Religious Liberty Abroad: Where is Obama? | National Catholic Reporter

Religious Liberty Abroad: Where is Obama? | National Catholic Reporter by MSW.  MGB: Let me warn you that this Journal is a bit of a right wing, anti-Obama, rag which I will not be joining the e-mail list of any time soon.  I did not spend too much time on what is a highly technical article, rather, this is a more free form piece on the need to have that post at all.  It is in the spirit of Jonathan Swift, except that none of my questions are satyrical.



Appointing a religious freedom ambassador is dicey for a mostly Christian nation with enlightenment roots (while God is mentioned in the founding documents, Jesus is not).  Would not such an ambassador have to stand up for the rights of the Muslim Brotherhood against the militarty and those in Egyptian society of a more, need I say it, Englightenment view?  Or are we only defending the rights of englightened Muslims who reciprocate by respecting the righs of Christians? Would a religious liberty Ambassador stand up for Gays being persecuted in Russia or the rights of the Patriarch of Moscow to initiate such a persecution?  What about the rights of the C Street Family to offer policy in Uganda to execute, or at least persecute, homosexuals?  Would the Ambassador stand for the freedom of the Oranges in Ulster to have marching season go forth as planned?  Or the rights of the IRA to bomb them? What about women is Saudi Arabia?  Do the Wahabi leaders deserve the religious support to keep them under the patriarchy?  One would think North Korea would be an easy case, but if the veneration of the Kim family is almost, if not entirely, religious (akin to Japanese Shintoism), should they have the right to persecute Christian interlopers - as Hobby Lobby has the right to not pay for contraception?  As you can guess, the answer is no.



We need to make sure that Americans are protected if they get into trouble, but even then, Christianity started as a religion of martyrs.  If our martyrs rely on CNN and the United States to not give their lives in witness to Christ, then maybe certain Wahabi are right, that Christians are really not longer able to witness for Christ with their lives.  If some people are expecting the Rapture at any moment - what sense is it to die for the Lord?  I suspect from reading my copy of Revelation that most, if not all, modern Christians will be subjected to that long period of trial and martyrdom if this really is the end times.  The Jews and Romany may be raptured, but the rest of y'all will have demonstrate your allegience to the Lord in ways a bit more uncomforatable than shouting down immigrant children (like that's not a mortal sin), gays, women and the President.