But, again, they’re not talking about persecution against Christians per se. They’re talking about persecution of Evangelical Christians and Evangelical Christian proselytizing. So, in their section on Ethiopia, they say:
And, in the case of Nigeria, they say:
And neither of these are defined as “restricted nations” (defined as nations are Christianity is actively persecuted by law), but instead, “hostile areas” (defined as nations where Christianity isn’t protected by law, but has areas where Christians are victims of violence because of their active Christianity or proselytism.
Admittedly, the t-shirt doesn’t go into that much detail itself, which is why it’s a bad idea to rely on t-shirts for in depth study of a subject.
Looks like they’re listing any country where there has been a, uhm, overheated argument between Evangelicals and anybody else and the Evangelicals lost. Wether the Evangelical in question should have shut his mouth when asked to do so for the third time in as many minutes isn’t considered: they are the kind of people who think they are entitled, nay, charged with the sacred duty, to harass people so long as it’s in the name of religion.
That’s not what they say on their tee-shirt. If they meant “A Christian once lost a fight in 52 countries” it’d be a different story.
Maybe that person in Ethiopia should have thought for a moment before burying their kid in the graveyard of a church they don’t even belong to! I’m pretty sure if I tried to claim a space in the local Buddhist cemetery I’d get a similar reception. An isolated incident here and there does not render a country “hostile.”
Nigeria does have religious conflict, but it’s as much about economics as religion. There is not Sharia law in “much” of Nigeria- Islam and Christianity enjoy a pretty even divide, and the areas that are having trouble with Sharia law are isolated areas that are only loosely controlled by the government. In Christian areas, Christianity is thriving and even aggressive. Evangelizing is not only possible- it’s pretty much the norm!
Ok, but again, Nigeria is defined by them as a “hostile area”, which means there’s some part of the country where there’s hostility to and persecution against Christians. So, is:
accurate? Because, if it is, that sounds like northern Nigeria, at least, is hostile to Christians. I wouldn’t feel safe being a Christian in northern Nigeria if there are riots targeting Christians and if if Christian churches are being burned, and if I have to worry about my daughter being kidnapped and forcibly converted. If that’s true, then if I were a Christian in northern Nigeria, it wouldn’t be much consolation to me that Christians in southern Nigeria are free from persecution.
Christian-Muslim violence is common in Nigeria (in both directions). It’s true to say that significant parts of Nigeria are hostile to Christians. However, the shirt is a little disingenuous in saying that wearing a cross t-shirt would be illegal (as in many of the Christian but non-Evangelical countries mentioned).
Which, again, is why you shouldn’t rely on t-shirts for accuracy. I think the point of the t-shirt is to get the viewer’s attention so they’ll ask the wearer about it.
But for that to work the wearer has to know and understand the true situation, which it appears that many of them don’t. Nor are Voice of the Martyrs making any particular effort to clear up the confusion. If the statement were “This shirt could get you in trouble in 52 countries”, well, that’d be reasonably close to the truth. But “This shirt is illegal in 52 countries” is an outright lie.
I’d like to add that there are several majority-Muslim countries, such as Indonesia and Sudan, where persecution of Christians is pretty common, and where the authorities tend to look the other way. So, while Christianity isn’t illegal, you could find yourself in trouble quite easily.
As for the Phillippeans, although they’re majority-Christian, there are areas where Muslim fundamentalism is a problem, so I’d expect that they’re listed as a “hostile region.” (My computer at work won’t display the map, so I can’t see what it says.)
As for the Latin American countries, please correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t most of those rebel groups Communist in nature? Historically, Communism has always had a strong atheistic element. Might there, by any chance, be problems with rebels attacking clergymen or vandalizing churches, or things like that?
All that having been said, I agree that the t-shirt is a little dishonest, and I wouldn’t wear it myself.
But that doesn’t matter much. I tried responding to a forwarded email about Barack Obama changing the national anthem to “I’d like to buy the world a Coke” with the truth, that it was ripped off from a satirical article written buy some guy in "The Arizona Conservative. I gave his name and the date of publication and everything.
I received an enormous amount of hostility from folks who were not interested in the truth and continued to mail it out. I tried pointing out that they were stealing the writer’s intellectual property and bearing false witness, and that breaking 20% of the commandments in one short email was pretty impressive, but nobody cared, it made the story better if it was true.
