Should I Care More When a Christian is Killed?

THE BASILICA OF St. Bartholomew on the Island in Rome holds the bones of the apostle St. Bartholomew, who delivered the gospel of Matthew to India, southern Arabia, and Syria. Spreading the seditious good news eventually got him killed—crucified upside down in Baku, capital of modern Azerbaijan. Bartholomew proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus until the soldiers cut off his head.

In 1999, this church nestled on an island in the Tiber River was dedicated to modern Christian martyrs. Entering its cool interior, one can walk a global Via Dolorosa—each side altar is dedicated to parts of the world where Protestants, Catholics, and Orthodox have been killed for their faith.

The relics include a letter from Franz Jägerstätter, the Austrian farmer beheaded for refusing to serve in Hitler’s army, and the missal of Salvadoran Archbishop Óscar Romero left on the altar when he was assassinated during Mass in 1980.

Christians today fall out over Christian martyrs and persecution in a right/left divide. We fight about numbers. In 2015, Christian Freedom International released an often repeated statistic suggesting that Christians are “martyred for their faith every five minutes.” This has been widely debunked. But it raises questions about definitions, methodologies, and theological perspectives. 

Thomas Schirrmacher directs the International Institute for Religious Freedom, which runs a research project with several universities to measure Christian persecution. He estimates that there are 7,000 to 8,000 Christian martyrs each year, a number that roughly matches the Open Doors World Watch List, which reported 7,106 Christians killed in 2015, an increase over previous years and far less than one Christian every five minutes.

Schirrmacher defines Christian martyrs as “Christians who are killed and who would not have been killed had they not been Christians.” Straightforward, right? But consider that the countries with the greatest number of Christians killed—Nigeria, Central African Republic, and Chad (according to World Watch Monitor)—are all countries with brutal post-colonial violence mixed with militant-extremist agendas. Religion—or any other single motivation—is rarely the only issue involved in martyrdom or persecution.

Why do some Christians focus on the cause of Christian persecution while others focus on the cause of suffering and injustice regardless of creed? Fuller Theological Seminary’s Charles Tieszen says this may reflect different theological frameworks. Tieszen’s research finds that many Christians can fall into two camps: those who think Christian persecution no longer happens and those who tie the statistics of modern martyrdom “to eschatological events ... and therefore advocate primarily (or even exclusively) for [Christian] ‘brothers and sisters.’”

“‘Progressive Christ-ians,’” Tieszen told me, “have long placed an emphasis on social justice, not (traditional) witness/evangelism. Such a posture lends itself to broader kinds of advocacy. ... It has often been ‘conservative Christians’ who have shown a particular interest in religious persecution advocacy.”

Should Christians care more for other Christians who suffer than for non-Christians? Theologically, no. It is in the act of advocating and caring for “the other” that we become the followers of Christ we claim to be. This is the Christian paradox: One must empty oneself of Christian tribalism in order to be more Christ-like. However, it is also true that one learns to love at home. It makes sense that one would first learn to advocate and care for those with whom one shares something in common, like faith. But love must then flow outward.

On the altar steps inside St. Bartholomew there is an ancient stone wellhead carved with the image of the Risen Christ. The natural spring beneath it offers healing water for all who suffer. Graffiti on the bridge leaving the island could be Christ speaking today: “I love you from here to the end of the world, from here to the end of time.”