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We, the Persecuted?
Coptic Christians beheaded on the beach. Russian believers told they will be stripped of their religious freedoms. And Syrian Christians driven from their homes. The bad news bombards us. And add to these the fact that, due to war and persecution, the number of the world’s displaced people has reached 60 million—half of them children. (This number represents more people than at any time since World War II.) With all this persecution making headlines, believers frequently hear a familiar quote: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” Some of us have heard the words so often we have to remind ourselves it’s not in the Bible.…
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About Unruly Mobs, Targeting Curches and #boycottIndiana
As I watched #boycottIndiana unfold I felt like the tectonic plates of American culture were shifting right under our feet. When Governor Mike Pence signed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, who knew that Miley Cyrus and Ashton Kushner could help unleash a torrent of criticism and threats that eventually brought the government of Indiana to its knees? In one week we saw suppression of dissent against gay marriage by an unruly mob, the targeting of churches and the spread of propaganda—a three-pronged strategy used widely by those aspiring to political power throughout history. Midweek an Indiana ABC affiliate news crew went trolling for any…
