The Coming Religious Persecution

Militant Atheism Will Have Its Pogrom

Atheism is on the rise throughout the West.  It is a false religion.  Normally atheism is not associated with being religious.  Nevertheless it is.  If we observed that Theravada Buddhism is a religion, most would accept the claim. Yet Theravada Buddhism has no deity, just teachers and an ethical code.  Atheism functions in precisely the same way throughout the West.

Sociologist Emile Durkheim pioneered the study of religion in terms of the functions of various belief systems maintain.  His definition is that "a religion is a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, thing set apart and surrounded by prohibitions."  [Cited by William T. Cavanaugh, The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009)  p.106.]

This approach is helpful.  It looks at how people function and how their belief system actually effects and controls their lives.  It is consistent with the Bible's teaching.

Hear No Evil, See No Evil

Age of intolerance

The War on Religion

Barney Zwartz

Melbourne Age

November 2, 2013

As Christian villager Asia Bibi languished in a Pakistani jail awaiting death by hanging for drinking water from a Muslim cup, two suicide bombers killed 85 worshippers in a Peshawar church.

For Egypt's Copts, who risk having the small cross-tattoos many wear on their wrists burnt off with acid by militant Muslims, the Arab Spring has been wintry. In August it got worse: Muslim Brotherhood supporters, blaming them for the army's removal of president Mohamed Mursi, attacked more than 100 Christian sites - 42 churches were razed.

In Somalia, al-Shabab, which slaughtered scores of people at a Kenyan shopping mall in September, has reportedly vowed to kill every Somali Christian.

In northern Nigeria, Boko Haram has butchered thousands of Christians, as well as Muslims they consider inadequately ideological - such as those seeking an education.

Four of every five acts of religious discrimination in the world today are directed against Christians, according to the Germany-based International Society for Human Rights. The secular US think tank the Pew Forum says Christians face harassment or oppression in 139 nations, nearly three-quarters of all the countries on earth.