Religious persecution isn't a relic from the past

During my years in seminary, every evening meal was preceded by a reading from The Roman Martyrology, an ancient account of Christians who were tortured and slaughtered by the pagan Roman emperors. To this day I am amazed that the details, to which we listened in silence, didn't adversely affect our appetites.

Most Americans are aware that Christians were fed to lions in the arena when they refused to renounce their faith. But being eaten alive was only one of a range of punishments, which included being burned, boiled, blinded, and mutilated for persisting in their beliefs.

In modern times, to be recognized as a saint is a rarity, requiring an exhaustive investigation of one's moral life and involvement in miracles of healing. But back in the times of religious persecution martyrdom conferred instant sanctity. Many very ordinary men, women, and children swelled their numbers.

Religious persecution continues in our time. Christians still suffer and sometimes die for their beliefs. We just don't know their names because they live and die in places few of us visit.

I was surprised to learn that there may be more practicing Christians in communist China than in any other nation on earth. The Economist suggests there may be as many as 130 million of them. They keep a low profile, because they are barely tolerated, and often persecuted. The Chinese Communist Party forbids any of its members to hold religious beliefs of any kind.

In 1949, when the Communists took power, fewer than 1% of the population were baptized, most of them Catholics. Today, the fastest growing number of Chinese Christians are Protestant, who worship in one another's homes as the earliest Christians did. Most congregations are non-denominational, reflecting government sanctions against missionary activities by the West's established churches. In the 1950s the Chinese government effectively usurped control of its Catholic and main Protestant churches.

To limit the growth of religion, the government allows no more than 25 Christians to gather in worship in any place at any time. Ironically, the lack of church buildings in China appears to strengthen religious faith. There is no cost involved for Christians to gather in a private home. Their pastors are typically unpaid, untrained, and not ordained. Bibles and hymn books can be downloaded from the Internet at no cost.

For the most part, the persecution of Christians in China consists of unsuccessful harassment of the house churches. But when the government breaks up a congregation, its members simply move on to other private homes to pray.

India, unlike China, officially guarantees freedom of religion for its citizens, but persecution there can be violent because the tiny Christian population is dwarfed by the nation's 1.1 billion Hindu majority. In Kandhamal province recently, Hindu activists have killed more than 30 Christians, burned 3,000 of their homes, and destroyed more than 130 churches. A nun was repeatedly raped.

November 1 is celebrated as All Saints Day. There are more saints than we imagine.

David Yount's Growing in Faith: A Guide for the Reluctant Christian (Seabury) is now available in paperback. He answers readers at P.O. Box 2758, Woodbridge, VA 22195 and dyount(at)erols.com.