A time for love and joy

AS the world carols towards Christmas, at least in packed Western-style shopping malls, it is easy to lose sight of the plight of Christ's followers. Across the Middle East, in towns and hamlets where some of the oldest vestiges of the religion have clung to existence for almost 2000 years, the remnant Christian populations are being slaughtered. In Egypt, Libya, Syria, thousands of Christians have been systematically murdered in a continuing horror that is largely overlooked by the world and overshadowed by the bloody wars raging between the Sunni and Shia Muslims. The Copts, who had notably lived peaceably among the Egyptians, are now almost extinct in the region of their origin, flourishing only in the West. According to a three-year Pew Research study of harassment of particular religious groups released in August, 2011, government or social harassment of Christians was reported in a total of 130 countries, 66 per cent of the nations surveyed. Over the past two years, the situation has only worsened. Anti-Christian persecution and actual violence have increased. The International Society for Human Rights, a German-based monitoring organisation says 80 per cent of all acts of religious discrimination are directed at Christians. Rarely however is the big picture revealed, with most news items mentioning the burning of a church here, the murder of a family there, a car bombing or militarily-approved execution somewhere else. The relentless extermination of Christians rarely rates in the news now. Just as the Syrian civil war, which occupied centre stage and world attention - even drawing some asinine comments from US President Obama for a fleeting moment - is now relegated to background chatter. Ironically, Syria once housed one of the larger Christian communities in the Middle East and Syrian Christians, and Syrian Jews, were recognised with positions in the Cabinet of the now reviled President Assad. They would have absolutely no future under the extremists in the militias competing to unseat the dictator. Even the Burmese, whom the West views in a peculiarly muddled manner because of the media-friendly presence of political figure Aung Sun Suu Kyi, persecute their minority Christian Chin and Karen ethnics. So much for the luvvies embrace of Buddhism as the religious panacea for the world's problems. In North Korea, where Kim Jong-un executed his uncle last week, it is estimated that between 50,000 to 100,000 Christians are held in forced labour camps for failing to worship the nation's founder Kim Il-sung. Religion is not a comfortable topic for discussion in Australia unless the absolute evils exposed by the succession of inquiries into child abuse make it inevitable. The horror stories related to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse would make anyone weep. But as appallingly tragic as the stories told by the brave survivors have been, there are others still suffering too much pain to expose themselves to the publicity an appearance would inevitably create. In recent weeks, a number of such people have told me that even the existence of the inquiry has caused them to relive horrendous experiences they had been struggling to cope with. One correspondent, who sent me a copy of his 29-page psychiatric report to help me gain greater insight into his situation, came forward after hearing the evidence of one of his old companions, Richard "Tommy'' Campion, who was beaten and sexually abused throughout the 14 years he spent at the North Coast Children's Home in Lismore. The distressed man said that Campion had mentioned in his presentation an episode about a child forced to wear a nappy all day as punishment for wetting his bed. "I was that child, this is the episode," he wrote. "I was forced to sleep in a cot, suitable for a little baby because I had a problem with wetting the bed but I was about 4 or 5 years old. I couldn't straighten my legs. "I woke up one morning having wet myself and was terrified. I was then told I would have to wear a nappy to breakfast in front of 35 other children. "When they had sat down to breakfast I was PARADED in front of them all while they were 'ordered' to 'laugh at me'. I sat and had breakfast with all these children while wearing a nappy hearing the ridicule and laughter constantly. "Then after breakfast I was told I was going to wear the nappy to school all day. I was absolutely terrified, humiliated and to this day I still wish I was dead, I constantly wish for death and I cannot deal with more than three people at a time." His report would indicate he has led a life of catastrophic distress with not infrequent feelings of worthlessness, guilt and self-loathing and thoughts of suicide. It would be easy, as some have raced to do, to blame religion and particularly Christianity for the wretched life he has endured, but it would be wrong to do so. The message Christians share is one of hope, whether they are being persecuted in another country or brutalised by someone professing to be a Christian here. That is the message in those shopping-mall Christmas carols, if they can be heard above the ringing of the cash registers. It is not a call to arms, a call to hate, a call to slaughter, but a call to love. It is hopeful. So, a Merry Christmas to all, and let the message of peace and joy spread throughout the world.