be in prison, I will come back and let you know.