This time, the subject of the review is not the views of some Christian leader. Rather it is a news story about Christians in Egypt that bears some similarities to what many Christians in Syria and most Evangelicals in the U.S. are experiencing. The Religion News Service carried just published a story on how Christians are supporting el-Sisi in the upcoming Egyptian elections. According to the story, despite his government's suppression of free speech and the committing of human rights violations, Christians are supporting el-Sisi in Egypt's upcoming elections and it seems to be because el-Sisi is promising Christians equality in Egypt and, unlike Egypt's previous President, protection from attacks from certain groups of Muslims, especially the Muslim Brotherhood (click here for the story).
What about el-Sisi's Administration? At least 4 men who announced their interest in becoming candidates for the office of President have been either arrested or pressured into not running (click here). His only opponent, Mousa Moustafa Mousa, created a group to support el-Sisi's nomination for the upcoming election. In the meantime, Egypt's prosecutor-general is investigating some who are calling for a boycott. They might face charges of trying to "overthrow the regime" (click here).
Protesters have been arrested (click here) and there are reports of 'arbitrary arrests' and the 'widespread' use of torture with impunity by Egypt's police and security forces (click here and there). Many freedoms that we take for granted here are being significantly reduced and there are reports of human rights abuses (click here). Even the US State Department has noticed at least some of the abuses taking place in Egypt even though the President has publicly praised el-Sisi (click here).
So on one hand, Egyptian Christians gain protection by supporting el-Sisi. On the other hand, by supporting his government, they are support a wide range of abuses and the suppression of freedom for others.
The Christians in Syria face a similar problem. Assad is a brutal dictator who has offered protection for Syrian Christians from Muslim extremists. But by supporting Assad, they support a tyrant whose savage reaction to the Arab Spring started the Civil War in Syria. And that war has not only cost the lives of many, it has contributed to a great refugee crisis in Europe and elsewhere. Why did the Syrian Civil War start such a massive refugee crisis? It is due not just to Syrian refugees themselves, but from the fact that the Syrians took in many Iraqi refugees who fled their country because of the US invasion of Iraq.
There is mixed evidence as to whether Christians back Assad or not (click here and there). However, it is clear that Christian leaders support him.
We now go to our third example of how many Evangelicals are using their morals as protection money. That example is here in the US. Only it is unclear to many outsiders as from whom religiously conservative American Christians are seeking protection. Here, the enemy that these Christians fear does not physically threaten them. Rather the threat these Christians sense is the loss of what was perceived as a Christian nation where Christian values, especially regarding sex, had a more dominant influence over society. These Christians are afraid of the influence of secularism that comes from the Church having a diminishing voice in society while the government's influence is growing. And why an increase in government influence in society is threatening is because these Christians correctly perceive that government represents at least a mixture of unbelievers and believers if not representing a society that is becoming dominated by secularism.
It is secularism's rising influence in government and society that many religiously conservative Christian Americans are seeking protection from. But to do that, they must support a Republican Party that generally opposes equality for the LGBT community and sometimes for minorities, social safety nets, necessary gun control laws, and regulations that protect the environment and workers. In addition, the Republican Party strongly supports an ever growing size and use of the military in order to prove its patriotism. Though both major political parties are owned by those with wealth, the Republican Party seems to have followed Ayn Rand and her philosophy of selfishness.
The examples of the compromises in integrity that Syrian Christian leaders and many religiously conservative Christian Americans have made are to show that the exchanging of morals for protection by the Egyptian Christians is not unique. The article shows that the choice for Egyptian Christians seems to have only two choices: their past persecution under a government controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood or the present protection by the current government while knowing that others are suffering from tremendous oppression and abuses because from the government of their choice. In essence, what the article on Egyptian Christians shows, which is replicated in varying degrees in Syria and the US, is that Christians are willing to throw others under the bus so that they can be protected from real and imaginary enemies. This exchange of morals for protection is the easy way out of a difficult situation. But we Christians need to realize that we are often called to persevere those difficult situations. And though the decision that these Egyptian Christians have made is wrong, we have all made similar choices.
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