Wednesday, 28 December 2011

The Highs and Lows of Christmas 2011


Three cheers for Her Majesty! While many of her subjects, both sacred and secular, feel the need to apologise for celebrating the Christian festival for what it is, the Queen had no qualms about delivering her Christmas message full on ending with: "It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord".


We are a Christian country. It is 'through Christ our Lord' that we really do have something to celebrate, not crass ideas like Winterval. If our leaders followed the Queen's example, stopped making excuses and stood up for what we believe as Christians, we would be the better for it. As the appalling Christmas time tragedy in Nigeria escalates with yet more examples of Muslims persecuting Christians, it is not good enough to dismiss these acts as the work of extremists and ignore the ideology that is responsible for the atrocities. Cries of Islamophobia are used too readily to suppress legitimate criticism, frightening people into submission while the rights of minorities to do just as they please are upheld to the detriment of the majority. The British way of life has become a continual round of apology for being British and doing things our way.


In Israel the majority is being urged by President Shimon Peres "to save the majority from the hands of a small minority" and to "save the soul of the nation". Why can't we be more like that? Too many Christians are already a persecuted minority in their own country. Our leaders, both sacred and secular, should follow the Queen's example and deliver the Christian message without any qualms.


Postscripts
1. The price of converting to Christianity: Bishop Umar Mulinde is blinded with acid to cries of ‘Allahu akbar [God is greater]’ after his family drove him away with clubs and machetes for converting from Islam to Christianity. There are many other reports of persecution of Christians around the world in this link.
2. More concerns expressed here. FO response here. All talk. No change, no hope, no use.
3. An excellent analysis of the problems face by non-Muslims here.

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