Persecution real & widespread, Everett tells DBU crowd

DALLAS—An average of 20 Christians a day are martyred for their faith—7,000 a year globally. And Christians in areas of greatest persecution want to know why followers of Jesus in the West remain mostly silent, Randel Everett, founding president of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, told students and faculty at Dallas Baptist University.

Everett, former executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas, delivered the T.B. Maston Lecture in Christian ethics at DBU. The lecture series honors the legacy of a pioneering 20th century ethics professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Extent of religious persecution

“The foundation of all our freedoms is the freedom of religion,” Everett said. But more than three-fourths of the world’s population—about 5.3 billion people—live in a context of religious persecution or repression, he said.

“More than 300,000 people of all faiths have been killed in the last 10 years because of their faith,” he said.

Last year, more than 1,000 church buildings were destroyed or seriously damaged in one province in China, he reported. And at Garrisa University in Kenya, Al-Shabab gunmen killed 147 students who dared identify themselves as Christians.

“There were 1.5 million Christian in Iraq before 2003. There are about 250,000 now,” he said.

Everett recalled a conversation with a pastor from Syria.

“They are killing our fathers. They are raping our women. They are burning our churches. And the church in the West couldn’t care less. Why?” the pastor asked.

Everett identified five sources of religious persecution:

• Government oppression. He cited North Korea and Eritrea as two of the “darkest” nations in terms of denying religious liberty. “In Eritrea, 2,000 to 3,000 Christians currently are in prison because of their beliefs,” he said.

• Militant religions. In Libya, the Islamic State—also known as ISIS—beheaded 21 Coptic Christians, he noted. “In Nigeria, Boko Haram continues to terrorize the nation, where over 650,000 are displaced and over 100,000 have become refugees,” he said.

• Religious intolerance. “Genocide is taking place in the Middle East,” he said, noting religious minorities are targeted.

• Mob violence. In Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and other parts of the world, violent mobs have victimized religious minorities.

• Family disapproval. In some cultures, women who violate religious customs are murdered by their own fathers or brothers in so-called “honor killings” when they are accused of bringing shame on a family.

Persecution ranges from verbal harassment, workplace discrimination and rejection by friends to the loss of freedom and loss of life, Everett said.

Christians must speak up for people who are persecuted for their faith, because the Bible commands it, he said.

“We can make a difference,” he insisted, noting Jesus set the example of a ministry focused on release for captives and setting free the oppressed.

“We when are doing that, we are operating in the arena where Jesus is at work,” he said. “Persecution keeps people in darkness about the gospel.”