Ponderings on Persecution

I don't say this to dig up any dirt on anyone or attack the Catholic Church in any way. In case you haven't heard, they're going through another mess with abuse scandals. Beyond hoping the individuals directly involved in the abuses will be put away for a long time so no one is attacked by them again, I don't have much to add. But a recent headline about a sermon seemed worth pondering. Something about it seemed so-for lack of a better term-modern. I'll mention it later, and when I do try to imagine someone saying it without a cellphone or iphone in hand, or at least in pocket, ready to surf the web and update facebook and/or twitter. Try it. (double dog dare implied)

Here's the deal. A friar said the way the Catholic church leadership is being attacked for cover ups is comparable to Antisemitism. People on the side of abuse victims and victims of Antisemitism were a little peeved. I'd say understandably so, but that point leads me to my next thought on persecution and modern thought. Did anyone drag the pope and his family to a camp to kill them? I'm not even going to mention any more than that, but needless to say, the comparison is weak at best.

I'm not saying this to single out a Catholic church leader. His answer reminds me of a typical modern response in the age of entitlement. I'm not sure I'm old enough to know when the bar for persecution was lowered, but I know this isn't it. We are at the point when someone could get too much blame for making an unwise decision and get compared to Job for suffering all the consequences and then some. Unfair? Possibly, especially if guilt hasn't been completely proven. Persecution? That's a steaming load, and we should know it.

Actually, all of this is in the realm of words. There have been no arrests or physical attacks, and even if there were, it's not for doing right or for merely existing. This seems common sense, but nowadays everyone who gets caught in a lie is a martyr. It takes so much less effort than it used to--now you just need to screw up and have someone say something mean about you. (Note: I'm not still talking about the Catholic Church, but privileged people in general. And yes, most of us Westerners still count as privileged.) Innocence is optional.

Maybe Google could help. (Did anyone notice their April Fool's joke by the way? Topeka? What was that about?) I doubt most people would have a copy of Foxe's Book of Martyrs or Jesus Freaks on hand, but many read Night in school or at least watched a movie about the Holocaust. And no, Life is Beautiful, while a good movie, doesn't count. For those of us who study the Bible, Jesus' own words say we are blessed if we are persecuted for following Him. Not for being disagreeable jerks (guilty as charged) or any other wrongdoing on our part, but for doing the right thing. And no, being called names is not persecution. Most of us have enough material to reference the real thing, or talk to those who don't have it as most of them could tell us firsthand. Maybe we should.