The Time of the Martyrs

I find it difficult to relate to martyrs. Living in a time and place where one is free to practice (or not) almost any religion, it’s hard to imagine what it’s like to face arrest or death for attending Mass, or live in constant fear of having your home raided and Bible or crucifix found. Those situations belong in hagiographies. But they also are still happening today. Right now.

In China, authorities are ordering the removal of signs of faith in efforts to make religious buildings like churches and mosques look like clubhouses. Churches are reporting that crosses are being replaced with Chinese flags or photos of Xi Jinping and Mao Zedong. Banners quoting scripture and any other religious-related objects were removed. Bibles are being pulled from bookstores.

Children are not allowed to be members of a religious organization. They are not allowed at even the state-sanctioned churches. Sunday schools have been shut down. House churches are routinely raided, but now state-sponsored churches also face raids and harsher stipulations. Information officers are installed to report “anti-state” or “anti-social” behavior.

Over one million Uyghur Muslims have been placed in reeducation camps to rid them of their ethnic identity and faith. The government says they are trying to root out extremists. But any sign of faith seems extreme to the state. People are arrested for reading the Quran, possessing books about Uyghur culture, or wearing a t-shirt with a crescent moon. The prisoners are held for months at a time and forced to listen to lectures, sing songs praising the Chinese Communist Party, and write self-criticisms.

While Islam is not outright banned, there are narrow limits placed on it, such as Muslims are not allowed to pray at home if guests are there. They must register to pray at mosques and sign in to enter under the view of surveillance cameras. Prisoners are told their “radical” beliefs are an “ideological virus” with the camp offering residential care and a cure.

I’m in a book study currently reading about St. John Paul II. It talks a lot about how much the Communists in Poland wanted to suppress religion. It was something I knew as historical fact but could never really understand. Other than monitoring for political speech, what about religious people did Communists fear?

Then I was listening to a podcast talking about the First Amendment, and how the freedoms listed in it follow a logical progression to ensure a liberal democracy. Foremost is the freedom of religion, the right to think and believe whatever you want. Freedom of your own thoughts. From there comes freedoms to express that thought (speech), share that thought (press), discuss that thought with others (assembly), and take action on that thought (petition). But the fundamental freedom is to think freely.

And the Communists of Poland in the 1970s or of China in the 2010s don’t believe in freedom of thought. They want to control the people’s minds. It’s not just about capitulating in action but capitulating in will. Religion itself is a threat to the state. It provides the soul things which the state can never do—sacrificial love, hope, eternal life.

The real battles of the world take place over the minds of the people—their faiths, philosophies, loyalties. Propaganda confuses the truth, manipulates the mind, enslaving it to an agenda. Religion will always offer more than this world can, and therefore, it will be a threat to worldly ideologies. The time of persecution is not passed. It probably never will be. It shifts location and form, but it does not leave. Should I be fortunate enough to not face persecution, then I should pray for and stand with those who do.